Stalling Universal 3-20 - HELP!

[Keith Howell]

I recently purchased a Catalina 30 that has not been used in over a year. At Sea Trial on way back to dock, under power, the engine stalled repeatedly; however, after a brief period the engine would re-start and we would be underway again. We were at 15,000 - 20,000 rpm. Under power at idle, the engine did not stall. It seemed as if the engine was starving for fuel. I have now replace both the Raycor and fuel filter and an still experiencing the same problem. Any suggestions. Could this be a bad electric fuel pump problem?Keith Howell Mandeville, LAcatmama@fastband.com

 

[R. Palaia]

Water in the fuel tank??

Water in the tank could be one possibility, the other could be that the fuel tank is barely full enough to reach the pick up tube. When the boat rocks, the tube sucks up air. Just some thoughts.Roc

 

[DON]

Check............

Things to check: fuel manual shut off on the tank? Strainer on the bottom of the electric fuel pump? Pick up tube in the tank (some models had a screen on the bottom of the tube that most people throw away)? Collapsed fuel lines? You did bleed the system...right?

 

[Dave]

Collapsing Fuel Lines?

You never mentioned what year your Cat 30 is or which Universal engine is in it. It might help us to have that infomation. I have a 1983 Cat 30 with the Universal 5411. I had a problem where the engine would idle fine, but would die at anything more than idle. This kicked my rear good. I changed filters and even had a company come out to polish the fuel and clean the tank. The injectors bench tested fine and so did the injector pump... Well, it turned out that the fuel lines had become so weakend that they were collapsing when the engine tried to run more than idle and was starving the engine. Changed out the fuel lines and all was good. You could actually see the lines collapse.

 

[John]

Doubtful it's air

The M3-20 is self bleeding, so I'd check for filter blockage, bad lines, water, crappy fuel and low fuel.I'm assuming you meant 1500 and 2000 rpm, BTW.

 

[Chris Ward]

Sock on pick up line in tank

You did not mention the year of your C-30. Many of the older boats have a sock on the end of the fuel pick up tube in the tank. Over time this sock becomes clogged. The engine will act as if the filters are plugged ie. run at low rpm's and briefly at high rpm's.To check for a sock, remove the fuel pick up fitting from the tank. If the pick tube comes part way up and then meets resistance most likely there is a sock attached. Continue to pull the tube out. You should feel the sock sliding off the tube. Reassemble and test the engine.If the sock was clogged, your tank and fuel is probably dirty and you should consider having the fuel and tank cleaned by a fuel "polishing" service.Note: I used this procedure on my 1983 C-30. The sock was left in the bottom of the tank with no problems.

 

[George Paulsen]

Another Stalling Universal

I have a similar problem with my Universal Engine. It has only stalled on 3 occassions recently. It has never stalled in the previous 20 years. I'm changing my fuel filters, but I suspect I'll still have the same problem with the new filters. The old ones did not appear to be that bad. Any suggestions?