Carver 356 RPM issues

[cpoint]

Sorry guys, did not get back here for a while. Good news is finally past few weeks all is good. Both engines are working fine, I think port side tank is finally cleaned out. maybe some minor crap in there, but all is fine. Sync indicator is usually in the center, but sometimes it just goes far right or far left. I do not think engine issue though, must be the gauge or wiring. Because tachometers are now stable, and are in sync with each other. I will look into sync gauge, but I am not bothered by that as I was with port tachometer going crazy in the past. The starboard is now OK as well, I did put some sea foam, not sure that fixed it or it just decide to fix itself. Anyway for now its all good, and we are finally enjoying the weekends.

[cpoint]

I am back to port side RPM issue. The mechanic replaced some part because he said fuel pressure was too high and said after replacing it was normal pressure. So I did sea trial myself and instead of going crazy RPM at 2500 RPM, now it goes at 2000 RPM Max I am getting is 12 knots. because port side is just hoovering around 3000 RPM if I take it all the way. Port side also showed 500 RPM over what it was suppose to be. But when I banged on the tachometer with my fingers it dropped to normal. So I am pretty sure that's a tachometer issue and not engine issue.
One other thing, I have good deal of growth under the boat mostly moss like stuff. But I believe that will affect maybe 1 or 2 knots. Definitely issues on port side still. Almost everything been replaced on port side. Not sure where I can find a better mechanic

Also I still have bad stuff in fuel, need to get that cleaned for the 4th time AARRRRGGGGHHHHHHHH!!!!!

[bud37]

So I just reread your posts re this issue....has your guy followed any of Vipers and others suggestions about running on a known good portable tank.....also has the anti siphon valve on the suspect tank been looked at.....if you are in salt and have growth you may just only get 12 out of it and the engines will not rev up because of the load......quite honestly , I believe you have had enough good gas thru there for that not to be a problem.
Man you sure are snake bit with this one though, good luck with it.

[mjk1040]

Sea Foam is a good product, but understand sea foam will stir up the crap in your tanks and send it to your filters. Had sea foam or something of the same nature had been used since day one, most likely we would have no fuel issues today!

[cpoint]

Bud and Mike, thanks for the feedback. Between lack of time and lack of mechanical knowledge. I am depended on the guys that work on it. And combination of these I mention are bad results unfortunately. What I need is a good mechanic that I can trust and talk to. These company guys that have enough jobs, so they are difficult to talk to or provide some of these things you guys ask me to verify. In any case I am stuck with it for now. So you are saying growth under it though would cause to max out around 12 knots? Anyway, I have the fuel cleaning guys scheduled after the Annapolis boat show. As far as bottom cleaning, I think that's going to be next year, when I get the bottom painted, it will be cleaned out, as the season is coming to an end this year.

[hausherrs]

Are you still using factory fuel filters? And do you have Merc or Crusader engines?

Fuel cleaning would be a waste of money that would be better spent on some good gas water separators / filters. The crusader has what everyone calls "Racor water separator"... Its not really a water separator or at least it never separated any water from my fuel!

I installed two Racor 500 MAM (The only Racor 500 USCG approved and only 500 approved by Racor for gasoline) and all my fuel problems were gone.

[cpoint]

Qr Bbpost Are you still using factory fuel filters? And do you have Merc or Crusader engines?

Fuel cleaning would be a waste of money that would be better spent on some good gas water separators / filters. The crusader has what everyone calls "Racor water separator"... Its not really a water separator or at least it never separated any water from my fuel!

I installed two Racor 500 MAM (The only Racor 500 USCG approved and only 500 approved by Racor for gasoline) and all my fuel problems were gone.

Thanks. Not sure they are factory filters. I get them from Amazon. Thats what I had on them when I purchased the boat. At this point I do not have water in fuel issue. I had it emptied completely. Since I do not see water in the fuel when I replace the filter. I do see brown dust like stuff. Last time I had it filtered, they got quite a bit (handfull) out. But I think there is still some there which gets loose and into the filter. And I think at this point it may have gone past and got into one or more fuel injectors. I am running out of options in getting it cleaned completely. I need to find a way to filter it out myself. But maybe solution is what you are recommending. I will look into it. I am using: 35-802893Q01 Fuel/Water Separating Filter Quicksilver/Mercury

[km1125]

Seems like it would be a better system to have the fuel filters BEFORE the selector switches. You would need more (four instead of two), but as long as you had some fuel in all the tanks you could switch tanks and recover from either a bad tank of gas or a plugged filter. Would seem much easier especially while underway. You could then troubleshoot and resolve the problem back at the dock.

[cpoint]

I purchase some "Starbrite Star Tron Fuel Tank Cleaner" and put it in port tank today. Last time I put some additive, looks like it started to breakdown what ever was left in there after last cleaning. So suppose to be windy tonight, and I have less than quarter tank gas. so with this stuff in there churning up pretty good for next 24 hours, hope everything comes loose. Next week sometime I got the guys coming over to filter the tank content again. Keeping fingers crossed this time it is cleaned up. Last weeks filter change showed some interested stuff (see picture). The big pieces are about maybe 2 mm. Closeup looked bigger than it is. but still compared to last year, I was getting the brown dust stuff. Now seems like there is some white stuff in there as well as these bigger flakes. Have no idea what it is, but I know its not good I'll update next week.

[mjk1040]

Rust, varnish etc. Additives are doing their job getting the crap into suspension and getting out of the tanks and sending it to ur filters. Hopefully u'll run out of crap soon and it will be smooth boating again.