Bad gas? 2000 Ficht 200HP

[LDS922]

Model # RE200FLSSH
Serial # G 04864128

Hello all,

Last week I spent 4 days on the lake, running my boat everyday. At the end of the last day while going to take the boat out of the water to go home the motor started to have trouble going above idle while in gear.

It idled fine in gear but if I gave it any power it would sort of sputter and struggle...It was underpowered and made it a little diffecult to get on the trailer. I had no engine lights or any other sign of trouble throughout the whole trip (or for the entire year for that matter). I used about 3/4 of a tank of gas during the trip and was pretty low on gas when pulling out.

A guy at the ramp told me it was probably bad gas, he said he had the same problem recently and fresh gas and Sta-Bil cured it. Does this seem like the symptoms of bad gas? I just did a compression test and all cyclinders came out fine (120psi +/- a couple psi on all 6). I also checked the throttle butterflies for opening all the way and that was fine too. Any thoughts?

[Danrude]

Sounds like your TPS has gone bad! You will need to hook up the diagnostic software to confirm.

[LDS922]

Dang! I'll look around to see if a shop around here has the software, my mechanic doesn't. Is there any other way to test it? Anything else I should look at?

If anyone knows a shop in the Washington DC metro area with access to the Ficht diagnostics let me know!

[LDS922]

I got a chance to test it out with fresh gas and sta-bil this weekend. It did not help.

The motor took a while to get started and stalled the first few times. I also noticed that the primer bulb did not stay firm while the engine is running (can't really remember how firm it used to be but it seemed 'mushy' to me). It idled fine in nuetral, but as soon as I put it in gear it started to to struggle. If I gave it gas it would really struggle, I don't think it would have got on plane (I didn't try). Does this still sound consistant with a TPS failure?

Danrude, I'm not trying to discount your advice...I'm just trying to see if this is another issue that I might be able to fix myself, just trying to save a little cash if I can! Thanks for the advice!

[ChampioNman]

Possibly the lift pump is going or has gone south.

[Danrude]

Yes! I think the TPS needs to be checked, however ChampioNman could be right in his assessment of a bad lift pump. Someone with the software can eliminate the TPS in 10 minutes.

[LDS922]

Thanks guys, lots of help as always.