I just solved a problem with my Merc 4.3 and this may help someone else in the future. My Fourwinns 180 is only three years old with less than 100 hours.
It ran perfectly until about 2 months ago. I got marina gas at an older marina
and soon after it was running very rough and at times wouldn't start. After leaving it for a day it would then start and run well for an hour, then back to rough.
I presumed it was bad gas and added gas-line water remover and changed the water/fuel separater.I filled it with Sunoco gas and it ran well for a day.I though I had it solved. The next day it wouldn't start again.
Anyways, you get the picture, this went on for over a month,-It was driving me nuts. I asked my brother who is more mechanical than me and he immediatly solved the problem. We removed the distributor cap and it was very wet inside. The gasket was worn and broken. Lake water and condensation had got inside. After using a hair dryer for 15 minutes and replacing the gasket,the boat runs like new again and I've put about 10 hours on it since with no problems. I was chasing what I thought was a bad fuel problem for 6 weeks. Just thought someone out there might use this info to keep them from chasing the wrong problem like me.
It ran perfectly until about 2 months ago. I got marina gas at an older marina
and soon after it was running very rough and at times wouldn't start. After leaving it for a day it would then start and run well for an hour, then back to rough.
I presumed it was bad gas and added gas-line water remover and changed the water/fuel separater.I filled it with Sunoco gas and it ran well for a day.I though I had it solved. The next day it wouldn't start again.
Anyways, you get the picture, this went on for over a month,-It was driving me nuts. I asked my brother who is more mechanical than me and he immediatly solved the problem. We removed the distributor cap and it was very wet inside. The gasket was worn and broken. Lake water and condensation had got inside. After using a hair dryer for 15 minutes and replacing the gasket,the boat runs like new again and I've put about 10 hours on it since with no problems. I was chasing what I thought was a bad fuel problem for 6 weeks. Just thought someone out there might use this info to keep them from chasing the wrong problem like me.
