Fuel starvation woes

[rgoff]

I'm about to tear out what little hair is remaining.

I just finished installing a brand new aluminum gas tank, to get rid of past fuel system problems with the 30 year old one.

On my test run today, everything was fine for 20 minutes or so and then the engine died. Restarted fine then died in 15 seconds or so. This repeated 6 times or so.

I then switched to a portable tank in the cockpit I'd been using and returned to my slip OK.

At the slip the same problem occurred with the new main tank in 20 minutes or so. Portable tank ran fine for 45 minutes.

I am hooking each tank up to the same spot - the inlet to the bulkhead mounted fuel filter. Using a separate hose for each.

I eliminated a clogged vent line possibility by opening the gas fill "cap" on the main tank. Doesn't help.

Someone said I might be sucking air into the system through the fittings on the main tank. What should I use to seal these? Currently only used teflon tape.

Please help me save some hair (and go on a trip next week).

Thanks,

[jamiec&c30]

Hi Ralph, I had a problem with fuel starvation, after installing a racor filter and new electric fuel pump. I installed a priming bulb before the filter to prime the fuel system to check for leaks. Found a couple leaks but the occasional stalling continued. It was suggested to me that I should lower the fuel filter at or below the level of the fuel tank and carb. I did this a few weeks ago and haven't had a problem since. Is your filter mounted higher the your tank?

[Bob Wieber]

Are you using an electric fuel pump? If so, many of them work better if mounted below the tank so they are gravity fed. In addition, pumps push better than pull. So, if your filter is ahead of the pump, try moving it.

[rgoff]

Thanks for the suggestions. I am using an electric fuel pump.

I moved the bulkhead fuel filter lower than the tank (even though it had operated OK where it was before) and also put in a new tank-to-filter hose. I think the second thing was took care of the problem.

I think the old hose still had some junk in it from the old fuel tank and there isn't really enough flow (at 1 gpm) to flush it out. I had put in a temporary "see thru" filter during troubleshooting. When I removed the old hose with the see-thru filter, it had some junk in it (even with a new tank).

Anyway, I think I'm OK now. Have motored OK for 6 hours or so with no problem.

Probably head for Catalina next week (34 nm) for a real test.

Thanks,