the pickup tube presses in the bottom of the fitting, seen them plastic and aluminum..some have a small filter on the end..that could be the issure right there...

if i unscrew the 90* fitting from the tank, will the pickup tube come out with it? if not, how do i get it out? will i have to take the sending unit out or something in order to get to the tube?

The pickup tube should come out with the 90° fitting. I had a problem with my '06 292 fuel tank pickups. The pickup tube was hard plastic with a press fit over a barb fitting on the bottom of the 90° fitting. I believe ethanol in todays gas over time caused the plastic to swell slightly. This allowed air to be sucked in the gas line (especially with low fuel levels) and cavitate my fuel pump. Ended up getting new pickups with welded stainless pickup tubes from the gas tank manufacturer. Problem solved. Good luck!

if you take the fitting out and tube does not come out you have found the problem...but would not run at all...

ok guys, this boat is going to be the death of me......pulled the boat out this weekend (i know, June and my boat hasn't been dewinterized yet....shame) and have the exact same problem i had last year....again, no fuel pressure!!! this time while cranking my fuel pressure gauge says 5psi. as soon as the engine starts, it drops to 0.5 at idle and 0 at anything off idle. did the exact same troubleshooting as last year including putting the pickup in a gas can to rule out that again. if i pull the carb feed line off and crank it seems to be pumping fine and filled a 20oz bottle in around 6 pumps, but must be losing pressure once the carb starts feeding off it. i was thinking the fuel pump again (maybe the diaphragm has a pinhole), but there is no fuel coming out of the bleed line that goes to the carb. i'm yet again stumped by this fuel system....

Try checking for leaks in your fuel lines between the tank and the pump.

i have replaced the line from the tank to the pump, which would be suction side of the pump. that would be the only one that would draw air. if anything else was leaking, then it would be on the pressure side of the pump and would leak rather than draw air. it would have to be a pretty hefty hole to bleed 5-7psi of fuel pressure to zero and i would notice fuel leaking. the odd part is that it builds pressure when the engine is cranking but not running (pulled coil wire to distributor), but loses it when the engine starts.

the fuel pump is less than a year old, so i wouldn't think it would be bad, but its the thing i'm aiming at right now. i warrantied the old one the other day, so i'm waiting on a new one to come in later this week to rule it out.