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Posts: 86
| I recently had a kicker motor installed on my boat. The dealer put a "T" in my main fuel line to get fuel to my kicker. There is no shut off valve on the "T" to regulate gas flow to each motor independently.
I heard that this may not be the best way of doing it because a motor may draw air from the other fuel line. This seemed to be the typical response I was getting, and most concurred that it would be better to have a valve to regulate fuel flow to each engine independently.
However, I called another dealer today and they said they "T" the fuel line just like mine was done. He said that in older motors (without a squeeze bal) a valve would be necessary. He said with the ball in the line it is impossible to draw air from the other fuel line.
Another dealer says to put the valve in.
It would be nice to leave it the way it is, so I don't have to go back and flip a switch, but at the same time , I don't mind flipping a switch if it means better engine performance.
I have a Suzuki 150 and Yahama T8 if that matters at all.
Just curious if anyone else has experienced this and what they concluded.
Also, could the big engine be sucking the gas out of the kicker fuel line and kicker motor? I seem to have a little bit of a hard time with cold starts on my kicker motor.
Thanks for any insight you may have!
Jason |
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| The t-8 is kinda notoriuous for hard starts..but is really an awesome motor. Mine started and ran like it was going implode! gargled and rattled - but would warm up and purr.
I had two fuel lines, my dealer highly recommended the motors be seperated. My 2 cents. |
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Posts: 5874
| If you have a bulb for each motor, you will be fine. I run my boats that way. Last one for 4 years, and never had a problem. Besides. I look at it as always having a spare bulb, in case one fails. |
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Posts: 1096
Location: Hayward, WI | This is paraphrase from the Mercury Rigging Guide, other manu should be close.
1. Best method is to have seperate fuel pickups and lines for each motor.
2. Prefered is to have a 2 or 3 way valve to direct the fuel flow.
3. Acceptable to "t" the line before the primer bulb, so that each motor has its own primer bulb, check valve in primer bulb "should" prevent fuel siphon from other motor.
Another variation of this is to run 1 supply line to a canister style fuel filter, have 2 outlets, one for each motor, with each motor having its own primer bulb. This is the one that I prefer.
Chances of having an issue with a "t" is not great, but if it does happen you probably will not get any notice except for the main motor locking up from a lean conditon. |
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Posts: 86
| Thanks for all of the insight.
I agree that the bulb valve will not allow for fuel to flow back, but after contacting several Suzuki dealers their consensus was to put the valve in. Probably not necessary, but they said just in case the valve in the ball goes bad, I will not have any problems.
So, to error on the side of caution, I'll be putting a valve in.
Thanks again for all of your help.
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