Hello gang. This spring I sort of broke my own rule of troubleshooting and replaced a bunch of parts all at once to solve some problems I was having.
96 Intruder E150GLEDB
105PSI compression on all 6
7/16" spark on each plug lead
VRO2 pump in use
Evinrude premium semi-synthetic oil
Dual fuel tanks
Issues:
- Excessive smoke at startup and idle speeds
- Good acceleration up to 4,000RPM. Engine bogs after 4,000RPM.
- After setting in a spot fishing with engine trimmed up I could not take off. Have to re-prime bulb to refill fuel system
- Fuel tank selector switch difficult to turn
- weeping fuel from BB's in float chambers
- fuel leaking around float chamber gaskets
Repairs:
- New VRO2 pump
- All new fuel lines
- BRP carb rebuild kits (6X)
- BRP carb float chambers (6X)
- New fuel manifold o-rings (12X)
- Sierra fuel primer rebuild kit
- New fuel tank selector valve
Process:
I always encourage people to find the source of the problem and replace only what's needed instead of using a parts cannon. Well, I kind of broke that rule on this one, but it seemed there were several issues all happening at once that are mostly related to this being a 26 year old engine. The weeping BB's and leaks around the gaskets made me feel like the float chambers were warped and needed placed. I've owned the boat 7 years and never did anything with the carbs and I didn't know the history, so I went on the assumption that the carbs have never been touched so new complete kits were used. I was getting weeping around the manual lever on the fuel primer so it was due for a rebuild. When I primed the fuel system the o-rings on the throttle body manifold leaked like a sieve.
The big shot in the dark (and expense) was the new VRO2 fuel pump. My assumption was the excess smoke and bogging at high RPM was a fuel delivery issue related to a bad fuel side in the pump. I went back and forth deciding if I wanted to install a rebuild kit or just replace the entire pump. In the end, I decided the original pump was 26 years old and if one part of it was badly degraded, the likelihood of issues on the oil side are real. Also, my thought was plastic that old could be brittle and trying to reassemble the pump after repair might result in new cracks and leaks. My other thought was, "how many 26 year old cars still have the original fuel pump" and that helped me to decide a new pump was worth the cost. So, I shot for the moon and installed a brand new unit to eliminate issues.
The end result is everything is fixed. The engine runs fantastic, the excess smoke is gone, the leaks are gone, and I now have full WOT RPM. In fact, I was running a Raker II 15x22 3-blade prop and could easily hit 5,500 RPM and still had throttle left. I have a Shooter 15x25 4-blade prop as well so I'll run that and see where it lands for WOT. All total this was about $1,000 in parts and supplies which seems like a lot, but i view this as maintenance that needs done a 2-stroke at some point, so this money was going to be spent at some point anyway.
I hope all this information can help someone else that might be experiencing similar issues.
KJ
96 Intruder E150GLEDB
105PSI compression on all 6
7/16" spark on each plug lead
VRO2 pump in use
Evinrude premium semi-synthetic oil
Dual fuel tanks
Issues:
- Excessive smoke at startup and idle speeds
- Good acceleration up to 4,000RPM. Engine bogs after 4,000RPM.
- After setting in a spot fishing with engine trimmed up I could not take off. Have to re-prime bulb to refill fuel system
- Fuel tank selector switch difficult to turn
- weeping fuel from BB's in float chambers
- fuel leaking around float chamber gaskets
Repairs:
- New VRO2 pump
- All new fuel lines
- BRP carb rebuild kits (6X)
- BRP carb float chambers (6X)
- New fuel manifold o-rings (12X)
- Sierra fuel primer rebuild kit
- New fuel tank selector valve
Process:
I always encourage people to find the source of the problem and replace only what's needed instead of using a parts cannon. Well, I kind of broke that rule on this one, but it seemed there were several issues all happening at once that are mostly related to this being a 26 year old engine. The weeping BB's and leaks around the gaskets made me feel like the float chambers were warped and needed placed. I've owned the boat 7 years and never did anything with the carbs and I didn't know the history, so I went on the assumption that the carbs have never been touched so new complete kits were used. I was getting weeping around the manual lever on the fuel primer so it was due for a rebuild. When I primed the fuel system the o-rings on the throttle body manifold leaked like a sieve.
The big shot in the dark (and expense) was the new VRO2 fuel pump. My assumption was the excess smoke and bogging at high RPM was a fuel delivery issue related to a bad fuel side in the pump. I went back and forth deciding if I wanted to install a rebuild kit or just replace the entire pump. In the end, I decided the original pump was 26 years old and if one part of it was badly degraded, the likelihood of issues on the oil side are real. Also, my thought was plastic that old could be brittle and trying to reassemble the pump after repair might result in new cracks and leaks. My other thought was, "how many 26 year old cars still have the original fuel pump" and that helped me to decide a new pump was worth the cost. So, I shot for the moon and installed a brand new unit to eliminate issues.
The end result is everything is fixed. The engine runs fantastic, the excess smoke is gone, the leaks are gone, and I now have full WOT RPM. In fact, I was running a Raker II 15x22 3-blade prop and could easily hit 5,500 RPM and still had throttle left. I have a Shooter 15x25 4-blade prop as well so I'll run that and see where it lands for WOT. All total this was about $1,000 in parts and supplies which seems like a lot, but i view this as maintenance that needs done a 2-stroke at some point, so this money was going to be spent at some point anyway.
I hope all this information can help someone else that might be experiencing similar issues.
KJ