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Fuel problems on my Chris Craft

B

briang0

Regular Contributor
"I have a 1974 CC with a 409 C

"I have a 1974 CC with a 409 Chevy, the engine is 1964 vintage rebuilt though. I put her in the water the other day. She has been running on land for the last 2 months without issue. Got out in the river after about 5 minutes at half throttle and she died. I tuned it up while it was on land last month points, plugs, condenser, rotor, cap, wires, and new filter/separator. She will run for about 5-8 minutes at about 2500 rpms then die definitly starving for gas. I had a feeling it was fuel related although the tank was full all winter and I put stablizer in it. I switched the fuel hose from the inboard tank and stuck it in a 5 gal. can of fresh gas and she ran for over 30 minutes at 2500 rpm without issue. If I connect up the tank she will only go about 5 -8 min. I left the cap off the tank and there was no difference. I removed the check valve from the line to eliminate it as a issue. I put a couple of bottles of dry gas in too. I put a vacuum gauge on the line running to the tank it pulls about 2-5 mmhg then slowly goes up to 10mmhg and then dies. I'm thinking there must be something in the tank. I made sure the shutoff valve was clean and pulled the tube out of the tank and it was clean. I'm getting ready to pull the tank but it's almost full and it's going to be a pain. Anybody have any ideas?"
 
Why are you so sure it is a fu

Why are you so sure it is a fuel problem?
 
"Are you able to remove the si

"Are you able to remove the siphon tube from the tank? The older boats used to have a screen on the end of the tube. If so, it is possible this screen is clogged. It is also possible that you have collapsed a fuel line. Sometimes the hoses can delaminate and, although they look good externally, they have collapsed internally.

With the check valve removed you should be able to blow back through the line with very little resistance. Try this, it may lend some clues.

It sounds like you have a good grasp on how to trace this problem, let us know what you fine."
 
I have contamination in the fu

I have contamination in the fuel tank. You were right Rick there is a screen in the siphon tube it had what looked like a dust bunny in it. I removed it and everything was fine for about 30 minutes then same problem. I pulled the tube again and found the same thing. It looks like I have to pull the tank and clean it. It's a plastic tank so I'm hoping it will clean up ok. I'll keep you informed
 
"Brian,

Clean the tank as b

"Brian,

Clean the tank as best possible, then remove that screen. Be sure you have adequate filtration in-line, but get that screen out of there, it will only cause headaches in the future. That's why the tank manufacturers no longer use them."
 
Ok the engine is running and n

Ok the engine is running and not stalling. Now it's overheating. I am in the process of checking the thermostats. I think I have two although I'm not sure. I have a small heat exchanger that has antifreeze in it. I have a raw water pump plus another water pump too. I have worked on cars for over 25 years but I'm not real familiar with inboard boat engines. I went out for a shake down cruise and the temp went right up to about 220 F usually she has a hard time getting past 160. When she is idleing at the dock she hovers around 160. I plan on starting with the thermostats first. There appears to be plenty of water coming out of the exhaust. I would appreciate any ideas.
 
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