hey guys, this is my first year with a jet boat, 1996 baja sport jet with a 90 horse mercruiser engine, the first few times out i have had no problems, ran great, however, i took it to pottahawk (big boaters party) and the vent cap on my fuel system was broken/stolen so now theres a 3/8" hole with a small filter open straight up to atmosphere...the last time out after about 10-15 min of pulling a wakeboarder the boat started to bog a little then actually stalled. i re primed the gas and it started no problems, took the boat in and called it a night...next day i took it out with my fiancee and it ran like a top, picked up a few more people (one over capacity) and went out again, the boat did the same thing only a bit worse... first thing i did (with everyone on board) was fill the tank right up (was about 1/4 full) this helped a little but didn't cure the problem, dropped the 2 extra people off and made it home safe and sound, again with no problems just the 2 of us???? today i popped off the fuel filter and it was very clean. so my guesses is that water is getting into the tank from the vent and is causing the periodic stalls. i cant find a replacement cap since there isn't a lot of these boats around, can i just plug it or will this cause vaccuum problems for the fuel pump?
Also the boat has a automatic fuel mixer which is all hooked up, but i dont use it, i just mix the oil in the tank due to paranoia, on the small mixer about 9" tall and wide by 4" deep, on the inlet line there is a 4" clearish tube that has a flow indicator arrow pointing obviously toward the little tank, is this a water seperator??? if its not could i just disconnect the fuel lines from the non used box pop a water sep between the lines instead and flow straight to the motor???
Im guessing that if its not water, then the fuel pump is weak and needs to be replaced/rebuilt, in which case, due to rookieness im not sure where it is, there are 2 round openings on the back of the fuel tank, one i guessed was the level guage since it has 2 wires coming from it, and the other has the fuel line connected to it, is that where the pump is??? both round openings have a metal disk with 5 bolts attaching it to the tank.
my last question is electrical, i popped off the positive cable from the batt terminal and hooked up my multimeter and was getting around 3.5 vdc reading im guessing this is the bilage pump draw/?? i always disconnect the positive line from the battery after an outing so the battery doesn't die, but am getting sick of it, so im thinking of installing an inline switch so i can just hit the button instead of getting out the wrench, any objections of doing this???
any help is much appreciated.
thanks
Nick
Also the boat has a automatic fuel mixer which is all hooked up, but i dont use it, i just mix the oil in the tank due to paranoia, on the small mixer about 9" tall and wide by 4" deep, on the inlet line there is a 4" clearish tube that has a flow indicator arrow pointing obviously toward the little tank, is this a water seperator??? if its not could i just disconnect the fuel lines from the non used box pop a water sep between the lines instead and flow straight to the motor???
Im guessing that if its not water, then the fuel pump is weak and needs to be replaced/rebuilt, in which case, due to rookieness im not sure where it is, there are 2 round openings on the back of the fuel tank, one i guessed was the level guage since it has 2 wires coming from it, and the other has the fuel line connected to it, is that where the pump is??? both round openings have a metal disk with 5 bolts attaching it to the tank.
my last question is electrical, i popped off the positive cable from the batt terminal and hooked up my multimeter and was getting around 3.5 vdc reading im guessing this is the bilage pump draw/?? i always disconnect the positive line from the battery after an outing so the battery doesn't die, but am getting sick of it, so im thinking of installing an inline switch so i can just hit the button instead of getting out the wrench, any objections of doing this???
any help is much appreciated.
thanks
Nick