2006 DF200 Starting Issue

[cwhite6]

I have a pair of 2006 DF200 motors I just out on a World Cat I am rebuilding. The motors ran fine before I got them and I have the mechanics printouts showing no issues. The boat has sat for four years. I checked the fuel tanks and they appeared to be dry. Apparently the port one was not. We put the boat in and both motors started and idled fine just like the did on the muffs. I pushed the throttles and the boat planed out and everything was running fine. After about 3 minutes the port motor lost RPM and died. It restarted, ran a few seconds and died. It did this twice and then wiuld not start. After disconnecting the fuel line and pumping the bulb, whitish gas came out which lends me to believe there was water in the fuel. We put the boat on the trailer and headed home. Today I hooked up the portable tank to it. It actually started and ran fine for about 30 seconds. Then the rpms started dropping like it was starving for fuel. Then it died. When you turn the key, the fuel pump runs for about 8 seconds or so just like the motor that is running perfectly does. The motor will then turn over and every once in a while it will cough, but it will not start at all. I am even getting a little exhaust out of the exhaust, but the dang thing will not start. I pumped the bulb on the portable tank until it got hard to squeeze and the clear fuel filter on the front of the motor was full. When you try to start it, the level of fuel in the fuel filter on the front drops down about an inch or so while the fuel pump is running. It seems almost like the motor can not pull enough fuel to it. The other motor runs fine off of the same tank. I have the factory service manual, but it is no help for trouble shooting. What do I need to check?

[cwhite6]

As one more piece of info, I checked the low pressure fuel pump per the manual. With the hose disconnected from the vapor seperator, it pumps a steady stream of fuel out when the key is turned to on.

[cwhite6]

Any ideas?

[Solarman]

OK So now check the output from the high pressure pump. See if there is any bad fuel coming out (try to catch it into a clean glass jar). If flow is poor, not clean fuel, then clean HP filter. You might drain (and catch) fuel from vst drain also. Retry starting motor on portable tank.

Hopefully the injectors are not clogged. Good luck, let us know what you find out, when able.

[cwhite6]

Fixed! When I got home yesterday I checked the fuel pressure with my new gauge. It was reading right per the Suzuki manual. So, I drained the VST again. The gas that came out was orange. I then had my wife cycle the key to the motor about 6 times while I held the pressure relief button down on the fuel pressure gauge. The gauge has a relief port with tubing in it that drains into a can. Every time she turned it to on, we would leave it on until the fuel pump stopped. I ended up pumping about a gallon or more through the system until the fuel coming out of the high pressure filter was pure gasoline. I then removed the fuel pressure tester tubing and such and tried the motor. It started right up on the second try. I let it idle for about 2 minutes and then I put it to about 1100 rpm for about 10 seconds and then idled it for about 5 minutes. After that I turned it off, let it cool and restarted it to let it idle more. I did that about 3 times. It runs perfect now. Idles nice and smooth with no jerkiness or looping. I will be running some injector cleaner through it once I clean the fuel tanks out. It is running on a portable tank right now. I need to drain both tanks, change out my Racor filters and then try everything again.

[Moonlighter]

Yes, definitely change those Racor filters. Where there is water in fuel, there is almost always other crap too!

I would also be very tempted to check those fuel lines from tank to engines very carefully. The inside can get swollen and deteriorate on some lines due to ethanol fuel. They look good from the outside but can be very bad inside. Tiny pieces of line eventually break off and you know where they will end up - in that VST! If in any doubt - replace with good quality ethanol resistant fuel lines.

[cwhite6]

I changed all of the fuel lines with brand new ones. When the motor wouldn't start and I had a inkling it was bad fuel I disconnected all of the lines and blew all of the gasoline/water out of them. I also replaced my Racors. Last night we pumped all of the liquid out of the offending tank. It had 25 gallons in it. The first ten gallons were almost clear and not oily or gassy at all. It cleared up after that. The last 10 gallons I saved for the lawn mower. The tank is now completely empty. I am going to add gas to it this evening and run the boat again tomorrow. Now I need to figure out why my Raymarine is not displaying engine data.