I have a 1978 mercruiser 2.5L 120hp. I have noticed the motor hesitates and even dies sometimes when I try opening it up all the way. This is done when the motor is warm<br /><br />The carb has been rebuilt and the accelerator pump and filter has been replaced. <br /><br />I bought a Seloc repair manual, but it doesn't not tell me how to troubleshoot such a problem<br /><br />I haven't worked on a motor in a long time, but do know how to turn a wrench 
<br /><br />Anyways.<br /><br />I thought maybe the fuel pump filter may be a bit clogged, so I popped that out to take a look at it and looks like the previous owner or somebody tightened done the bowl a little too much and crushed it a bit, not too bad, but you do notice it slightly. Then I look a bit closer and noticed two gaskets in there and the spring backwards(so Seloc says). Could this be the culrpit of my problems?<br /><br />I just bought this boat a week ago and it ran fine when I picked it up. <br /><br />I cleaned out the spark arrestor really good, I probably will pull the plugs and see what kind of shape they are in. <br /><br />Anything else I should look at to be the culprit?<br /><br />Also, I don't see anything in the manual regarding prop sizes that are meant to be on this boat: 15ft tri-hull open-bow. What is on there now is a 13 1/4" x 19 pitch. This boat is really slow at getting to plane and do notice that the engine isn't at full throttle(even if the control is) until the boat comes on plane, is this normal? Once it does plane out its in the lower end of the rpm range for this motor which I believe is 3900 - 4300. <br /><br />What prop should be on this motor?
<br /><br />Anyways.<br /><br />I thought maybe the fuel pump filter may be a bit clogged, so I popped that out to take a look at it and looks like the previous owner or somebody tightened done the bowl a little too much and crushed it a bit, not too bad, but you do notice it slightly. Then I look a bit closer and noticed two gaskets in there and the spring backwards(so Seloc says). Could this be the culrpit of my problems?<br /><br />I just bought this boat a week ago and it ran fine when I picked it up. <br /><br />I cleaned out the spark arrestor really good, I probably will pull the plugs and see what kind of shape they are in. <br /><br />Anything else I should look at to be the culprit?<br /><br />Also, I don't see anything in the manual regarding prop sizes that are meant to be on this boat: 15ft tri-hull open-bow. What is on there now is a 13 1/4" x 19 pitch. This boat is really slow at getting to plane and do notice that the engine isn't at full throttle(even if the control is) until the boat comes on plane, is this normal? Once it does plane out its in the lower end of the rpm range for this motor which I believe is 3900 - 4300. <br /><br />What prop should be on this motor?