Endine Shut down

[Aldi]

1. I just did a hose line upgrade to the engine. Last sunday we took the boat out and about 30 minutes it died. I tried to restart and it would keep running for a while and then die. I am not sure if the air in the fuel line is the reason or not? How it all started was that i stopped the boat and wanted to practise some reverse manuvers, and after that it all went down hill. Anyideas or suggestions. I checked that i had fuel and the tank was 3/4 full. Does anyone know if I should use a more powerful fuel pump? Any suggestions will be appreciated.2. The second question is that i noticed the propeller shaft was spining while in neutral. Is that normal or is there something wrong with it? I have an Atomic4 and don't know much about it? should i hire a mechanic to check it out?

 

[joe friedman]

questions

i assume that you replaced the fuel lines. if so, what was the i.d. of the hose? according to don moyer (www.moyermarine.com) they are recommending 5/16 hose. this makes it easier for the fuel pump to pull fuel from the filter. when you changed the fuel lines, did you also change the fuel filter? is the fuel shutoff in the fully open position?with regards to the spinning shaft, this is the classic situation. when underway under sail, the prop will spin or freewheel. this is normal. some guys can't stand the noise so they put the gear shift into forward and stop the spinning. the upside is that there's no noise. the downside (quite minimal in my opinion) is that the locked prop will take away some boat speed. if you're racing, let it spin. if you're like me, just bopping around the bay, lock it and go for the quiet. just remember that you're in gear next time you go to fire up the old iron genny.

 

[Aldi]

Engine shut down

Thank you Joe. I did replace the hoses with 5/16 new marine grade hose. The hoses previously were 1/4" and were not marine grade. I just bought a new fuel pump which is self priming and maybe that will take care of pulling fuel into the carb. Where as the shaft spining was that I was achored and the engine was running. This was after i did the oil change and let the engine heat up. Is that normal?

 

[joe friedman]

spin doctor

the spinning prop could be a combination of two things. first, it's possible that you are not entirely out of gear. even the slightest engagement will prompt the shaft to spin ever so slowly. additionally, since you were at anchor, it's possible that you were headed into a current and that slight movement past the prop was/could have been enough to cause the prop to spin. in either event, if it's spinning, it shouldn't be very much and i personally wouldn't be concerned.as for the fuel problem, i just traded up to a very used 77 c-30 and had shut-down problems. i just got done replacing the entire system - from the tank to the carb. going to put in the last bit of replacement this weekend (new, larger i.d. elbow at the fuel pump) and hopefully this will solve the problem. don moyer at moyer marine has been more than helpful in trying to come up with the solution. if your situation persists, give him a call.good luck