Carver Owners Forum

Update to my issue. I have a new mechanic, who came with good referral from a friend. After spending some time with him I felt better than previous guys. Anyhow, as it turns out I was not even getting 2000 RPM. Both tach's are bad. So I need to find a replacement, prefer the one that looks like the rest of gauges and just plug and play. He tested everything and found fuel pressure to be good, all electrical flow to engine, sparks, etc. was perfect. While he had the computer hooked up we went out, also tested with an external clean tank to eliminate further fuel problems. Turns out on port I am getting 1600 RPM max. When I push it all the way it goes up to 1900 RPM, and drops back to 1600 RPM. He sprayed into the air intake directly and port engine went up to norm. So conclusion is that the fuel injectors (that are new - 2 years old) must have gotten some junk from bad fuel. Although my tank is now clean, what happened was, had the tank emptied, than had the new injectors installed (as the old was in non-cleanable shape). But than there was still bad fuel issues, even though I was replacing filter constantly, some things got through. Because after injectors were replaced, I ended up emptying the tank for 2nd time. At that point all water was removed fuel separation that had occurred was cleaned. But still particles were getting to filter. So had another company filter it twice. They did a good job (posted pic of what was found on earlier part of this posting). So all that time though I think microscopic stuff got through to fuel injectors. All indications are at that now. So this week the mechanic will drop by, remove them, clean them up and do a trial. I believe finally this is going to be resolved, I am so happy

If anyone knows any carver 356 tachometers available or whats a good replacement available, I would appreciate it. Thanks

You might get lucky with GreatLakesSkipper on ebay. They also have a physical store called Kendor's in Franklin Wisconsin.

Cpoint.....just make doubly sure that the fuel you are getting does not have ethanol in it......sounds like you have cleaned everything.

Cpoint, I hate to sound negative, but unless something new is out there, the mechanic will not be able to "clean" the injectors. They need completely disassembled and rebuilt, if they are internally clogged.
When the mechanic said the fuel pressure was good, did he have a guage on the rail? and if so what was the pressure?
What did he spray into the one engine?

If everything was perfect as mentioned, you should have been pulling 4000 rpms.

Unfortunatley, in the last 10 years, its hard to find a well trained marine mechanic unless you are in an area with a lot of $ and a lot of new boat sales. Most of the good ones have had to migrate to these areas to pull a decent salary and year round employment.

Hopefully, you come back and tell me I am mistaken and all is OK!

waybomb wrote:Qr Bbpost You might get lucky with GreatLakesSkipper on ebay. They also have a physical store called Kendor's in Franklin Wisconsin.

thanks will check them out

bud37 wrote:Qr Bbpost Cpoint.....just make doubly sure that the fuel you are getting does not have ethanol in it......sounds like you have cleaned everything.

unfortunately they only have ethanol mix here Annapolis. but pretty sure now it is clean. and i been mixing seafoam for sometime now.

tomschauer wrote:Qr Bbpost Cpoint, I hate to sound negative, but unless something new is out there, the mechanic will not be able to "clean" the injectors. They need completely disassembled and rebuilt, if they are internally clogged.
When the mechanic said the fuel pressure was good, did he have a guage on the rail? and if so what was the pressure?
What did he spray into the one engine?

If everything was perfect as mentioned, you should have been pulling 4000 rpms.

Unfortunately, in the last 10 years, its hard to find a well trained marine mechanic unless you are in an area with a lot of $ and a lot of new boat sales. Most of the good ones have had to migrate to these areas to pull a decent salary and year round employment.

Hopefully, you come back and tell me I am mistaken and all is OK!

tom, i am also not positive anymore. buy this guy is good, did some good work for a friend of mine for sometime. he has over 17 years experience. he did check the fuel pressure with on and also after starting. i do not recall numbers now. he just sprayed carb cleaner i think and port engine took off briefly - this was just for testing. anyway he will take care of it this week i will provide results and what he has done in detail here than. he also found screen was not so clean on the unit that went into fuel cooler. i do not recall what it was called. there was like a 1/4 inch diameter screen. which was replaced at time injectors were replaced. so in the beginning looks like soe things passed the fuel filter and went there. which is possible more tinier particles may have gone to injector.

cpoint wrote:Qr Bbpost

bud37 wrote:Qr Bbpost Cpoint.....just make doubly sure that the fuel you are getting does not have ethanol in it......sounds like you have cleaned everything.

unfortunately they only have ethanol mix here Annapolis. but pretty sure now it is clean. and i been mixing seafoam for sometime now.

Here is a little read for you regarding the fuel....I am not in any way saying this is the cause of all the mayhem that you have encountered so far, but well worth considering if your boat is just encountering this fuel after a previous life of regular non ethanol fuel and being layed up for long periods of time with no or very little use as evidenced by your hour meters.

There is lots of info regarding this phenomenon , this is just one.Oh and good luck with your new guy.

https://www.boatus.com/magazine/2011/de ... thanol.asp

Are your engines Smartcraft capable? If so, you might consider buying some Smartcraft tachs, as they would also give you much more info than just engine speed (fuel burn, ECU faults, etc).

If you have good filters, nothing should have gotten into the injectors. The injectors also have screens at their inlet, which can be cleaned out. If anything gets through that screen, it should pass through the injector.