1999 searay 215 express cruiser spitting and sputtering at high speed

[boatingtattman]

I have a 1999 Searay 215 express cruiser with a 5.0 mercruiser motor with 190 hours and a gen 2 alpha 1 outdrive. i have recently replaced the spark plugs and cleaned the piece under the float in the carb and everything was running great..
Here is the problem that arose today..we rode for a good hour out to go fishing and on the ride back we were cruising along and it was taching at about 4700-4800 rpms then all of a sudden it started to die, then jumped back up to where it was..that happened like that for a little while then i started to run it at around 3000 rpms and it was doing the same thing but started to get worse..it got so bad when it started to die i would drop it down to neutral so it wouldnt die..i was just trying to get back to the ramp and we were miles and miles away..after doing this for awhile it died completely and wouldnt start back up..i was lucky enough to have someone give me a tow and after about an hour i tried to start it and it fired right up..by that time i was 10 minutes away so i took a chance and unhooked the rope and made it back to the ramp with no further issues..
Can someone please tell me what the problem might be with this? do u think that it has to do with ethanol in the gas? the guy at west marine said i should drain the water fuel separator after every 3 time i take it out, is that true? i havent ever done it..i was thinking of doing a rebuild on the carb but would that really need it with only 190 hours on it? i was a BMW tech for years and can work on pretty much anything..Should i replace the fuel filter?..please let me know, and thanks in advance..i love this site and even shopping on here saves alot of money

 

[HT32BSX115]

Re: 1999 searay 215 express cruiser spitting and sputtering at high speed

Howdy,


Your description sounds like fuel starvation. You have a fuel pickup screen in the fuel tank, an anti-siphon check valve, fuel filter, and fuel pump.

ANY of these items could be the culprit. But if you haven't changed the filter, I would do that first. (you should change it every year when you winterize)

We all run E-10 gasoline I have never had any issue running E-10 (in everything I own) since it's been available.

Regards,


Rick

 

[boatingtattman]

Re: 1999 searay 215 express cruiser spitting and sputtering at high speed

Howdy,


Your description sounds like fuel starvation. You have a fuel pickup screen in the fuel tank, an anti-siphon check valve, fuel filter, and fuel pump.

ANY of these items could be the culprit. But if you haven't changed the filter, I would do that first. (you should change it every year when you winterize)

We all run E-10 gasoline I have never had any issue running E-10 (in everything I own) since it's been available.

Regards,


Rick

if it means anything i had the fuel pump replaced at the beginning of the season and also the fuel guage wasnt working so i had someone replace that..i am going to replace the filter in the separator and fuel filter tomorrow..thanks for the advice..i love this site