I jointly own a pontoon boat. It has a 1994-ish 3 cylinder 2 cycle oil-injection Johnson. Anyhow, one of the owners noticed excessive smoking and then had an issue with the engine stalling in gear. The engine would start fine and then die. After a while it would not start at all.
I went down and started it. It started OK. When I put it in gear, it would die after a while. Did that about ten times with various combos of throttle. Did change the plugs. All were wet but none looked like they were not firing.
I had replaced the stator and brain before about two years ago, so I didn't think it was ignition. It really sounded like starvation. I looked on the internet and checked with the guys and they said that when the dual-action fuel/oil pump fails on the fuel side, it can cause excessive oil consumption. OK, I pulled the pump and got an overhaul kit. One of the bellows was cracked but not a lot. rebuilt the pump and put in a new filter. Installed the rebuilt pump today. Fired it up and all seemed fine but then the same symptoms. Starts OK, runs OK. It sounds like a cylinder or two is cutting out and then shuts down from a steady 4000 RPM. Runs maybe two minutes or less.
So the next thought I had was blockage from the fuel tank. I pulled the line and blew into the tank to dislodge any pick-up blockage since I couldn't get the pick up tube removed from the plastic tank. All seemed well and it had run for many hours before this issue. While puzzling, I checked the oil tank. It was WAY down and we had an alarm horn in the cockpit. I'm thinking tank level and maybe an auto shut off. One of the owners had put a gallon of oil in but it may have blown it out if the fuel pump was bad. It was smoking like a WW ll destroyer laying out a smoke screen.
So, current thinking:
Hook up a small tank with good fuel to check how it runs in case we have some contaminated fuel (doubtful)
Fill up oil tank in case we have an auto-shut off due to low oil level.
Bring my inflatable dinghy pump down to put a lot of reverse pressure on the fuel line in case there was a blockage and my feeble attempts at blowing wasn't adequate.
So, that's where I'm at now. Any further suggestions? Appreciated!!!
I went down and started it. It started OK. When I put it in gear, it would die after a while. Did that about ten times with various combos of throttle. Did change the plugs. All were wet but none looked like they were not firing.
I had replaced the stator and brain before about two years ago, so I didn't think it was ignition. It really sounded like starvation. I looked on the internet and checked with the guys and they said that when the dual-action fuel/oil pump fails on the fuel side, it can cause excessive oil consumption. OK, I pulled the pump and got an overhaul kit. One of the bellows was cracked but not a lot. rebuilt the pump and put in a new filter. Installed the rebuilt pump today. Fired it up and all seemed fine but then the same symptoms. Starts OK, runs OK. It sounds like a cylinder or two is cutting out and then shuts down from a steady 4000 RPM. Runs maybe two minutes or less.
So the next thought I had was blockage from the fuel tank. I pulled the line and blew into the tank to dislodge any pick-up blockage since I couldn't get the pick up tube removed from the plastic tank. All seemed well and it had run for many hours before this issue. While puzzling, I checked the oil tank. It was WAY down and we had an alarm horn in the cockpit. I'm thinking tank level and maybe an auto shut off. One of the owners had put a gallon of oil in but it may have blown it out if the fuel pump was bad. It was smoking like a WW ll destroyer laying out a smoke screen.
So, current thinking:
Hook up a small tank with good fuel to check how it runs in case we have some contaminated fuel (doubtful)
Fill up oil tank in case we have an auto-shut off due to low oil level.
Bring my inflatable dinghy pump down to put a lot of reverse pressure on the fuel line in case there was a blockage and my feeble attempts at blowing wasn't adequate.
So, that's where I'm at now. Any further suggestions? Appreciated!!!
