501 Chris Fuel Management System

[cambria lady]

Hello, This my first attempt at a post. We have a 1988 501, bought last year. Staying at Snook Bight in Ft Myers Beach. Have done and am doing a lot of work to straighten out what a hired capt did to last owner. Anyway... Help! I thought I had fuel manifold figured out. I thought that ARROW end of valve pointed toward tank in use. As you FACE manifold... arrow to RIGHT points to OFF, arrow to LEFT points to ENG RM tank and arrow to REAR points to AFT tank!? Correct?? Well after two fillups BOTH on AFT (arrow to rear) we filled up for 3rd time and port took correct amount and starboard AFT took zero. Starboard ENG RM took correct amount! Am I older than I thought or is it possible for valve to be "out of time" ? I don't see how it could unless maybe it was turned the wrong way around , somehow. My mechanic and I found out that the arrow to the right,as you face it, is indeed off. Thanks Chris Craft for the primer motors! I did 1 fillup on ENG RM tanks and no problem. Then, 2 fills on AFT where we left settings until Dec. Both were on AFT when we started out for Ft Myers where I ran into the "wonderment". Port AFT took fuel but Strbrd AFT was still full and ENG RM tank took correct!??? Thoughts?? GaryD

 

[Ski in NC]

Sometimes there is no substitute for disconnecting hoses from various places and blowing through valve to determine the port to handle layout. That will eliminate all doubt. Yours would not be the first boat out there with crazy fuel valve plumbing.

 

[C lectric]

Sometimes handles get removed and installed backwards. It is possibe on some/many valves If three way valves, sometimes the operation is backwards to what most of us think.
Maybe the valves are simply faulty. That happened to one member of this forum and it caused him a lot of trouble before he realized what was going on,.

I'll leave it to him to chime in if he wants.

As Ski suggested it may be time to pull hoses and do some testing.