please help! 99 XPL - fuel pump not drawing anything

[xpcameron]

I'm hoping somebody can steer me in the right direction, it's June and I've yet to be on the water!

Summary:
Freshly rebuilt carbs this spring
stock fuel lines were replaced 5 years ago and new ones show no sign of breaking down
Reason the carbs were rebuilt was last year I would top out at 6k - turns out the barb on the carb pulse line was cracked.
I also pulled the engine and fuel tank this spring - gas can nozzle had fallen in the tank and I decided to get it out and clean it up.

I've double checked connections and how the lines are run - 99.9% sure everything is correct.
I can run the starter all day and get no fuel into the carb - won't even fill up the filter bowl.
However, if I pull the fuel line going into the carb and syphon it, I can pull gas from the tank, through the filter and all the way up the line.

I don't have a pressure test kit, but when I pulled the gas line off the carb and blew into it, I got air flow and a whistling sound (closest way to describe it is Rudolphs nose in the old cartoon).
The engine will run great by putting a bit of gas in the carbs, but once that burns off, it dies.

The only change to the set-up seems to be that the end plate on the carb is new (to replace where the broken barb was) - it must be off a slightly different carb as the old one said pulse and the new plate has fuel stamped on it, but looks exactly the same.

Would really appreciate any advice available - I've spent countless hours on this with no progress.

Thanks!

 

[Coastiejoe]

I would check to see if the pulse line is attached and in fact pulsing if it is attached... If not pulse, bad diaphragm in the carb would be my guess.

 

[xpcameron]

Pulse line is attached - I did take it off the carb while cranking to feel and there is a pulse and it did build some pressure with my thumb over the line. Should it be strong enough that I can't keep my thumb firmly against the end of the line?

 

[Coastiejoe]

No. It just pulses. The pulse moves a diaphragm at the carb which pulls fuel to the carb. Could be a bad diaphragm.

I'm a 4-stroke owner, but do understand the 2-stroke basics.
[MENTION=57920]racerxxx[/MENTION] would be able to help us better.

 

[jhjesse]

Could be you have your fuel pump diaphrams on the wrong side. The black diaphram and the clear could be mixed up. Could be that you have the clear one against the big O ring

 

[racerxxx]

When you rebuilt the carbs, did you rebuild the fuel pump? There are little discs in there with a blue line on them. That line has to face a certain direction, the reason being is the material comes from a roll when its cut. The material has "memory" and will retain the shape of the roll.. If you put the discs on with the curl up instead of towards the fuel pump they will never seal and will not pull fuel. And you 100% positive the fuel lines are correct? How about taking a new line direct from the fuel baffle to the carb. I know its a pain on the XPL.

 

[xpcameron]

So I just pulled of the replaced cap piece on the front carb (where the pulse line goes in from the engine) with the old one that has a crack in brass barb where the pulse line connects. With one short crank it filled up the fuel bowl and on the second crank it fired right up. On the bright side, I'm back up and running. On the down side, I still probably won't have my top end as this leaves me in the same situation I was in last year - with the pulse system not able to fully pressurize. Is it possible to pull the brass barb out of the new plate and put into the working one? It doesn't seem to be threaded.
Or do I need to order a new plate, gasket and diaphragm?