Fuel Starvation

[Ronin51]

I have been dealing with a very strange problem. A friend bought a used Morgan 32. Another friend and I were delivering it for him. The engine started easily and ran great for about 3 hours. Then it quite. The fuel filter bowel was empty. We ended up feeding diesel to the engine by hand one bottle at a time.
We filled the tank with fresh diesel and ran with the cap off in case it was a blocked vent. Again the boat ran a couple of hours without a problem and then died from fuel starvation. Back to the the bottles and hand feeding the engine.

Later we had the boat on the hard. We polished the fuel. We observed no contamination in the clear lines or the filter. We checked the bottom of the fuel tank the best we could and found no obvious contamination. We had the fuel line replaced. Back on the water we ran great for over 5 hours. Then the engine died. We fed it one more bottle at the filter to get to the slip. Has anyone experienced anything like this? Any thoughts? We're baffled and the guys at the marina are scratching their heads.

[Sailmonkey]

pull the pickup tube out of the fuel tank and see where the pinhole is. I'd bet its about 3-5 hours of fuel down from the top of the tank.

[grantmc]

Sounds like there's either a leak or a blockage in the fuel lines somewhere.
Is there a smell or pool of diesel anywhere?
Check for wetness.
I would certainly change the filters.
Is there a day tank that's not being filled?
Is there an electrical pump in the fuel line that needs to be switched on or at least not working?

[Bill O]

Originally Posted by Sailmonkey

pull the pickup tube out of the fuel tank and see where the pinhole is. I'd bet its about 3-5 hours of fuel down from the top of the tank.

+1 this is your problem!