Ever done this? It happened to me

Knew I was low on fuel, headed to the fuel dock......ran out of fuel 100yds short. Paddled,swam the boat to the fuel station, fueled the boat..........now it won't start....when you have an electronic fuel injected motor, and loose the prime in the fuel pump, its a long day at the ramp. Pulled the fuel filter and refilled it....used a fuel bulb to get fuel to the top rail....all to find out that the other fuel pump had gone south. I hoped that this was not the case, but when you turn on your ignition, the fuel pumps make an unmistakable sound. Mine were off key.......sooo the message to this story is for those of you that are trying to get that last run in with your fuel guage on empty.....(mine apparently works, who would of thunk that) Dont go there........fuel pump$$$ lost time on your vacation$$$ swimming your $$$ boat to the fuel pump in front of a crowded boat ramp ...........Priceless!

I dont have an electric fuel pump but I know those things burn up real quick.. Be careful

haven't done it yet, but we keep pushin it more and more. Did the electric fuel pump burn up just from trying to continuously start it or was there another problem with it.

How far did you fill it at the fuel dock? I had the problem in my drivway. running it on the tilted driveway and I ran the boat dry (fuel tilted away from the pickups). I had maybo 1/8 to 1/4 of a tank of fuel. I moved the boat to flat land and the dang thing would not prime. Tried all sorts of things. Finally talked to a guy at the parts store that day (had to pick up something for something else). I just asked him what I could do and he simple said to fill the tank all the way up. Sure enough. Worked on the first try. I got to thinking about it. If I fill the tank, it will put pressure on the fuel pump and prime it.

SO, try filling it all the way up.

p e ski....I'll let you know....it goes into the shop on weds..........I suspect when it ran out of fuel, the pump may have had a problem since there was no fuel left to pump...I shut the ignition off about 60 seconds after my passengers stopped yelling at me..........they're all italian, probably for a total of 3 min. My shop person tells me that their should be no damage...but then why do my pumps sound different. I will keep you all informed.....warrentied/no warrenty...neglect/no neglect....and no I didnt try to keep starting it......didnt want to dissapoint the crowd at the dock! Let me review....swam the boat to the fuel dock...couldnt get it started....swam the boat to the boat ramp.......with the tow rope in my teeth......asked if anyone wanted a pull....loaded the boat...flexed a little........it was quite comical...the only thing I had left was my humor...pride was in the can...tom

Rod...80 bucks worth @ 3.50....about 22 gals

Keep us on our toes, Tom. Thanks for the tip although i kinda knew this as it happens every time i change my fuel filter. Cycle the key on and off about 6-8 times and let it sit for a while. Oh by thew way i just did the fuel pump in the explorer a couple months ago---fun-fun-fun--in tank.

YUP, cycle the key on and off, thats the ticket...

A significant contribution to this problem is that boats, by design/law, do not allow the gas to "gravity flow" from the tank to anywhere. The gas feed line is always on top and thus requires the fuel pump to create suction to pull gas. Pumps intended for pumping liquids generally don't pump air very well.

Here is a trick that might work to get prime back....

Plug the vent line, open the gas fill, have someone repeatedly turn ignition on / off, place mouth over gas fill, and blow!

If you can provide enough air pressure in the tank to push the gas uphill to the fuel pump it should prime. You need to cycle the ignition on/off repeatedly because the fuel pump will only run for a few seconds without the engine actually running (electronic systems).

Everything worked out just fine. Big props to the extended warranty.......worth the xtra $$ The fuel pump was the culpript........trashed because of running without fuel....I learned that I have 2 fuel pumps, a high pressure and a secondary. I figure when I ran out of fuel, the high pressure pump ran out first....the secondary had fuel in the filter which it used, thus leaving the high pressure running without lube......like the impeller without water.....thusly thrashing its innermost workings...luckily for us, we had purchased the full extended warranty which covered all the expense. Dealership gets an A+. Took excellant care of us. Word up......if you are at 1/4 tank........think about getting to the fuel pump. No charges, for once the warranty did what we expected it to do........tom

WORD UP???? WORD UP????? I think you been listening to too many retro radio stations. Good to see the warranty work for a change. Usually you gotta pay your own bill because of some fine print that says the catastrophic converger would have only been replace it was pushin 8.23 jiggawatts not 8.24.