Fuel Delivery Issue? Bogging out...What Now??

[WARPATHTACKLE]

Hey guys. So I've been having an extremely tough year since purchasing my 1990 Stratos 201PRO (1998 Evinrude Vindicator 225). Dumped close to 2 grand in TM, Electronics, Carpet..Etc... pretty much my entire savings. Mind you, I am 24 years old and only work and sell tackle on the side souly so I can support my goal of being a Professional Angler. Unfortunatly, due to issues that are out of my control, College isn't a option at the moment, as much as I would love to go back to school, Fishing has now become my #1 priority. Some may find my situation a bit silly, but hey, you only live once, and right now I'm trying to make the best out of my situation.

Sorry for the life story, but I though it would be better if you guys know a little bit more about me, and where I'm coming from. Well to start off, I hit something in the middle of the lake during my first BWS Tournament of the year. Ended up having to get a whole new lower unit, which my insurance co. didnt cover because the engine is older than 11 years. So I had to foot the bill , and as a result am now currently broke as a joke. So I'm hoping you guys can put me in the right direction?..

Now for the current problem, I was fishing a two day tournament this past weekend, everything ran beautiful on saturday, went to go load the boat on the trailer, and it would bog out when I would try and power load it...(which it has done once or twice before) after several attempts, I finally got the boat loaded..After I got the boat out of the water and pulled the plug and hit the bilge I noticed there was quite a bit of water in the back of the boat from the livewells overfilling all day long. Didn't give it much thought....Put the boat in the water the next morning, started up fine, idled out into the middle of the lake to take off, when I went to take off the engine bogged out as soon as I gave it throttle, I played around with stuff for ten minutes or so trying to get her to run, Ball was soft and engine would only idle and run whenever I pumped the ball a couple of times, continued to try and get her to run when all of a sudden my No Oil alarm comes on for a second...At that point I stopped everything I was doing and just used the trolling motor for the rest of the day, at the end of the day I had my co-angler sit on the back back and pump the ball while we idled in...which worked fine, when I got the boat home and pulled the cover off, checked to makesure all the lines were working properly, fuel filter was still good, no water in the oil or fuel filter..however, we noticed the fuel pump itself was kinda loose, Had a good friend of mine look at it, and we think we traced it back to the fuel pump not pulling any fuel, however I was told on the phone by a Cert. Mech. yesterday that it could also be a VRO pump failure? I really don't have the money to spend on either pump, but would like to be sure which is the culprit before commiting to the purchase, or having to take it to the Mech.? At this point I am extremely frustrated, and have learned a valuable lesson when buying used boats. Do you guys have any Suggestions, or have any of you seen this problem before? Any advice would be extremely helpful at this point and I really appreciate everyones help in advance......

[WARPATHTACKLE]

So I just realized that the VRO is actually the fuel pump Assy or comes with it. Which my good friend could install for me, I can get the parts for about $384 which seems to be a good price compared to what the guy at the marine told me it cost, ($500) plus labor. any suggestions? why would the pump all of a sudden go, or why did it only bog out when I would attempt to powerload the boat??? I just wanna makesure that this is the culprit of the problem

[Hair Jig]

Don't purchase anything until one of the experts or specialists help you diagnose it. If you do need a VRO pump, someone on here had a line on some at a reduced price.

[WARPATHTACKLE]

Talked with two different marine techs. both thought it sounded like a bad VRO/ fuel pump? what kinda reduced price are we talking about?

[Hair Jig]

Talked with two different marine techs. both thought it sounded like a bad VRO/ fuel pump? what kinda reduced price are we talking about?

Actually ... you're having a conversation with a very experienced and talented OMC/BRP technician (ChampioNman) already.

If memory serves me correctly, you talked earlier about cleaning the carburetors. Did you do this already?

[ChampioNman]

You will have to send a PM to stratosdadri he is the one that has a line on them, they may be gone for all I know. I wasn't online last week so I don't know. $384 is a good price. The directions are in the kit to install it on your motor. You will need two special bits for a nut driver. A torx-T10 and T-15 bit. These are for the fuel fittings and a pair of diag cutters. Should take you 1 hour tops to replace and purge with an extra set of hands for the oil. Make sure you put oil in your tank until you make sure the oil pump is working and remember to connect the wiring harness for the system.

[WARPATHTACKLE]

Thank you ChampioNman, does this sound like its a bad VRO? I am driving myself nutty trying to figure this whole thing out and how I am gonna pay for it, I just dont understand why it would bog down only when powerloading on the trailer, until it started doing it all the time on sunday morning... checked all the lines and had fuel all the way to the pump, at which point it wasn't being picked up any more. No I haven't cleaned the carbs yet, I'm actually having a problem with the floats seating in three of them, which is another problem all in itself I guess.

[Ky Bullet]

I am fighting a simular problem also, bogging on take off and would not load on trailer. After the trouble shooting process ( which I learned here from ChampioNman ) I found I had a bad power pack. Wasn't firing on the #2 piston. Might be worh a check.

[ChampioNman]

Do yourself a favor. Before you blow the money on a new pump, borrow a portable tank from someone, unhook the fuel line from the filter, cap the line to the boat, and connect the portable line to the filter then prime the system and see how it runs. Get back to us won't take you long to find out. If the pump is failing your bud will have to be on the back deck pumping the bulb to get you in.

[WARPATHTACKLE]

lol prolly a dumb question, but how does this power pack affect fuel pick up? what is the power packs function?

[Ky Bullet]

Not a dumb question, I was just going on the way you described the motor bogging. Mine was doing the same and it was a bad power pack. Probably a totaly different issue. Power pack supplies power to the coil and the coil fires the plug. It was just a thought.

[WARPATHTACKLE]

didnt mean to sound sarcastic, I'm pretty novice when it comes to these things and was just wondering what the power packs function is. it actually makes sense though. again, sorry for that last post sounding sarcastic, I shouldve worded it better

[Ky Bullet]

O no your good , I knew how you meant it. I am a novice myself, but I have learned alot from CM ( ChampioNman ).

[WARPATHTACKLE]

Think I may just drop it off at the shop, Dont wanna mis-diagnose anything. I will say that this whole ordeal has brought me to an all time low, dont know where to go from here. Just wish stupid shit like this would stop happening

[ChampioNman]

Think I may just drop it off at the shop, Dont wanna mis-diagnose anything. I will say that this whole ordeal has brought me to an all time low, dont know where to go from here. Just wish stupid shit like this would stop happening

Dude it is a boat, boats break. Don't matter what motor is on the back of it. I've been turning wrenches on these things a long time. If you can't afford to play and listen to the mechanics, take up golf! Not trying to be harsh just trying to let you know how it goes. I deal with the kids at Clemson U and they are broke too.

[WARPATHTACKLE]

haha I know...I know but its been a pretty lengthy list of mishaps ive had this season...it'll get better im sure.

[Ky Bullet]

haha I know...I know but its been a pretty lengthy list of mishaps ive had this season...it'll get better im sure.

Listen Warpath, I know how you feel man, if something major happened to my motor today it would be down for awhile, but listen to this, and believe me,, I know from my own experience, if you do what ChampioNman tells you, bit by bit he will fix, TRUST ME. So just hang in there and do what CM tells ya. Best of luck man, keep at it and listen to CM.

[ChampioNman]

It will. Try what I suggest first and see how that works. Hook up the porta tank and run her. See what it does. That will tell you a bunch.

[WARPATHTACKLE]

Thank you guys so much! I really really appreciate the kind words and encouragment...I will run the portable tank today

[ChampioNman]

Add a pint of oil to 6 gallons of fuel. Just to be safe.