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1998 310 santego. Fuel switch

Posted: September 1st, 2019, 6:35 pm
by Longlake
My boat is only pulling gas from the port tank. I looked in the owner manual and it shows valve controls for each tank plus one for a generator (which I do not have). It says they are on the forward wall of the engine compartment. I have looked all over and don't see anything. I contacted the previous owner and he had not seen these valves. On an older model they were inside the cabin under a cushion and easily accessible and no mistake what they were. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

Re: 1998 310 santego. Fuel switch

Posted: September 1st, 2019, 7:17 pm
by km1125
Mine are under the bottom step (lift the bottom step to see the valves), but it's a different kind of boat.

Re: 1998 310 santego. Fuel switch

Posted: September 1st, 2019, 8:42 pm
by Longlake
My top step opens but it's just water related lines. My second step doesn't seem to lift but I'll give it another look tomorrow. Thanks for the help

Re: 1998 310 santego. Fuel switch

Posted: September 1st, 2019, 9:20 pm
by bud37
Your manual may show you things that were options....you may not even have valves....just follow the fuel lines back from each of the engines to the tanks.

Re: 1998 310 santego. Fuel switch

Posted: September 2nd, 2019, 8:05 am
by Viper
Let us know if you find the valves. Follow the fuel lines from the engines, if they go straight to the tanks, you don't have valves. What makes you think both engines are drawing from the same tank? Did you follow fuel lines or are you simply going through more fuel on one side? If you're going by your fuel gauge readings consider that they may be inaccurate due to wiring, corrosion, faulty gauge or sender. It may also be that one of the engines is using more fuel than the other for some reason and has a condition that needs to be remedied. Just throwing some possibilities out there.

Re: 1998 310 santego. Fuel switch

Posted: September 2nd, 2019, 8:50 am
by buster53
One other thing to consider...if you have a genset, many boats have it hooked up to the port tank, so if you are using it a lot, that tank will drain a lot faster than the starboard tank.

Re: 1998 310 santego. Fuel switch

Posted: September 2nd, 2019, 10:27 am
by Cooler
You may only have fuel selector switches if there was a generator installed at the factory. No gen, no selector, normally. Look at the manual again and make sure it mentions this caveat. Why are you thinking the fuel is only drawing from one side? Is your fuel gauge for the starboard tank staying pinned, or does the starboard tank not take any fuel at the dock? Maybe your fuel selector switch is bad at the gauge. If you can get fuel in the tank, it's burning. Sounds strange. Good luck. 8-) er

Re: 1998 310 santego. Fuel switch

Posted: September 2nd, 2019, 4:38 pm
by Longlake
No the starboard tank is full and won't take any fuel. We were on a 4 day trip and it was only drawing from the port tank. Not sure if it would draw from the port when the other was empty. We don't have a generator but without knowing for sure it was a little bit of a concern. We were assuming this isn't the case due to the boat being balanced. We really didn't want to chance it with a long trip

Re: 1998 310 santego. Fuel switch

Posted: September 2nd, 2019, 4:41 pm
by Longlake
I honestly cant see where the tanks are located from the engine compartment. I talked to the previous owner and he said he thought they drew from the prospective side

Re: 1998 310 santego. Fuel switch

Posted: September 2nd, 2019, 7:42 pm
by buster53
Longlake wrote:Source of the post I honestly cant see where the tanks are located from the engine compartment. I talked to the previous owner and he said he thought they drew from the prospective side


Most times, tanks are between the engines and the hull sides. I think this is a case where you get a good flashlight and crawl down in your engine compartment and try to figure out where everything is. Tanks should be pretty obvious and once you see them, you will see all the fuel lines and if you have them, fuel filters.