Auxiliary Fuel Pump Mystery

[jchronic]

Ernie-
I concur re pump cavitation. Not quite the same critical situation, but I once had the same type of occurrence with the auxiliary engine on my sailboat with a slug of air trapped between the primary fuel filter/lift pump (analogous to the airplane aux pump) and the engine-driven fuel pump. Bleeding the system a couple of times cured it.

That said, I'd fly the airplane locally an hour or so before taking off for the islands.

Ahab