2003 215 Explorer Fuel Vent

[ioneyes]

Hello All,

Still trying to figure this check engine light out.  Some people have suggested checking my fuel vent line.  I am assuming my vent is under the gas cap as there is no vent port on the outside of the boat.  If I am right and the vent is under the gas cap, how does this vent as the cap has an oring on it to seal out water?  

If it is vented under the cap, can this vent get blocked?  If yes, how would you go about finding that out and cleaning it? When I remove the gas cap and look in I do see a small hooded vent but it would be almost unaccessible to try to stick anything into it to remove potential blockages.

Greg

[seabob4]

Greg,
Builders used/use the combination vent/fill to save money, plain and simple.  If you reach in the pie on the back side of the fill, you'll feel both the fill hose and vent hose attached to the fill.  Now, the O-ring should only seal off the cap in the fill neck.  The vent should be outside that sealed neck so it can still do it's job (wouldn't make sense otherwise).  If your vent is clogged, you would have real problems filling the tank, as the air in the tank would have no where to go, thus the fuel would back up in the fill hose.  Is this occurring?  If not, then your vent is most likely not clogged.  But if it makes you feel better, you could always pull the vent hose off the backside and shoot some compressed air through the nipple, that should remove whatever may be in there, if anything...

I take it you are losing RPM and bogging when the "Check Engine" light comes on, correct?  Have you removed the anti-siphon barb on the fuel pickup and replaced it with a straight barb?  The spring that keeps the ball in place under suction weakens over time and can partially close, if not shut off the feed completely, on occasion...

[ioneyes]

Seabob...My tank fills fine so I am going to assume that my vent is not clogged.  I am only getting a check engine light at low rev's.  When I get going the light goes away and the boat runs fine.  It always happens when I slow down in no wake zones, pulling up to docks, etc.  From other threads here (See Lt Nutz Anti Syphon Valve thread) I assume my boat doesn't have an anti-syphon valve.  It does have a square elbow with a very small ball valve on it that I can see but can't get at as it is not centered on the round access hatch.  Not sure if that has any type of ball and spring in it.  If so Iam going to have to install a larger hatch which will end up being a toe stubber due to it's location.

When the light comes on at low speeds the engine starts bogging and wants to stall.  If I catch it quick enough I can disengage the prop and juice it a bit.  This works but is a major pain in the butt...especially when trying to dock the boat with a lot of people watching...

I been told it could be my fuel pump, the VRO, a fuel sensor, bad seal on the engine somewhere, cracked fuel lines anywhere from the tank to throughout the engine.  I have replaced my gas, racor, screen in the fuel pump and primer bulb.  None of this has fixed my issue.

I also posted this on the engine forum here and Cptn Bill suggested that it could be the "brain" the resides in the dash.   I looked for this but could not see anything that would ressemble what he descibed.  Any other suggestions?

[Capt. Bill]

Greg,

The brain, or module is the unit that flashes the lights and alarms. OMC used a micro processor to interpet the codes/signals coming from the sensors monitoring the variuos things on the engine.  On my old Johnson it was located in the center of the instrument panel. Everytime you started the engine it would run a systems check. The alarm would sound and the 4 warning lights would come on than go out one at a time as the systems checked out. Even the ETEC that I have now has the same system only now it is incorperated into the tach.

[ioneyes]

aah...That is why I couldn't see it when I removed the panel in my cuddy.  The brain you speak of is in my Faria tach.  I just replaced that last year with a brand new one...but that doesn't mean much!

Mine looks something like this one...

http://www.basspro.com/Faria-Evinrude/J ... 031/485603

I have yet to hook up a six gallon tank to my motor to rule out anything from the main tank.

Greg

[Capt. Bill]

Thats very similar to one I have now.  If it's new I guess you could rule it out