Problem with onboard Fuel Tank/Pump System..

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So when I bought the new Impact Fuzion 303 last fall, I was really liking the idea of having an onboard 30 gallon tank for fuel, for both the generator to draw from and also for filling up bikes. Everything was working well until about 2 1/2 months ago when I realized that it was taking forever for pump to fill my bike. The pump motor didn't sound any different than it ever had but the flow rate coming out of the pump handle was certainly reduced. I emptied a 5 gallon gas can and started timing how long it took to fill it. After one minute of pumping, it had put about 1.6 gallons in the gas can. This is on a pump that is suppose to pump at a 6 gallon/minute rate.....something was definitely wrong. So I called ECI fuel systems, the folks that make the tank and provide the pump to Keystone for the onboard fuel systems. He told me to take the pump off and send it to them and they would check it out and send me a new one if there was an issue with it. Three weeks later, a new pump arrives and I put it on last weekend. Well, the new pump didn't pump any better than the original one that I was having flow issues with.

Time to talk to someone that maybe has had some experience with this sort of thing........Oh Chuckster....are you out there? So I PMed Chuckster and we talked about the flow issue and how to start troubleshooting it to find the culprit. One of Chuck's suggestions was to try and figure out a way to remove the siphon hose from where it attaches to the tank, and put the end of it in a 5 gallon can of gas and see if it pumps correctly....the full amount of flow. So, I crawled under the T.H. and looked and the siphon hose has a crimp type hose clamp and there is very little space to get in there without dropping the tank down, but I managed to get the hose clamp off and the line off of the fitting. Sure enough, the pump worked just as it was suppose to and a very good flow was coming out the pump hose handle. Now, what to do? I tried blowing on the siphon hose where it went into the tank, and nothing! I either had a pretty fair size stoppage, or there is a check valve somewhere. So, using a mirror and shining a light towards the barbed fitting that the hose attaches to, it looks like there is something in the fitting. So I decided to take the fitting off and since there wasn't much room to work in the limited space, I thought that I was going to have to drop the tank, but then I realized that I might be able to get an extra deep 11/16" socket over the barbed end of the fitting and onto the hex part of it. Well that worked and I got the fitting out and Yep, it was a check valve inline with the siphon tank. I had another barbed fitting at the house and I was able to force the siphon hose onto it, just enough to make it stay....and tried the pump again, only this time without the check valve in the circuit. Ta Da....it worked!

So now, what I've done to fix the problem is to order an manual shutoff valve that is rated for gasoline use and put it inline with the siphon line. then from the valve to the inlet side of the electric pump. I got it all back together this morning....siphon line from the tank to the manual valve, line from the manual valve to the electric pump and tried it out.....it works as it did when it was new, other than the manual valve (3/8" NPT inlet and outlet) probably restricts the flow ever so slightly, but I can certainly live with it.

So in closing, I still don't know what happened to the check valve that was inline in the siphon line, but something made it fail to the point that it wouldn't completely open and thus restrict the pump gas flow volume. It was a long story with lots of detail, but it might help someone else in the future if you are noticing reduced flow out of your onboard fueling system.