Went out Tuesday, and had to run up and back a very rough Stono from Folly in kind of a hurry in the late afternoon…wishing I was in the very nice Freeman I saw running in the opposite direct, maybe someday!
Anyway close to Buzzard’s I started noticing a slight loss of power, but thought my buff, which i placed around the throttle shaft, was prohibiting forward movement. After I dropped my buddy off and headed home, I removed the buff from around the throttle and soon realized it was something else. I could not simply position the throttle and maintain the given rpm’s and speed. I found that by continually “pumping” the throttle I could maintain 4000ish rpm’s and speed. By “pumping” I mean pulling the throttle back about 1/4 way to neutral and then forward again every 5-10 seconds. Doing this kept the rpm’s up and I could maintain speed. Once back into a calmer Folly and after idling through the short shallow stretch, I was able to come up to power/rpms and stayed there just fine.
This morning I made a few runs, again flat water, no rpm fade away while running. But WOT rpms are 5200 which are 700 less than the Performance Bulletin shows and WOT speed is 45 which is 5 or 6 mph less than usual from what I recall.
Its a 2012 f150xa with 105 hrs and I’m 80 flawless hours since the 100 hr service Chris V’s crew did last May when I bought the boat. I’ve been out at least once every other week since last May and have used only e free 90 octane.
This was definitely roughest stretch of water I’ve run in for an extended period of time. I’m covered under Y.E.S. warranty, but to me it seems like a fuel issue, i.e. stirred something up, but to my novice eye the fuel separator in the splash well looks clean.
Any thoughts and suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
Rough water can always cause fuel problems to show up. Your separator can look clean and actually be clean water. Drain it first; feel and smell the drainage. Under the engine cowl; at the front of the engine is another filter. In this filter there is a little float wit a red ring. It should be at the bottom of the glass. If floating at all; it has water in it and must be drained. If these two procedures don’t solve your problem; I would change the filter cartridge in the separator. This should always be done once a year anyway.
Rough water can always cause fuel problems to show up. Your separator can look clean and actually be clean water. Drain it first; feel and smell the drainage. Under the engine cowl; at the front of the engine is another filter. In this filter there is a little float wit a red ring. It should be at the bottom of the glass. If floating at all; it has water in it and must be drained. If these two procedures don’t solve your problem; I would change the filter cartridge in the separator. This should always be done once a year anyway.
I don’t know what a “buff” is but if it restricted your shifter( if it isn’t fly by wire ), you can stretch/split the shifter cable. If it is fuel restriction, you can burn a piston by running lean. Find the cause.
Thanks for the replies. I drained and inspected the on board separator, it was clean and all gas, zero sediment or discoloration in the jar. My on engine filter has the water alarm, which has not gone off. I going to change both filters tomorrow since they have 80 hrs/1 yr on them anyway. The pickup stainer make sense, I’ll check it tomorrow too. Thanks again to all.
This happened to me with a F225. The screen inside the VST high pressure fuel pump was the problem. I think that is what it is called. It is easy to remove but seem intimidating because it is a large piece you have to remove from the motor. The screen can be replaced. I just blow it off.