Suzuki 250 4 stroke Fuel Issues

[bwhite]

I have a 2008, SS250 four stroke on a Blazer Bay 2220 Super Sport. I can lower it into the water and drive it all day with no problem, and I can shut it down and drift fish or anchor for up to an hour, fire it up and get back on plane with no problems. If I anchor up for approx 2 hours and throttle up to get up on plane it will run about 10 to 20 seconds and then the engine will die. The bulb will then have to be squeezed and the fuel system pumped full, the engine restarted and the bulb pumped tight again and then it will run fine. Sometimes it will die again and have to go thru the process again. It does not seem to make a difference if the fuel tank is half or full (60 gal).
I have replaced the fuel/water separator twice and also the bulb, do you have any ideas what the next plan of attack should be?
Brian

[artdf175]

Is the bulb is going soft or even flat - it is a sign the fuel source is plugged or not getting air through the tank breather port
There could be several things for you to check that can cause the engine to be starving for fuel
Fuel lines are known to break down internally which the blocks fuel lines
One other thing that can occur is spiders and the like find it convenient to make homes in the breather for the fuel tank shutting it off creating a vacuum in the tank
Those are the easy things to check
And how does the in line fuel filter look?
Art

[bwhite]

Suzuki 250 four stroke

Thanks for the response Art,
Yes the bulb goes soft, I will have to check the breather to the tank if I can find it.
I just emptied the sediment bowl/filter, and pumped the fuel up so that there was no air in the bowl and retightened it.
Fired up the engine with the hood off and noted that the fuel level in the glass dropped about 1/2" and did not refill, is that normal, I would have thought that the sight glass should remain full.
When I emptied the fuel/water separator the contents were clean and showed no signs of dirt or sediment.

[Moonlighter]

Could be a faulty anti-syphon valve on the tank. We had a similar issue and that was it. We just removed the internals from the barb (lottle ball, spring and seat) and refitted it. Problem solved.

[bwhite]

Suzuki 250 4 stroke Fuel Issues

Thanks, will check into that, not sure what the configuration inside that tank consists of.

[Moonlighter]

Thanks, will check into that, not sure what the configuration inside that tank consists of.

The anti-syphon valve is simply inside the barb on the tank that the fuel hose connects to.

All we did was take the fuel hose off, then unscrewed the barb fitting from the tank fitting, took it to the workbench, inside it (if it is an anti-syphon valve) is a tiny ball and spring, we just used a punch to punch it out so that the barb was then clear. Reinstalled it on the tank, reconnected fuel line. Done.

[bwhite]

Suzuki 250 4 stroke fuel issue

The anti-siphon valve was not the problem?

[Moonlighter]

Are you saying that you removed the anti-syphon valve as per previous posts, but the problem persists?

[bwhite]

Zuzuki SS250 4 stroke fuel issues

The anti-siphon valve is not the problem, removed it and it still does the same thing

[artdf175]

back to your comment about the fuel bowl
if it is not staying full then your assumption is correct -- there is an air leak
you should check all the fittings from the top of the fuel tank to the fuel bowl
fuel line is not horribly expensive, you might consider replacing it ..

is the fuel bowl before the fuel bulb or between the bulb and the engine?
Art

[Harper]

Two suggestions:
1) next time it shuts down on you, immediately crack open the gas cap and listen for evidence of a partial vacuum in the tank.
or
2) next time you have drifted long enough that you expect it to recur after startup, crack open the gas cap before you start it and leave it open to see if that prevents the engine from shutting down.

A positive result in either case would point to a plugged tank vent(apparently somehow intermittently plugged, since it doesn't happen all the time).

[bwhite]

Suzuki 250 4 stroke fuel issue

The fuel filter glass bowl is on the engine, the bulb is below the engine about 2 ft.

[artdf175]

If you were successful of getting the air out of the line you shouldn't have any air back in the bowl
Since you do there is a fitting or gasket leaking air as the fuel pump pulls fuel out of the tanks when the air gets to a certain level no more fuel
Like I mentioned earlier check all the fittings and double check the gasket on the fuel bowl

[Mark Harris]

What was the answer to your problem as I have a similar issue on my rib in the UK?

[Greg Moore]

A simple way to check if the tank isn't venting correctly is to remove or really loosen the gas cap (assuming your rig won't toss gas all over if you do) and see if issue repeats.

If bulb goes soft or collapses then either air isn't getting into tank to allow gas to leave or the intake screen in the bottom of the tank is clogged or line from tank to primer is collapsing internally (may look fine on outside)..