04 maristar fuel pump died at 50 hrs

Last weekend my boat would not start, would turn over but not start. After checking all the connections I drove to the dealership to ask questions and see if i could just change a fuel filter. The dealesrship was helpful but said that it was probably the fuel pump since they have had peoblems with them. They were super busy and said he could not get to it for two weeks, but he sold me a relay to replace and see if that was the problem, it was not. Now i need to tow my boat to the dealership and have them work on it. My question is this: If they replace the fuel pump with the same brand do i have to worry about it failing in another 50 hrs. Is there a better fuel pump? Thanks for your help

Every once in a while you might get a bad fuel pump or there may even be a bad batch of them. Get them to replace it under warranty and you should be set.

If my boat died after 50 hours and my dealer told me that they couldn't look at it for two weeks I would be hopping mad!

I am a bit suspicious that the dealer would say it was a fuel pump without doing any diagnostic work. What other symptoms were there? Did the boat run okay at the end of the previous outing?

Can you hear the fuel pump run? If it is an electric fuel pump I would expect it to turn on for a few seconds when you first turned on the ignition.

I assume that you made sure there was fuel in the tank......

Check all the fuses?

Okay, here is a really silly one: You didn't yank out the safety lanyard, did you? Don't laugh too much, it took me an hour to figure out why my boat wouldn't run because of that silly thing!

If you have to take it to the dealer I would lean on them a bunch and bitch (assuming this is the dealer you bought the boat from). For things that can be scheduled I would put up with an appointment for two weeks out, but for warantee repair I would expect a little bit better service.

when you turn the key, before it starts, you should hear the fuel pump turn on and pressure up. if you hear it it's probably not the problem. i'm just repeating what rod said because i had the same suspicion on my boat, and the mechanic explained it to me.

If you've never run your tank low or close to dry... it's possible it could be a clogged fuel filter if you picked up a bunch of junk hanging around the bottom of the tank.

For a couple of bucks you can swap them out and see if it helps. It's about time to do it at 50 hrs anyway.

I too would turn the key (but not start the engine) and see if you hear the pump pressurize.

Thanks for the suggestions. I spent my sunday from 6 am - 2 pm troubleshooting my problem. At 8 am i drove to the dealership and spoke with the service manager who said that if i wanted it fixed i could check a number of things myself and he sold me a relay to change out. I checked every connection and changed the relay, but the fuel pump was not coming on. I did not have a power tester to see if there was power to the fuel pump, but after talking to the service manager he was pretty sure it was the fuel pump. He said that if he had one in stock i could come pick it up and install it if i was mechanically inclined, but he did not have one. Now he wants me to have to boat towed to his shop for him to work on it. My boat is on a buoy and they want $400 to tow it to the shop, why should i pay for the tow? My house is six miles from the shop and they wont send anyone over to change the fuel pump. I have an extened warranty also but it doesn't have tow coverage and neither does my boat insurance. I am frustrated that the dealer won't make an effort to get me up and running again after i did all the troubleshooting.

I can appreciate the shop not wanting to send a mechanic to your home.

$400 for a tow is pretty steep! Is that to get the boat from the buoy to the launch ramp, or does it include trucking it?

If you have a trailer, or can borrow one, it shouldn't be that hard to get the boat to the launch ramp and on a trailer. If you don't have a trailer try asking the dealer if they have one you could borrow.

CALL MANUFACTURER IMMEDIATELY and kindly ask them to fix it.