2002 BF225 RPMs and Power dropping off under load

Ah ha!!! Two screens have escaped me it seems. I do think I could hear a lean pop just before the engine would start stammering. So I hope to look into this as soon as the morning....and on the good running motor as well.

CHawk, that looks like it's the screen that mounts under the fuel pressure regulator. If it's not I can't tell from the diagram. I only see it on one rail where it looks like the fpr mounts?????

Different part number. I think there are two, but the diagram only shows one on the left side.

I'll be going into it. I had those rails completely apart when I had my injectors cleaned and I changed the Fpr. It's a necessary step at this point to check them out again.

Depends on whether or not you pulled the filters and cleaned/changed them. You can pull the rail without touching the filter.

I didn't get to it today but I'll post pics of the rail and how far I take it apart. If I'm not getting to a filter/screen it is hiding somewhere unknown to me.

Nasty Wendy, any update?

Everglades260CC said:

Nasty Wendy, any update?

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Holiday activities, the Flu, and the weather have held up progress. It has freaking snowed twice!!! In South Louisiana!!! I also had to order another fitting to adapt my fuel pressure gauge to the test port at the high pressure pump. Hardest fitting in the world to find and I lose the one I had. Anyway it'll be here in a couple days and and I'll start diagnosing the loss of fuel delivery I suspect is causing this issue.

OK I got back on it today for about an hour and then the sun set on me. I installed the fuel pressure gauge and fuel pressure seems fine. It is reading 36psi at idle and it goes up when rev'd as vacuum goes away and drops back to 36 when it comes back down to idle. I pulled the air intake and fuel rails off. I'll post pics of the screen under the fuel pressure regulator as soon as I remove it, maybe later tonight. I wasn't able to find a second screen on the other fuel rail anywhere. I'm convinced that there is only one screen on the fuel rails and its the one under the regulator. If anyone knows of a filter/screen on the fuel rails other than the one under the regulator please let me know. Thanks.

Fuel pressure is low - it should be between 42 - 49 psi.

It looks like you are right on the fuel rail filter. I thought there were two, but the diagram on boats.net shows only one. See:
http://www.boats.net/parts/search/H...ter/BF225AK0 LA/FUEL PIPE INJECTOR/parts.html

chawk_man said:

Fuel pressure is low - it should be between 42 - 49 psi.

It looks like you are right on the fuel rail filter. I thought there were two, but the diagram on boats.net shows only one. See:
http://www.boats.net/parts/search/H...ter/BF225AK0 LA/FUEL PIPE INJECTOR/parts.html

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I think the 42-49 is reading simply what the pump puts out. When the engine is idling the FPR is reducing fuel pressure by the amount of vacuum the engine is making. I have a standard fuel pressure gauge on the engine now so it reads as pressure goes up and down instead of locking in the highest pressure read. When I prime the engine by turning the key the fuel pressure bleeds down before I can get out the boat to see the gauge. I didn't anticipate that problem and I don't have help. I'm going to hot wire the pump so I can see its output by manually turning it on while I'm standing in position to read the gauge. I've actually recorded stuff like this with my phone and gone back to look at the video to see what I couldn't be in position to see. First I'll check the gauge with the engine running and the vacuum line off the regulator to see if fuel pressure comes up to at least 42psi, I didn't think to do that as I was racing against sunset. It will be a thorough shake down to find this issue. I'm going grab some breakfast and get on this task. I'll chime in later with filter and screen findings as well. As always thanks for all the help. And that goes to everyone. THUMBS UP!!!!

A little crud on the screen but in no way plugged up.

VST is out. I'm thawing out. I'll get inside it when feeling comes back to my hands. 29°F is a South Louisiana ICE AGE!!! Actually its 38° but wind chill or whatever has it at a "Feels Like" 29° per Intellicast.

That filter is really bad! Considering all of the filters and screens the fuel must go through to get to that filter, those things should be sparkling clean, or possibly have an extremely fine black coating on them like you often see on the HP filter. Given that, it looks to me that the entire fuel system was compromised.

Good luck on that VST. You will likely have a difficult time getting the bolts off the cover plates. If so, consider replacing the bolts with good quality SS replacements.

I don't think the filter represents the state of the fuel system. About 6 months ago I completely tore down the fuel system and cleaned it all out from having injectors cleaned to low/high filter changes and filter screen on fuel pump. I'd installed a new fuel pressure regulator then as well. It puzzled me that there was anything on this screen at all. i didn't remove this screen then because there was no resistriction there. I'm guessing this is what was on it from then. Lesson learned. I'll be going through the VST and checking the fuel injector screens. Yeah I just recently had them cleaned but just like with that screen it's best to check to be sure. I'll also hot wire the fuel pump to run continuously to see if pressure drops off after 20 minutes of constant run time. Everything is getting checked and cleaned or replaced if necessary. I'll keep this thread updated. Thanks again.

That filter looks bad for as small as it is and the volume that flows thru it. Were did you find that 2nd filter. I always thought there was only one near the fpr. Also at idle your fuel pressure needs to be higher. Mine is at 47 at idle. Your pressure might actually drop once the debris is cleared out.

Skooter said:

That filter looks bad for as small as it is and the volume that flows thru it. Were did you find that 2nd filter. I always thought there was only one near the fpr. Also at idle your fuel pressure needs to be higher. Mine is at 47 at idle. Your pressure might actually drop once the debris is cleared out.

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That is two pics of the same filter. Great info about your fuel pressure. I was thinking mine was fine but if you are 11psi higher while idling then that very well may be what my issue is. I'll dead head this pump and see what it makes. Me thinks that after I finish cleaning the fuel system AGAIN that I'll be installing a new fuel pump. This is classic symptoms of a dying fuel pump now that I think about it. Thanks for that chime in.

How do you get the fuel pump screen out of the housing without destroying it? I've only done it twice and it was to install new pumps and screens on each one of my 225s. Never had need of reusing so I pretty much destroyed them taking them out. This one isn't bad and I'll clean it and reuse if I can get it out without destroying it. I found more of that crud stuff in the VST!!!


These are the allen headed stainless machine screws I recommend to ya'll to make getting into the VST easy rather than a screw head stripping nightmare.



I'll be pulling the filters for inspection next. I wonder if I'll find them caked with this stuff. It will be a mystery if they are clean huh? It is already a mystery where its coming from and what it is.

High pressure filter looks terrible. Where can this be coming from? I'll check the low pressure filter tomorrow. My fuel tanks were recently opened and cleaned out.

Pic of the filter.


This could account for the pressure drop as well. Pump maybe fine.

I'll cut open my racor filter to see if this crud is coming from my recently cleaned fuel tank.

Well the Racor filter/separator and the spin on fuel filter I use upstream of the racor look terrible. Now I'm second guessing if I changed those filters after I cleaned out the fuel tanks. I can't believe I would have neglected to do that. I can't remember changing them though. #ScratchingMyHead

WOW! That crude should have never gotten past the Racor (assuming it originated in your fuel tank.) All fuel lines need to be cleaned thoroughly, fuel screens cleaned thoroughly, and filters replaced. That HP filter definitely needs to be replaced. Don't forget your onboard fuel water separator - that probably only needs a thorough cleaning. Also, you are going to need to test your injectors again and possibly have them cleaned again.

BUT FIRST, you need to find the source of that crude. I suspect it's in your fuel tank. How were they cleaned? You'll need to pump out some fuel from the bottom of the tank and let it sit for a while, or run the fuel through a coffee filter to see if that is the source. I assume you have aluminum tanks.

SPECULATION: If you have used ethanol laced fuel, you are seeing the results of a phase separation, either in your tank, or in the storage tank of your fuel source, whereby the phased out ethanol, combined with water, has initiated corrosion of the aluminum in your fuel tank.

Here is a link to an article on the subject: http://www.lcbamarketing.com/phase_separation_in_ethanol_blen.htm

You need to pull the screen under high pressure pump. Its pretty much stuck in there with plastic tabs to the inner wall and an o-ring. I've pulled on them with needle nosed pliers. Your best best is to replaceit and the high pressure pump (if you have not replaced it before) For the $200 on the pump might as well do it. Also make sure you go in with new o-rings on the vst and high pressure filter. This is the junk I got from under the high pressure screen on my 200s

I installed inspection covers in my fuel tanks. Looks like I need to use them. I'll open them up and look inside. Fuel travel path will be addressed. Is it possible that this started building up in the fuel lines from the previous owner and has finally started breaking free? I have replaced some fuel lines so I'll cut open some original sections of line and replaced sections of line to see if there is a noticeable difference. I have a hard time believing this made it through my on board filter and seperator. Looking in the tank should determine if that's the case. Ethanol seperation would have to happen really fast (like 8 weeks) to be the culprit. I'll use ethanol fuel when I know I'll empty the tank. I usually fill one with stabilized ethanol fuel and run it empty before switching to the non ethanol tank. The motors and fuel line is rated to handle it. I'm not ready to blame everything on that yet as I've had ethanol fuel last MANY times longer in my motorcycle's tank unstabilized. I'll keep updates coming. Opening the tank will expose if it is ethanol seperation.

How I cleaned the tanks. The tanks' inspection covers were opened all fuel pumped out and they were flushed with water. The water was pumped out and the tanks were scrubbed with light abrasive pads and solvent. They were then pressure washed and filled with water and drained twice. They were dried with towels and sprayed with alcohol via a pressure sprayer. To dry them for use a leaf blower was used to blow into the inspection holes as a shop vac sucked out thrsough the sending unit hole evaporating the alcohol leaving the tanks bone dry. The trailer jack was all the way up causing any liquids/moisture to run to the back of the tank. Yes all of that was a PIA. There was no sign of foul fuel. I did clean out old gasket material from what I believe was a sending unit. The tanks looked good before and great after.

Well that certainly sounds like a very thorough cleaning job and would agree that it's unlikely to have originated in the tanks. These are aluminum tanks, correct?

If you find crude back in your tanks, then it's likely you got contaminated fuel from your source. But I still don't understand how stuff that big (as shown in the VST) could have gotten past your Racor and the on-board f/w separator. They're typically 10 micron filters.

A remote possibility - a failing/deteriorating diaphragm in your low pressure fuel pump.

Yes aluminum tanks.
I will be disassembling the low pressure pump for inspection. The entire fuel travel path will be inspected, cleaned, or replaced.

Roger that. Keep us posted. This is an interesting quest.

LP filter doesn't look abnormal to me.



Culprit it found or one of the culprits found. The gasket material from the recently installed inspection covers is disintegrating. This was advertised as gasoline safe material. I'm pizzed about this. False advertising at its finest. The pieces in the tank break when I try to grab them with a reach tool. Looks like this is what has fouled my on board filters.











As for on board actions I'll get this out of the tank and replace all the gaskets and filters. Of course I'll flush out the lines and replace if fuel doesn't clean up. Motor wise the plan hasn't changed. I'll go through the fuel path and clean it out of all debris. I have to source a fuel safe gasket material that is ACTUALLY fuel safe for real.

Well at least it was 70°F today. Gotta love South Louisiana's weather....if you don't just wait 5 minutes, it'll change.

What about RTV or The Right Stuff?