2002 Mercury 60hp EFI Stalls after 30 min. running, HELP!!!

[goatkeeper]

My dad purchased this motor new with boat in 2002. It worked great until mid-2005. He was using it nearly every week. Then problems, it would start and run fine for 30-45 minutes, but then it would die. At first it would crank back and run fine, then gradually it would only go at an idle. He finally got disgusted and quit fishing. This year my son-in-law decided he would take it and get it fixed...after $900 it still does the same thing! Dad has gotten interested again. He thought the pickup tube was hitting the bottom of the tank and cut it off. SO...we tried again yesterday and I paddled over a mile! The motor ran fine for about 45 minutes. We ran through all rpm ranges. Idled. Cut off, started up. Everything seemed fine...then it sputtered once, idled for about 5 seconds and died. After more than 30 minutes of paddling, the motor restarted and acted fine!
Called Mercury tech. They thought it was water pump causing an overheating issue. Does this sound possible? He also stated that the pumps need to be replaced every 3 years...is this correct??? By the way, we heard no horn warning from the motor.
Any help would be greatly appreciated!!!
Thanks,
Jimmy

 

[bernieb]

Re: 2002 Mercury 60hp EFI Stalls after 30 min. running, HELP!!!

Just a shade tree mechanic here. But having the same problem as you, only mine is a 2001 250hp efi and my problem was below deck, a brass check valve (one way) that was mounted on the top of the gas tank. It consists of a ball and spring that gets clogged and can be eratic at times ,and it can be cleaned.

 

[goatkeeper]

Re: 2002 Mercury 60hp EFI Stalls after 30 min. running, HELP!!!

ttt

 

[sdsaw]

Re: 2002 Mercury 60hp EFI Stalls after 30 min. running, HELP!!!

Hey Jimmy,
Similar experience with a 2001 115hp EFI fourstroke. Still under warranty and working with the Merc factory techs and my mechanic for 3 months trying to find out why my motor would stall out, but restart right away almost every time, they kept thinking fuel related.
After two tries of cleaning the fuel system, replacing the high pressure fuel pump, changing the ECU and wire harness with no change, running it on the laptop looking for a sign or code, out of desperation, we changed the main relay and wa la, that was it.

Might be your problem.
Good luck,
Scott