[hillenme]

So, I'm guessing this is something I did...

I decided the engine could use a little a maintenance. I did the Chicago-Mac race last week (it was a great race, could have gotten better conditions), but thanks to no wind/wrong direction on the return I motored pretty much 350 miles from Mackinac back to Chicago. I figured it was time for an oil change.

I went to the boat today and did two things. I drained the bowl on the racor and then pumped out the oil, changed the filter and filled with SAE 30. After refilling I started the engine. It ran fine for 5 - 8 minutes then started to sound rough, so I went up to stop it and before I could it died. I have not been able to start it since. I figure I can only do more damage cranking it when it clearly won't start so I only tried twice more. What did I do? My guesses are wrong oil or possibly, could I have air in the fuel lines after draining the racor bowl? The engine has run like a top for two years I've had the boat and came back from Mac without a hitch. Seems like it has to be related to the two items I did today? Thoughts???

 

[PaulinVictoria]

Fuel system needs bleeding. Had the same thing, thought I had done a wonderful job, engine ran for a few minutes, coughed splutter, stop. No restart.
Bled it again (obviously did a better job), fired right up.

 

[mitiempo]

I drained the bowl on the racor and then pumped out the oil, changed the filter and filled with SAE 30. After refilling I started the engine. It ran fine for 5 - 8 minutes then started to sound rough.....

Did you put the SAE 30 in the Racor? Your description sounds like you may have. The Racor is a fuel filter, not an engine oil filter. If this is what you did it would certainly cause the engine to not run.

 

[hillenme]

Did you put the SAE 30 in the Racor? Your description sounds like you may have. The Racor is a fuel filter, not an engine oil filter. If this is what you did it would certainly cause the engine to not run.

Haha. No, I certainly did not do that. I'm not to mechanically inclined, but I did not mean to imply I put oil in my fuel system. I simply drained it and inspected it for water/sediment. Is simply draining this enough to allow air into the fuel supply. I feel like I've done it without incident before. It also ran for several minutes before dying, but I have no idea how long it should take for air in the system to stop the engine.

 

[mitiempo]

Glad to hear that. Probably just needs bleeding as Paul said.