Honda BF225 2005 motor not getting fuel, tried everything and suspect bad VST pump

Please reply if anyone can help out. I am not very mechanically inclined but I do try my a$$ off.

Boat sat on trailer unused from September 2018 until now. I did and always have used blue Stabil. Tried to start motor- One battery died over the winter so I replaced both with new batteries. Motor still doesnt start. Removed all filters and found them to have some water (note that this "water" is flammable, but is clearly a seperate layer than the floating fuel).

Replaced external water separator. Drained and replaced internal filters. Removed spark plugs and confirmed they are getting voltage, but plugs/ cylinders are not getting any fuel to them. Found #2 fuse (I think to the vst pump) was blown, replaced fuse. Removed outlet hose from low pressure fuel pump and confirmed it is pumping fuel. Drained VST pump/reservoir? and found it to have water in the fuel. Pumped fresh fuel using primer bulb to attempt to refill VST? not sure if that is how that works. Still wont start. Spark plugs still dry.

Suspect VST/ high pressure fuel pump has failed, or there is a blockage or air in the system somewhere. Since this is a $700 part I need to be sure it is actually bad, is there a way to test this? Is it likely that the #2 fuse going out caused something within the VST system to fail?

Also concerned about large volume of water in fuel. Removed main fuel line from tank to motor (After external fuel filter) and used primer bulb to pump half gallon of fuel into a empty bottle- seems to be approximately half water (note that this "water" is flammable, but is clearly a separate layer than the floating fuel). Well mixed when pumped but settles out to two distinct layers within minutes- to me this suggests I have a layer of bad fuel at the bottom of my tank that meets a layer of good fuel and these layers just so happen to meet right where the fuel pickup is. The boat is jacked way up in the front so all suspected bad gas/water should be at the rear of the tank near the pickup. I plan to try to remove the sunken layer of bad fuel- As worried as I am maybe it is only a gallon or so of bad stuff, but theres over 100 gallons of fuel in there so I really dont want to pump the whole tank.

Background-
Owned 2 years. boat appeared to be neglected by previous owner. Boat and motor ran great first season. Last season boat bogged down, I removed external water separator- appeared very old and full of water. Changed external water separator but fuel issue remained. Removed internal starboard fuel filters and found them full of gas/water mix and suspected float was tripped. Dumped them, cleaned them, replaced fuel filter. Boat ran great and was used at least 50 hours.

Easiest way to check fuel pump is to unplug 2 pin connector at the pump and check using a test light across the two terminals to see if the is power for approx 5 seconds when you turn on the ignition.The reconnect and see if pump cycles for 5 secs when turning ignition on. If there is power there but pump does not run then you can safely assume the pump has failed.I would also strip and clean the whole fuel system as well as get the injectors serviced and checked.

To me it sounds like your whole fuel system is contaminated with water. Start with the fuel tank. Keep pumping that primer bulb. And constantly checking samples for water. It would be best if you could use an external fuel tank with good gas. To get the motor running. You can check fuel pressure at the shrader valve. You will need a fuel pressure gauge. If water was present In vst tank. And it sat over the winter ( below freezing temps) it more than likely ended the life of your fuel pump. Old fuel will end the life of your pump also. Do you hear the fuel pump come on? Should pressurize each time key is turned on.

Sounds like your fuel went through a phase separation - that is, the ethanol "phased" out of the fuel, leaving you with very low octane gasoline. That's why the separated liquid burns - it's not water but ethanol, or a water/ethanol mix. So, yes, you will need to drain the entire fuel system, including those 100 gallons in the tank. Test fuel pump as Ian described. Drain the VST if you haven't already done that. The procedure is described in the owners manual. Test your injectors making sure they are getting power. If not, check all of the fuses with an ohm meter.

Once all that is done, then as Mechanicman suggested - hook up a separate external fuel tank with fresh gas and try to get the motor going. Hook the hose from the separate tank directly to the inlet to the low pressure fuel filter.

When I have had to completely drain a fuel tank, I use an aftermarket auto electric fuel pump. Have the bow up on the boat, then use a floor jack to canter the boat to one side or the other, and snake the draw line from the fuel pump to the lowest point in the tank. You will need to remove the pick-up tube from the tank to do that. And you will need a bunch of containers for the bad fuel. The reason to do it this way is that the fuel pickup in the tank will not get all of the bad fuel out.

iang6766 said:

Easiest way to check fuel pump is to unplug 2 pin connector at the pump and check using a test light across the two terminals to see if the is power for approx 5 seconds when you turn on the ignition.The reconnect and see if pump cycles for 5 secs when turning ignition on. If there is power there but pump does not run then you can safely assume the pump has failed.I would also strip and clean the whole fuel system as well as get the injectors serviced and checked.

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Thanks, I will give this a try. I am almost certain the pump doesn't cycle when turning ignition key to on (assuming it makes a noticeable noise) and you mean just turning key to on and not actually cranking the motor right?

Other mechanic also said injectors should be serviced, so looks like I am definitely doing that, and probably buying a pump

I understand everything except the shrader valve- where is this located, on the pump? thanks!

mechanicman said:

To me it sounds like your whole fuel system is contaminated with water. Start with the fuel tank. Keep pumping that primer bulb. And constantly checking samples for water. It would be best if you could use an external fuel tank with good gas. To get the motor running. You can check fuel pressure at the shrader valve. You will need a fuel pressure gauge. If water was present In vst tank. And it sat over the winter ( below freezing temps) it more than likely ended the life of your fuel pump. Old fuel will end the life of your pump also. Do you hear the fuel pump come on? Should pressurize each time key is turned on.

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I say this not being stubborn but trying to learn rather... Why cant I just draw out the bottom layer of bad fuel? The bottom layer is only a gallon or two. the other 98 or so gallons looks and smells good. If you are saying that is is too low octane, can I add a few gallons of 100-110 octane aviation fuel to bring up the octane a bit? Thanks!

chawk_man said:

Sounds like your fuel went through a phase separation - that is, the ethanol "phased" out of the fuel, leaving you with very low octane gasoline. That's why the separated liquid burns - it's not water but ethanol, or a water/ethanol mix. So, yes, you will need to drain the entire fuel system, including those 100 gallons in the tank. Test fuel pump as Ian described. Drain the VST if you haven't already done that. The procedure is described in the owners manual. Test your injectors making sure they are getting power. If not, check all of the fuses with an ohm meter.

Once all that is done, then as Mechanicman suggested - hook up a separate external fuel tank with fresh gas and try to get the motor going. Hook the hose from the separate tank directly to the inlet to the low pressure fuel filter.

When I have had to completely drain a fuel tank, I use an aftermarket auto electric fuel pump. Have the bow up on the boat, then use a floor jack to canter the boat to one side or the other, and snake the draw line from the fuel pump to the lowest point in the tank. You will need to remove the pick-up tube from the tank to do that. And you will need a bunch of containers for the bad fuel. The reason to do it this way is that the fuel pickup in the tank will not get all of the bad fuel out.

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If you truly have a phase separation of the fuel, then I doubt if a few gallons of AVGAS will fix the problem. But it may be worth a try once you have the engine running properly on an external tank with known good fuel as Mechanicman suggested.

BTW - I don't think there is a schrader valve on this engine. At least I've never seen one. You check the fuel pressure at the pressure relief bolt that is in the cover the the high pressure fuel filter. You will need a 6 mm adapter for your fuel pressure gauge.

The plan, according to combining everyones suggested actions. Correct me if necessary.

1. Drain fuel tank
2. Test high pressure fuel pump and replace if bad
3. Clean entire fuel system and replace all filters, including drain and clean VST and cleaning fuel rail
4. Test injectors for power
5. Try to run motor using external fuel tank
6. Have injectors serviced if necessary

FYI the pump can be purchased separately from the VST unit and sells for about $200.If you go this route, make sure you replace the strainer that hold the pump, along with the o-rings that house it.

Update-

Began project yesterday. Tilted boat WAY up and drained rear bottom of fuel tank using a 12V fuel transfer pump. The first two gallons were dark in color (phase-separated ethanol/water mix). After those 2 gallons pumped thru I pumped another 7 gallons thru, while snaking the tube all along the rear bottom and sides of the tank- I got maybe a few ounces of mystery fluid but the rest was pure gas.

My best estimate is there is around 90 gallons of fuel in the boat. I think my tank is good to go but as some stated this 90 gallons maybe low octane due to the ethanol phase-separation. Plan to add 5 gallons of 105 octane aviation fuel and then top it off with 93 octane gas to bring the octane up a bit, as I really dont want to pump the entire tank.

Next step is removing the VST for a good cleaning, testing the fuel pump/ probably needs replaced, and replacing ALL fuel filters.

Once VST and fuel pump is serviced, I would try to run the engine on an external tank with new, clean fuel, as previously suggested, to make sure everything is running smoothly, then add the booster gas to your fuel tank and compare how it runs under that situation. Otherwise, if it's not running right you will not know whether it's because of the fuel or some other issue.

chawk_man said:

Once VST and fuel pump is serviced, I would try to run the engine on an external tank with new, clean fuel, as previously suggested, to make sure everything is running smoothly, then add the booster gas to your fuel tank and compare how it runs under that situation. Otherwise, if it's not running right you will not know whether it's because of the fuel or some other issue.

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Go easy on the AV Gas. If it is from an airport it has a blueish color, smells great and is 100 Octane LEADED Gas. I don't know if your Honda is going to like it. You may be better off with ethanol free.

Maxthrottle raises a good point. I don't know what the high octane leaded gas would do specifically, but logically 10 gallons of it mixed with 80 - 90 gallons of lower octane shouldn't cause a problem. But a safer option may be to get the highest octane non-ethanol fuel you can find.

Save yourself the pain and drain the tank completely, ethanol blends are not a good idea in a marine application and you could end up killing an O2 sensor which is worth a whole lot more than a tank of gas.

Yes, I do agree with Ian on that. I understand reluctance to trashing 90 or so gallons of fuel, but the insurance factor is worth it. Again, run it first on a portable tank with known fresh non-ethanol fuel to make sure everything else is working properly.

It could be you have a leak in your gas tank and it is allowing rain water to enter the tank, the water settles to the bottom. I had this happen in a Boston whaler with an aluminum tank. I only run ethanol free fuel.

Fuel should not not go bad if it was. 100% fresh in September 2018, did you use a complete tank full of gas in 2018 or was there a lot of old gas in the tank left over from before 2018? If yes, it could be you have bad gas.

With my boat, I removed all the old gas into a container I could see through and initially the gas was about half water, you could see the separation easily. After some removal, it became 100% gas. I burned that in my pickup.

I would suggest you you do whatever you need to to remove all the water in the outboard motor as suggested above and then run it on an external tank. That will confirm your mechanical systems are fine or not. Then go from there and deal with whatever is or is not needed in the gas tank.

PS, I was running an old Evinrude 2 stroke at the time, way simpler to clean up than a fuel injection system, but also burnt 50% more fuel than a Honda.

Thanks so much to everyone who offered their advise and guidance on this.

Update- Here is what I have done...
Drained the entire tank (90 gallons)
Removed VST, dismantled and cleaned VST/HP assembly
Flushed all fuel lines with fresh fuel
Replaced all fuel filters
Replaced HP pump and filter (tested old HP pump and it was definitely bad)

Basically, I serviced the entire fuel system from the boat tank up to the fuel rail/ injectors (I did not clean or service the fuel rails or injectors), except I did not mess with the low pressure fuel pump.
Took boat out for a sea trial and it started up and ran great at all rpm's

That's really good news.

From here on out, avoid ethanol fuel if at all possible. And regardless of whether it's ethanol-laced or not, use a good fuel stabilizer like Startron or Sta-bil Marine whenever the engine is going to be unused for more than a few weeks.

If not mistaken,
All vst chamber. High pressure pumps , when you turn on key u should hear hi pressure pump engaged for 3-6 seconds.