'05 Launch 24SSV died, gas gone bad?

[iwakeboard]

Went out on Sunday and the day was great for the first hour and half, boat ran great and it was a beautiful day. We were sitting near the dock waiting to pick some more people up when suddenly the boat died. It would start back up and run for varying periods of time, from thirty seconds to two minutes then it would die again. I had an issue last year with what I thought was the fuel pump but turned out to be a bad battery, replaced the battery and fuel pump and it ran fine, plus the fuel pump is priming when I turn the switch to on so I know it's in operating order. The fuel is from July of last year, I filled it up and because of distractions and life I only used about a quarter of that tank the remainder of the season. I didn't think about it until December/January but I realized I forgot to put Stabil in the fuel so I put some in around January. The boat was stationary so it probably didn't mix well and I didn't put any fresh gas on top of this gas when I went to the lake. This was my second trip to the lake this season, the first trip didn't last an hour (just testing to make sure everything worked) and was trouble free. The second trip was this past Sunday and like I said, it died after about an hour and a half. So, does it sound like the gas has gone bad? It wouldn't surprise me, I'm not sure what else it could be. It's weird that it ran for about two and half hours on this gas before problems began, but maybe the stabil helped some and that's why it worked? I'm not sure. Should I siphon the rest of the gas out and put fresh in? It's about 35 to 40 gallons and it would suck to waste it, is it worth trying to rehabilitate it or just start fresh, assuming gas is the problem?

[dusty2221]

Sounds like vapor lock. Next time poor a cold bottle of water on the fuel pump and see if it solves your problem.

[iwakeboard]

I don't think so, I've vapor locked before and I've done the cold water remedy successfully, this was something different. When it vapor locks it won't start, this was starting and running but only for brief periods of time before dying.

[KG's Supra24]

Change the fuel filter?

[iwakeboard]

I did, I had an extra on board. It ran better at first but then it continued to die.

[docdrs]

Pull the plugs and look at them, they should be coffee brown. Old gas will leave them wet looking and sometimes a milky like residue. An engine will start and idle on old gas but when you start putting the throttle to it a reasonable amount of unburnt gas will stay in and around the cylinder spark plug fouling it and causing engine to die. Drain the tank as much as possible and fill with fresh gas. This is definitely where I would begin when the fuel is that old.

[iwakeboard]

I think that's what I'm going to try on Friday, and put some fresh gas in the filter so I can make sure the engine is getting fresh gas.

[DAFF]

Does the boat always run good at first and then have issues on the water??? Then when you get home everything is A1 again??

Here is my thought. Drain the gas tank using a old garden hose and keep the boat on an angle using some 2x4's under the port side wheels. Get as much out as possible and let the siphoned fuel sit. I bet there is a ton of water on the bottom of the tank. When sitting the water is at the bottom and fuel on top. Then with the movement of the boat on the water it is shaken up to the point here the boat sucks a gulp of water... Thus creating your stalling out issues.

[iwakeboard]

Does the boat always run good at first and then have issues on the water??? Then when you get home everything is A1 again??

Here is my thought. Drain the gas tank using a old garden hose and keep the boat on an angle using some 2x4's under the port side wheels. Get as much out as possible and let the siphoned fuel sit. I bet there is a ton of water on the bottom of the tank. When sitting the water is at the bottom and fuel on top. Then with the movement of the boat on the water it is shaken up to the point here the boat sucks a gulp of water... Thus creating your stalling out issues.

Yea I thought water in the tank from condensation was a possibility, which is part of the reason I want to siphon all the gas out. I put a tablespoon of rubbing alcohol in the tank when I was on the water, it's supposed to evaporate a significant portion of water in a gas tank but it didn't do anything to help so there's either a lot of water (which wouldn't surprise me) or the gas is simply bad, either way it needs to be flushed.

[iwakeboard]

Well, after pumping out 30 gallons of gasoline it turns out that's not the problem Replaced the distributor cap, rotor button, fuel pump, fuel filter and gasoline. At this point it has to be the computer or the harnesses going out from the computer. We put a code reader on it and when it dies it's not just that the fuel pump is going out, but the computer locks us out of the brain, we can't even get into it.