Formula 271 Fastech how to drain fuel tank


L

larry1954

New member
I have a 1997 Formula 271 Fastech with 7.4L MPI engine which I bought about 10 months ago but have not yet used. The previous owner advised me to drain the old fuel out of the fuel tank and replace with fresh fuel and add some injector cleaner before starting it up. I have disconnected the fuel line which comes from the tank to the engine, but no fuel comes out even though there is about an eighth of a tank according to the gauge. Should I simply try putting a siphon down the fuel filler hole or what is the best way? The boat was serviced just before I bought it.

We live in Australia and Formula Fastech boats are rare here. This one was imported some years ago by the previous owner.

Thanks for any suggestions.
 
sometimes the filler necks have a 90 degree bend in them (on top of the tank) but if you can get a hose in without any problems i guess that would be the easiest way. if you can find the fuel hose that supplies fuel from the tank to the engine, you might try disconnecting it at the fuel pump and siphoning from there. will you be doing this service while it is on a trailer?
 
There's a one way check valve just before the hose enters the tank, make sure its not seized up...if that's fine just remove the cap on top of the tank and use a hand pump
 
Thanks for the suggestions. Yes, this 'servicing' is being done with the boat still on the trailer.

I tried to put a siphon down the fuel filler and it went in about 1.5 m and came to some impenetrable barrier but did not reach the fuel. I attached the siphon to the fuel line which comes from the fuel tank and goes to the engine and pressed the bulb on the siphon. No fuel came out, but you could hear a gurgling sound such as of air passing into liquid, so there definitely is some fuel in the tank.

Perhaps I will need to hook up an electric fuel pump to the fuel line and pump it out that way.

Does any one know where the fuel pump would be? Since this is a MPI motor I thought there might be a fuel pump in the fuel tank. In that case, fuel should be pumped out when the ignition is turned on or at least when the motor is cranked. But I have tried that and nothing comes out the disconnected fuel line. So the fuel pump must be on the engine. Perhaps I could also disconnect the fuel line after the fuel pump and with the ignition on or the engine cranked over the fuel should pour out? Is that possible? Looks like there might be a pump at the RHS of the front of the motor driven by a belt (it is a 454 Magnum MPI engine). Would that be correct?
 
Finally solved the problem. I attached about 4m of flexible plastic hose to the disconnected fuel line which exits the fuel tank and carries fuel to the motor. Then my wife got the idea of using the electric pump that inflates/deflates air matresses and connected that to the end of the plastic tubing and set the pump to 'deflate'. We then put as much of the tubing inside the engine bay as possible with the pump going so as to fill as great a length of the plastic tubing as possible, then pinched the tubing, disconnected the pump and put the tubing to the outside of the boat (which is on the trailer) and my wife released the pinch in the tubing when she had brought the tubing down below the level of the bottom of the boat and it all flowed out. I estimate about 115 liters of petrol flowed out.
 
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