Thanks guys for all the suggestions. I will apologize to ESD for not following his directions post haste – I was just hoping to try and troubleshoot without investing anything if not needed. Buying a remote tank was going to be another $75+ that I would rather not have spent if it was something simple and obvious at the main tank.
So this past weekend I was able to give this a shot.
After popping the cover plate I found the following:
Clockwise from 7 o’clock are:
- fuel pickup
- fuel fill line (brand new)
- fuel vent line (brand new)
- mystery – alternate fuel pickup (more on that in a min)
First thing I did was inspect the fuel vent. I disconnected it at the tank and blew back through. No significant difficulty in passing air through the line and there was no resistance and no change in pressure (like something moved in the line). I think this one can be checked off the list.
Next I moved to the fuel pickup.
In focusing on the fuel pickup, I see the following:
I'm a bit intimidated here – is it me or does this think look welded in? Maybe this is how they all look on tanks of this age? I gave it a little torque, but there was no movement. I really did not try too hard as I did not want to break something off here. I'm all ears on how to think about this one, but needless to say, since it looked welded in, I didn’t try too hard.
Another question here – should the anti-siphon valve be on the outside of the tank attached to the elbow? The only thing that was attached was the fuel line nipple, and it was straight through (no valve inside). Could the anti-siphon be inside the tank?
This lead me to the 4th item under the cover plate – the alternate fuel pickup. Any thoughts on this one? Is it worth trying this as a possibly un-clogged fuel pickup – just move the fuel line nipple over from where it is now?
Since I struck out on the main tank, I bought a 6-gal Moeller tank with 3/8’s supply line, fuel bulb and in-line filter (just in case). To isolate that this was a motor problem, I have done as suggested and hooked this tank directly to the fuel line feeding the fuel pump. Bulb pressurized no problem. Motor fired up no problem. Idled with no noticeable problem (the 200 HPDI is a bit of a rough idle as it goes to 4 cyl during idle). Into gear and up to 1300 rpm no real issue, but thought I noticed a little miss here and there. Shrugged it off as me being overly concerned. Putted the ¼ mi of no-wake at 6knts no real issue. Once out of the no-wake, I slowly throttled up. 2K, no prob. 2.5k, no prob. 2.8K and motor bogs. Pulled back throttle. Putted at 1300 rpm for another minute to think it over, and gave it another shot. Same issue – at about 2800 rpm, motor bogs down.
The upside is that I now have an issue isolated at the motor – a place to start. My first guess is the filter below the fuel injector. That will be this weekend’s project.
I am now thinking that I now have 2 issues. First is a clogged filter in the vapor canister (understand how that would have happened if you read my last post – bypassed the 10micron filter for a short time). The second is in the main tank and likely thinking it is the screen on the bottom of the fuel-pickup line and or (assuming it is inside the tank) the anti-siphon valve. It’s a 25 yo. tank and prolly has a bunch of crud in it that I am going to have to work through will its cleaned out and caught by the main 10micron filter.
Thoughts or suggestions from here are welcome. Specifically, thoughts on how to attack the elbow at the tank. Thanks again for hanging in there with me on this one. Much appreciated.