1989 70hp VRO cutting out won't run at full throttle

[Fred Cole]

My 1989 70 hp VRO has started cutting out at full speed similar to water in fuel I was told the VRO pump could be damaged by ethanol fuel could this be the problem ?? It starts and idles ok ??

 

[racerone]

You could start by using another known good tank and line.-----------This will eliminate leaks on the fuel supply side.---------What happens when someone operates the manual fuel pump ?--------The VRO pump looks intimidating but it is easy to take apart for inspection.

 

[LSXG8GT]

Yes, ethanol absolutely can eat away at the rubber diaphragms inside a VRO. I've seen this happen before. As racerone has said, it's not hard to take it apart for the sake of inspecting it.