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IO-470 Excessive Fuel Consumption

Coastinby

Member
Good afternoon, I was wondering if anyone could provide some ideas on where to start troubleshooting for excessive fuel consumption on an IO-470-L, motor is pretty much factory (had air time on it when it was put on the boat). I am burning around 12 to 15 gallons in a couple hour ride (fuel consumption has gone through the roof). I'm having to lean the motor almost all the way out to keep it rideable. Motor has the factory fuel injection on it. I tried to call Joey at Southeast Fuel but I haven't been able to get ahold of him.
 
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Keep trying Joey for sure, he will sort you out. But here are the things I would look at.

#1, assuming you are running the mechanical rotary pump. It has a weep hole at the mounting flange specifically to vent fuel when/if the shaft seal starts leaking vs. leaking fuel into the oil. On an aircraft they route that vent so the pilot can see it so he knows things ain’t right. I carry a kit that I can use in the field to plumb that back to the tank if it ever starts leaking. Crank her up and see if fuel is leaking.

#2, you have a leak somewhere else in the plumbing. I carry a spare injector line just in case, the longest one. But this would exhibit as a dead cylinder, so that doesn’t match.

#3, you mention having to lean out because it’s pig rich. This most likely leads to a bad O-ring in the fuel servo valve. Pull the servo apart and replace the orings. It is pretty simple to pull apart. I recommend Viton material for maximum life, will also work on ethanol, but hardware stor Buna N will work. It is a standard size and I have a bag of them left after ordering 25 from McMaster last time I did it. Can’t remember the part number right now and not at the shop. Get out your calipers.

#4, the polished face on the valve has gotten scored. In operation this is unlikely, the servo would need to be disassembled and either damaged or a piece of dirt got in to happen, so not high on my list.

#5 is the fuel pressure regulator, which is actually probably #1 to check. You should have about 22 psi from pump to servo. T in a gauge and see what you really have. Usually the diaphragm starts leaking, High pressure will run rich.
 
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