2007 Yamaha F250 - high pressure fuel pump failure

[scmharvey]

The high pressure fuel pump on my 2007 Yamaha F250 failed in its second season with only 50 hours of light-duty use. The engine came on a new boat and the fuel system has a Yamaha 10-micron filter between the fuel tank and the engine. When the Yamaha technician took apart the "vapor separating unit" to replace the fuel pump, he found the chamber full of very small black particles. No other part of the external or internal fuel system had these particles. This engine has been run on "marine grade" 89 octane E-10 fuel. Startron and Stabil have been added at every fueling and for winter storage. Has anyone had a similar problem? I suspect that the black particles may either be from: 1. E-10 "cleaning" some manufacturing debris left in the engine, 2. E-10 dissolving some part in the "vapor separating unit", or 3. the fuel pump disintegrated leaving behind the black particle residue. Yamaha has not responded to any of my questions, however, the fuel pump itself was replaced under the engine warranty. I don't want to be towed in again. Any thoughts on cause and/or further prevention?

scmharvey

[abbie]

I think your jumping the gun, it not like your engine blew up.

[hansoni]

Really? I think this is going to be quite common.

[eggsuckindog]

Jumping the gun because its a Yamaha or that he wants to find the source, actually I don't have answer but it may have come from the pump. This seems to be a reoccurring issue with them, clogged or cranking fuel systems and filters - they don't blow up but sure sounds annoying.

[rotordriver]

Had the exact same thing happen to me with about 50 hrs. We were 40 miles offshore and had to come in on 1 motor. The tech never could explain where the black particles came from.

[conehead39]

The low pressure electric fuel pump on the outside of VST that fills the VST may be coming apart.
There is a " F" shaped filter between the Low press pump and the VST.
Change it or clean it.

Learn how to drain the VST. Pretty simple.
Open VST drain at the bottom left with long phillips (PSD).
Remove purple tinge drain hose to below drain.
Place drain hose into small empty water bottle.
Remove small black vent cap between black intake runner with pliers.Just pull outward.
Depress Schrader ( tire stem valve) inside cap holder w same long PSD
Check contents in the bottle.

Drain VST frequently ,especially after first E10 use.
Drain 3oz from boats Racor fuel filter frequently.
If large blue Yam filter remove it and turn upside down into a pan.
Refill Yam filter with new gas before starting. Makes for easier primimg.
Drain boat engine filter with red ring frequently.

Just think it is a single engine airplane. Similar fuel items on it are drained daily.
They can't be towed very well.

[scmharvey]

Information request for rotordriver:

You responded that you had experienced the same black particle situation on one of your twin F250s. Yamaha is suggesting to me that contaminated fuel is the source of these black particles. I assume that both your motors are supplied by the same fuel tank on your boat. Usually a contaminated fuel problem would affect both motors. Have you had any trouble with the other motor? After the replacement of the failed fuel pump, have you had any further problems with the motor that failed?

I presume that you may have a 10-micron filter in each of the fuel lines connected to these motors. I don't believe that these particles could have passed through a 10-micron filter. Did you or your service technician observe any evidence of these black particles in the fuel dumped out of these filters, or maybe in the filter, during a filter change? There was no evidence of the black particles in the filter or the dumped fuel in my situation.

Just out of curiosity, what make/model is your boat? Mine is a 2007 Sailfish. I have contacted Sailfish to see if they have had any reports of similar incidents.

[arode2981]

You're high pressure fuel pump is located inside the VST tank , at the bottom of the fuel pump is a very small fine mesh screen. These clog up with anything that gets passed the other filters and cause your motors to loose power.
Mine used to just drop down a few hundred RPM's and the kick back up for a short time and do it again. I've heard of other people having worse symptoms then that so I guess I was lucky. As soon as I cleaned and replaced the screens the boat ran fine.
I have Twin 200 HPDI and for some reason it was more of a problem in my Port motor.
I E-mailed Yamaha a few times and no one replied until I said I was sending a copy of my E-Mail to Consumers Affiairs then a Rep. called me from Yamaha. I asked if they came up with a solution for this as it seems to be a very large problem with the Yamahas and he gave me a run around. First thing he said was my motors were out of warrentee and then he said Evenruide and Mercury were having the same trouble. After I told him I wasn't looking for anything free and I knew what the problem was,that I already fixed it he still denied what the problem was so we parted the conversation there.
They sent me a Tee Shirt

[scmharvey]

reply to arode2981:

Thanks for your information. I am learning more about this motor and the VST in particular everyday. My incident occurred without any significant warning period. It just began to lose power, slightly surged and then stopped dead.

I too have been getting the run around from Yamaha. Their first response was "contaminated fuel". After noting that the marina fuel sources have 10-micron hydrosorb filters, Yamaha thought the particles probably came from fuel in my boat. After noting that I have a Yamaha 10-micron filter in the fuel line, the Yamaha rep said that the ethanol in the fuel probably attacked the attacked the aluminum fuel tank causing the particles. I noted that no particles were observed in the fuel at the see-thru water separating unit.

Then I asked the rep was the VST housing an aluminum die casting. He said it was. I asked if the ethanol in the fuel could have attacked the aluminum VST housing resulting in the unknown black particles. He denied that this could be the problem.

I will be learning how to drain fuel from the VST and to check all the fuel filtering points in the hope of avoiding future incidents. I also told the Yamaha rep that I was not looking for any financial payment, I just wanted to know what was the problem so that I could prevent it from happening again. The Yamaha rep closed my file. I didn't get a Tee Shirt.

[paxfish]

I'd take a very close look at the fuel line between the water separator filter and the engine. Take it off, cut off a half an inch, bisect it and see if it is disintegrating.

This is basically what killed my Stihl chain saw - the fuel hose was not e10 proof.

[nails]

had the same thing happen on my 2007 f250 mine happened with 95 hours and i put 60 more with no problems. dealer told me that the high pressure pump is cooled with gas inside the vst tank the black particles are from the pump over heating . mine luckly happened right at the dock the dealer changed two different filters in the vst tank . hope this helps
john

[scmharvey]

reply to nails:

Thanks for the information, I suspected that the fuel pump itself might have been the source of the black particles. Apparently from other threads, Yamaha may have had problems with the design of the high pressure fuel pump in various motors. Some pumps may have been drawing too much current and popping their fuses. I assume that the overheating was probably associated with drawing more current than it was designed to take. My fuse didn't blow!

Did you ever get to see the failed fuel pump to observe where the particles may have come off the pump?

[nails]

no never saw the pump, just going by what they told me. yamaha said it was ethanol related .never had the fuses blow either.
john