So_I_Ski

@eleeski I removed the entire assembly, fuel inlet hose, pickup tube and float all ran through a hard plastic plate about 6 x 4 inches. Screen at the end of the pickup tube was whistle clean. As for an in tank pickup filter, if there is one I couldn't see it on that assembly.

@SM thanks but suggested by @TEL which I promptly did on Aug 11. @skier2788 thanks and I will go looking for that switch.

You're a bunch of damn alcoholics posing as waterskiers! :)

@jetsetr funny guy and I like black Russians myself but I won't know for sure until I hot wire that pump. Remember, that the first two things I did was install a new fuel filter followed by a new pump so even though the symptoms indicated a fuel delivery issue, who would think that a new pump would be faulty in precisely the same strange manner as the existing one? I guess that's becoming more common these days with crappy parts from China. Boy does that make diagnosing mechanical and electrical issues more difficult in the future with unreliable replacements. I hope that a lot of guys read this thread just so they are aware that the new part they install might also be defective.

For those who were curious, I wasn't holding out on you. I just couldn't update because I headed back to the lake which has no internet and got home two hours ago. Now you're not going to believe what happened hours before I left. Last Tuesday the mechanic showed up and before taking the boat for the lake test he asked me to start it in the driveway whereupon he focused on my fuel regulator suggesting that was the problem. I had already informed him that couldn't be the problem as per my last report to you guys above. he was reluctant to agree with me but we took it to the lake for the test run. It took about 30 seconds before it started acting up and at that point he determined that it was definitely my primary coil that was failing and that it wasn't fuel related. He proceeded to order a new distributor and when it arrived on Thursday morning he came over and installed it. Then back to the lake and guess what? NO CHANGE!! Now WTF? At that point he said that if we headed back to my place and grabbed his fuel pressure gauge from his car we could test the pump. Now I had told him that I had tried a new pump and it didn't solve the problem. We were packed and ready to head to the lake and I really didn't need my boat but he assured me it would only take 10 minutes to test the pressure. Anyway, he installed his gauge and low and behold, within 10 seconds the pressure starting dropping quite quickly and in another 10 seconds it was down to zero on his gauge. Now the new pump I had tried was a Spectra since the auto parts place didn't have the Carter pump that I have. The mechanic and at least three other experienced motor guys have all told me that if you put in a Spectra part you can expect one of three to work. So real shit parts. However, it still seems odd to me and one of those other guys that the Spectra would act faulty in precisely the same fashion as the Carter when most commonly, a fuel pump either works or doesn't work at all. While I was at the lake I talked to one of those guys and he said that I can now do a very simple test to confirm that it is either the pump or something else that is just shutting down the pump when it goes over 2600. He told me to hot wire the pump directly to the battery and if if still shuts down it's definitely the pump and if not it isn't. So within the next day or two I will try that test and go from there so stay tuned.

@Horton and @matthewbrown about 4 years ago a group of about 8 of us had Mike Suyderhoud meet us at Koreis Lake near Basin City WA to coach us for two days. Coincidentally, the key point that he coached us on was trailing arm pressure. His explanation was related to acceleration. He said that just like a sprinter who leans forward in the blocks, the skier who accelerates soonest has the greatest advantage and in order to do that most efficiently, one needs to have their COM in front of or leaning ahead of the point that the acceleration is being generated from which in this case is our connection to the pylon thru our arms. So as soon as your hand comes back onto the handle start transferring all of your pull to that trailing arm to accentuate leaning your COM in the direction of travel. So Mike is still a guy who has forgotten more about skiing than most coaches will ever know.

@Bruce_Butterfield for the link you added to that thread on "staying open" it doesn't indicate who wrote it. Could you provide the name of the author, please. Thanks.

If you were to consider the mechanics of "how" to keep your shoulders level and yet still turn the ski, it would seem that the more "open" you are, the easier it would be to accomplish. And there is only one way I can think of to keep your shoulders perfectly level throughout the turn and that would be to open so dramatically that your back was to the course which some of the better skiers are almost able to do on their onside anyway. In effect you would be falling backwards or dropping your lower body only while standing sideways so that your shoulders could stay level with respect to one another. For that matter, there is a great pic of Horton's onside at the bottom of his Denali review doing almost that very thing. He is so open that his head is turned to the shore and his shoulders are virtually level at the apex of the turn. Great form and something to emulate.

@morganhackl, give me a call no later than the 15th and I might be able to get you on a course. Kerry at 250-868-1695

@Rednucleus yes I could take it apart and remove the innards but if you saw it you would see that there is only one part to remove and that part is just a thin rubber diaphragm about an inch in diameter and it looks brand new. The reg itself is only about 2" in diameter and only consists of a spring loaded dial putting very slight pressure on that diaphragm as you turn it from 1 to 5. When I removed it and then put it back together I ran a low stream of compressed air thru it while turning the dial one notch at a time and the pressure of the air exiting the other side only varied slightly. So it works but I don't think it could ever have the significant effect that is plaguing my motor. Particularly when, as I say, it looks brand new and the only parts inside are a small spring exerting slight pressure on a thin rubber diaphragm. For it to have worked fine for years and then to have failed there would have to be at least some physical evidence of that failure within the unit and there is none. My next and last attempt before the mechanic arrives tomorrow will be to take it down to the lake and try tapping the carb as per @Orlando76 suggestion.

@Rednucleus thank you very much for the invite. I will seriously consider it and while I'm at it, thanks for all the input on my motor problem. I'll get back to you on both topics.

@Rednucleus I would love to humor you but my problem is that it means getting another piece of fuel line to fit where the gauge is and then dragging the boat to the lake to do that test. And how do I test the pressure - do I buy a gauge? On top of all that, having opened that gauge I find it hard to believe that it is faulty. Logically, my problem is related to something that has broken down in stages albeit quite quickly. And you are correct that the number I gave you corresponds with my specs in the manual which indicate that I have a 5.7L MPI engine. Coming back to the fuel pump, when I replaced it with a new one, the symptoms remained identical. So again, looking at it logically, how likely is it that the new pump would behave in precisely the same faulty fashion. @TEL I have just finished pulling the fuel pickup and the screen on the bottom is clear and clean so one more possibility eliminated. I guess I am down to a vacuum leak or collapsed float bowl in the carb as per @Orlando76 if it's fuel related. Otherwise maybe ignition is the only thing left? Anyway I will keep you all posted when and if the mechanic solves the riddle on Tuesday. Thanks again for all the input. It's been an education if nothing else.

@brewski only fuel filter is exiting the fuel tank & I changed that. At carb inlet only a small thumb sized screen and it's clean. @Rednucleus I pulled apart that fuel reg and it's whistle clean and such a simple device with a small diaphragm that it can't be the problem.

@Orlando76 OOPS, that was the tranny info. The motor info is model # 03-572-01 and the serial number is 465076

@Orlando76 there is a small aluminum PCM plate attached to the top of the tranny. Stamped on that plate is the model #IRM40-11 and a Serial #20069684.

@RichardDoane it's a PCM not a Merc.

@Orlando76 you are correct in a number of things about the origin of my boat and it being a "one off", kinda. Mark Overby who was the original owner of the hull had Centurion build the boats in their plant from inception. Then in 2005 he sold the mold to IMAR Group out of North Dakota. From what I understand they were a runabout manufacturer and knew little about building a tournament boat. A good friend of mine was the Gekko distributor here for years and he ordered the boat for me and chose to go carburated instead of EFI to save me some money so in that sense it may have been the only carburated boat they sold out of the limited number they did make. Anyway, the IMAR Group only made Gekkos for a year before the crash. And no one suggested whacking the carb up the back side so I'll give that a try. @DW I did not do anything prior to the onset of this problem and it had been starting and running great. @Jetsetr I tried cranking up the fuel reg to 5 but it made no diff. And you would think that with everything I have eliminated combined with the suggestions from you guys that the mechanic who is coming by on Tuesday should solve the problem pretty quickly if I don't get it myself. And what a great perk for you to be able to hop a plane and go wherever you want. Where do you live? I'm in Kelowna BC, semi-retired and work for myself. Kelowna is on Lake Okanagan in southern BC but a group of us drive 2 hours to a magical lake where we can ski on glass every day so come on up.

@SkiSlipper67 skiing, followed by an amazing meal and topped off with homemade ice cream?? Holy shit, that sounds better than an orgasm which is sadly only a memory since they roto rootered my prostate. Bastards!

@BraceMaker it's a 2006 Gekko with a 350 chev PCM. @Orlando76 Just got home from skiing with a buddy and too late for pics but I will check the motor tomorrow for the serial number. And it is 100 percent an electric fuel pump mounted on the bottom right hand corner with positive and negative posts at the bottom. The model number is 4601hp and I believe that it is a Carter pump. As the fuel exits to the carb it goes up an 8 inch metal line with an rh bend followed by an 8 inch rubber fuel line with a fuel regulator in the middle which has a dial with options from 1 to 5.5 with half increments. I have removed that and taken it apart and it only has a small rubber diaphragm which is whistle clean. It had been set at 3.5. Then another metal line that bends left again and into the front of the carb. Just as it enters the carb body there is a very small screen hidden inside the connection which I removed to check over a week ago and that was also clean. Regarding the fuel pump as I said earlier I replaced it with an identical Specter but no change so I took that back. I had intended to remover the fuel pickup today but got derailed so I'll try that tomorrow. Thanks again guys for all the intelligent input.

@Rednucleus as far as I can tell it only stalls under load. I ran it at 3000 in neutral and no stall but truth be known I may not have let it run long enough. So I guess I should hook up the fake a lake and try it in my driveway. Assuming it only does it under a load does that change what I should be looking for? And @Jetsetr, it's an electric fuel pump but that was one of the first things I replaced and no change. Unless I got a bad pump but wouldn't it be very odd that a bad pump would have identical symptoms? @RichardDoane there is definitely not another fuel filter hidden somewhere. The boat came with none so my buddy installed one for me which I have just replaced. @Orlando76 while you are correct that a timing light would be an easy test, unfortunately I don't have one. Also if that was the problem, it wouldn't run great above 3000 for about 7 seconds, would it?

@Jetsetr thanks for that explanation. So if I understand you that would align with my symptom when I let it die instead of pulling back on the throttle. Then it doesn't want to start for a minute or so because it's flooded.

@vtmecheng yes the first thing I did was replace the fuel filter that my buddy had installed plus checked the thumb sized screen entering the carb. So I was too busy today to try anything but tomorrow morning I will go with Bruce's suggestion and pull the fuel tank pickup tube and check it for debris. Spoke to a merc tech today who had also stopped by to visit a mutual friend and he suggested the primary coil as the possible culprit. So replacing that might be my next trick. After venting or fuel supply hiccups and then the coil, it sounds from you guys that I might be into carb issues but those are beyond my pay grade so I will wait for my appointment with the monkey wrench mid next week. Unless one of guys wants to fly up to beautiful BC and go skiing on a remote lake that Andy Mapple described as one of most beautiful settings he had ever skied on when we had him up here coaching about 6 years ago. He skied at noon each of the three days and ran from 28 thru 39 off at 34 and never missed a ball. He went out on his road bike at the end of each day and said he was in the best shape of his entire life. All lean muscle and I think he said he weighed 178. What a loss.

What a great site and what a great bunch of guys taking the time to offer possible solutions. Too many questions to answer directly but I did check that screen at the carb inlet last week and it was clean. There is only one fuel filter and a friend installed that a couple of years ago because it had no filter from the factory (odd). And I didn't do anything that I know of to precipitate this problem such as run low on fuel. Plus it came on in three stages. Started my holiday and all good for first three days. Then day four just up on plane and it died completely. Took a minute to start, then ran fine for two more days of skiing. Then cruising down the lake for 5 minutes and a quick brief drop in rpm and back up to speed without touching the throttle. Then I went home from our place on the lake for two days and when I came back, immediately headed out but only got about 2 minutes down the lake when it started dropping rpm and surging back up on it's own. This continued as I limped back to my dock. From then on as I tried different solutions it settled into that I described initially where I could drive it only at 2600 or lower which I did for the last 5 days of my holidays just to cruise out to where my buddies gather to ski on the second lake. Fortunately, half dozen of us all take our holidays at the lake at the same time and we all have tournament boats so my skiing was not interrupted.

Accelerator pump has two votes so that sounds promising so thanks for the input. It certainly acts like it's starving for fuel and if I let it stall out then it takes a minute or two to start again. And the year is 2006. It's in a Gekko that I bought new.

I own a 350 chevy block PCM, 4 barrel holly carb so not EFI. About a week ago the motor started dogging at anything over 2600 rpm. I can drive all day at 2600 or lower but anything above and about 7 - 10 seconds later it will stall out unless I pull back on the throttle. I can pin it and again it runs flat out but only for 7 - 10 seconds. I've changed the fuel filter, fuel pump, secondary rotor, checked and cleaned contacts in the distributor and rotor, cleaned the heat exchange, checked the impeller, put in a fuel conditioner (sea foam), sprayed in a carb cleaner and my buddy noticed that it was still misting gas into the carb as it was stalling. Seems like only some kind of ignition issue or maybe a faulty sensor shutting down the engine over 2600. Got a date with a mechanic sometime next week but just wondering if someone has seen this problem before or if anyone has any ideas. Thanks