2005 SANTE 210 Fuel System Troubleshooting

[TaylorB]

Purchased a 2005 SANTE 210 last Labor Day from a dealer with 218 original hours on the boat. Boat is in excellent condition and ran perfectly on the water test when I bought it. Only ran it a few times at the end of last year with no issues before winterizing it. Since getting it back out this spring I am dealing with an intermittent fuel delivery issue that I am hoping you all can help me troubleshoot. The boat seems to run fine as long as you keep it under about 3,200 RPM's. (Ran it for an hour like that yesterday.) Once your accelerate above 3,200 rpms it will eventually start to lose power. If I let off the throttle and let it idle for a minute I can get back on plane and cruise around 3,000rpms with no issues. As I accelerate the symptoms will return. I assume that the FCC is starved for fuel either by a partially clogged fuel pump and/or a weak low pressure pump. So far I have confirmed that I have 54 +/-psi at the fuel rail when idling and revving the engine in neutral (was by myself so I could not check pressure while running). Pick-up tube and screen at the bottom of the pick-up are perfect. There is an in-line fuel filter coming off the fuel line from the tank that I am going to replace as soon as the new one arrives. I am wondering if an in-line fuel filter was standard on this boat originally and, if not, is part of my issue. My next thought was to change the fuel filter in the FCC before breaking down and buying a new low pressure and/or high pressure fuel pump. Anyone else experienced similar issues? I know the easy answer is new fuel pumps but I wanted to rule out the simple fixes before going that route and wondered if pumps were the issue considering that it runs so well under 3,200 rpms. Appreciate any feedback that you can share.

[TaylorB]

This is my first time on this forum so I am not sure if I am doing something wrong and that is why no one has responded, or if there is another reason. Regardless, for anyone that viewed this post and is dealing with a similar issue I can tell you that I called Nautique Parts tech line and talked to a very helpful gentleman named Woody who suspected that it could be one or both of the fuel filters (in-line and in FCC). I changed both yesterday and tested the boat for about 30 minutes and did not have any issues. I want to run it longer over the weekend to be sure, but I am hopeful that I have solved the issue. The old filter in the FCC looked good so I am wondering if it was the in-line filter. I'm tempted to cut it open to see how the filter looks. Woody, if you are on this forum thank you for your help.

[NautiqueJeff]

Woody knows his stuff! He has been around these boats for decades, and worked at SECC, the distributorship for the southeast and a major dealer in Orlando. He'll get your boat running right.