97 pre2150wt help!!

[Harrisdiesel]

A gentleman I work with had a 97 tige pre2150wt boat with a black scorpion 350 fuel injected and monster waketower for sale at heck of price that caught my attention. I ran a nada check on the boat and was very surprised at the value of it and the asking price of it. I went and looked at it and he left it outside for 3 years winterized. It would scare most people away but I paid close attention to it and found it would make a nice boat after some tlc. So I bought it!! He said it ran great when he parked it, so I hooked the hose up in the yard and hooked the jump box to the battery and bam she fired up. Ran a little rough on the dead gas, but I wanted to make sure there was no major engine leaks or noises. So that night I ordered a new seawater brass water pump and fuel pump. Evacuated the fuel tank throught the filler neck. Installed water pump and fuel pump. Fresh non ethanol gas and bottle of seafoam. Hit the starter and the boat was running smooth. So I removed the rear floor cover, cleaned and drained all the water I could see under neath. So to the lake we went.



Problem#1: fired right up, idled for 5min to check it out and get engine temp up. Then we took off, at wide open throttle it was 4200rpm. Then slowly started dropping to 3800 within a 1/2mile of the ramp. Then to 2600 and then it finally died. Engine temp never over 160*. After 20min of double checking my installs. I noticed the fuel pump sounded like it was free wheeling and not dragging down like it was pumping fuel. I couldn't get the fuel filter off bc of no tools. I removed the inlet fuel line at the filter and the hose looked very dry inside. Did a quick fuel pump test and no fuel coming from hose. I tried blowing back into hose to see if there blockage and I couldn't get it to push back. Possible blockage or kinked hose? I then thought maybe the tank breather could be stopped up so i removed the fuel cap and began to turn key on to cycle the fuel pump. It started to drag down like it was pumping fuel. So i tried to crank it and it started to hit and fired up with the fuel cap off. Had a buddy keep his hand over the filler hole to keep water out and made it back to the landing but it was very sluggish at wot of 2700rpm. Any help ???


Problem #2: the fuel gauge and engine temp gauges are working but the face has falling off on both. What's the best fix?


Problem #3: the taps doesn't appear to be working. Where is the motor and reservoir?


Problem #4: when the boat planned out it appeared to be extremely heavy on the starboard side. My wife and little boy were on the port side and it still looked like I weighed 500 pounds but I weigh 215. My coworker said there wasn't any ballast on the boat so what could it be? I Tow it with a 3500 cummins diesel and you can tell the boat is heavy, I'm wondering if there's water somewhere else I dont know about.

Any help will be greatly appreciated! Thank you

[TeamAllen]

Welcome to the site and the small pool of 2150 owners.

I don't know much more to try for the fuel. I would want to run some diagnostic software on it and maybe put a fuel pressure gauge to see what you've got. You didn't mention the anti-siphon valve?

The factory vdo gauges had a bad run those years. Some guys have super glued the faces back on, but you should just replace them. I can give you some direction if you want. There are quite a few threads documenting them. I used Faria gauges, but you can choose whatever you want.

The TAPS motor is hydraulic and is located under a carpeted box, behind the observers seat, port side. You probably just need to add oil. You need a small funnel.

No water anywhere else that I know of

[Harrisdiesel]

Thanks for your input. I removed the anti siphon valve after you recommend it and when I did I found trash on the stainless steel ball on the fuel tank side of the valve. I removed what I could see and blew through the valve and it seemed clean and trash free. Turned it around just to make sure the check valve was doing its job and it wouldn't let me like it should. Should I replace? Or try it? I plan to put a gauge on the shradder valve on the fuel rail to see what it's pumping. What range should I see? Also I chased the fuel line to make sure there wasn't any kinked fuel line and it all seemed to be fine. Could the trash in that valve cause it possibly? I've never had experience with these. Thanks again

[Harrisdiesel]

Also I removed the taps carpet cover and lexan cover. Shined a light in the side of the tank and it's a inche down from bottom of the range. So I plan to get some ATF this week to try it.

[boatwakes]

Replace the anti-siphon valve and fuel filter, then try again with a fuel pressure gauge as it doesn't sound like anything other than fuel restriction. 32psi+-2psi

[TeamAllen]

I located a good thread on the gauge replacement. The two links I made in post #5, of that thread, are worth checking out as well.
http://www.tigeowners.com/forum/show...s-dropping-out

[Ruger761]

Welcome. TA and Boatwakes are right on the money. I replaced my guages with teleflex guages and you might as well get all of the VDO guages while your there. The TAPs guage will be ok along with speedos. On your taps, can you hear the pump kicking on at all? if not its prob a dead relay up under the dash, should be 2 of them, 1 for up 1 for down. Far as weight goes, how much gas was in the tank? If only half and it starts to lean one way or the other it can cause it to appear unbalanced since the tank runs all the way accross the back of the boat. Im surprised the packing on the drive shaft isnt leaking on you after sitting for 3 years, so dont be shocked if that happens. Simple to replace.

Post some pics

[Harrisdiesel]

Thanks guys I will get the valve and filter replaced and report back what happens. Thanks agai

[Harrisdiesel]

Pulled the tank pickup hose and found the rubber pick up was broke off. Made a new pickup from brass and fuel problem seems fixed. Is there a inline fuel filter that i possibly cant see?? Just want to make sure so i can replace it also. Thanks

[Ruger761]

That would do it, thanks for reporting back

The only filter is the one mounted to the motor. There shouldnt be any others unless someone added one along the way.

[Harrisdiesel]

I picked up a low pressure pump to mount at the tank and a inline filter and new 3/8s hose to try to help with it. Thank that should take care of the fuel issue. Thanks for y'all input

[jleger98]

The other thing to check is that your blower hose is not leaking back into the engine compartment. Mine had the same symptoms and I eventually found that under the gas tank the blower hose was completely cracked open. Gives the motor a bad air intake and it starts to bog down and will die. Let it sit for 5-10 and it fires right back up.

Sounds like you have it figured out though.