Fuel or drive??? 1977 888 Merc.

[Ted K]

I will try to explain this in the written form. History first. 1977 22' Cuddy with Merc. 188 and 888 drive. Been in storage 8 years, brought it back to life a month ago with new oil, plugs, impeller, lower unit lube. Has started and run great for 4 weeks. The other night we were out on the lake in medium chop at 3/4 throttle heading back to our slip. All of the sudden she just seemed to go to idle. Didn't die. I sat in neutral for a few minutes and all seemed well with engine so I shifted in forward and off we went. 2 min. later same thing. oil pressure good, temp 140. Now getting nervous and darkness coming on, I slogged forward at low throttle. Went for a while then added a little juice to get back and she had ( now this is the hard part to describe) a vibration sound. Can't tell if it was sputtering bad or if sound came from drive. Basically, idled back to slip and parked it. Checked yesterday, checked oil and fired her up. All good, maybe a little over full on oil. With it tied up, shifted to reverse and it felt strong. Question: Can drive "slowly" go bad? Could this be fuel/water separator issue? It may have had some 10% fuel put in during start-up this month. Only have a short time left at slip and not much help for pulling out of water.

 

[Alpheus]

Re: Fuel or drive??? 1977 888 Merc.

So you had the throttle lever up and the boat went into idle??? Or was the engine revving and it felt like it slipped into neutral???

 

[haulnazz15]

Re: Fuel or drive??? 1977 888 Merc.

Well, if you've gone through a tank of gas, I wouldn't be concerned much about the fuel itself. I'm trying to think of what would cause an engine to return to idle from 3/4 throttle.

 

[jerryjerry05]

Re: Fuel or drive??? 1977 888 Merc.

The drive has upper gear and lower gears.The upper if it goes there is no GO
The lower you can loose reverse or forward.
Usually they don't go slowly.
It sounds like you have a fuel problem.Ethanol!!!
I have siphon hose, that just pumping fuel from an old tank it went bad in about an hour.
The inside of older hoses delaminates and causes clogs and crap flowing into the pump and carb.J

 

[Ted K]

Re: Fuel or drive??? 1977 888 Merc.

Can't say that it "went" to idle. I was going along and it just seemed to die out. I moved throttle to neutral and noticed the engine was still running. Rev-ed it a few times and slowly took off again. Once up to 3/4 and bouncing around again, she did it again. That is when I sat for a few minutes idling and then proceeded at min throttle to get home. As I notched it up it kinda vibrated. In my mind I thought it was sputtering so I slowed down again and limped home. As mentioned, forward and reverse are there and strong. Once I over think it, I started worrying about the drive. I am thinking that once under heavy load it is dogging due to f/w separator sloshing water around? Maybe I don't understand it's function but think I will at least replace it and see.

 

[hemi041]

Re: Fuel or drive??? 1977 888 Merc.

sounds to me like a fuel filter, after being sitting for that long things do start to dry up and break down then when you bring it back to life that crap washes out. I would change youd fuel lines and filter and the water separator

 

[haulnazz15]

Re: Fuel or drive??? 1977 888 Merc.

Well if the engine is just losing power but not dying, I'd look at a fuel issue first. Go ahead and replace the F/W separator filter and any other in-line/carb filters. I would also pull the fuel tank if you are able to. If not, I wold drain it as much as possible and try to clean it out as best as you can.

I would say either water or more likely debris in the fuel tank that is getting mixed with the fuel while sloshing around. Once you return to idle and the debris settles back to the bottom of the tank, you are able to return to normal throttle until the debris gets stirred up again. We had this issue once with some dirt/etc that had gotten into the tank likely from being stored in a barn with horses for a number of years. We pulled the tank, cleaned it out thoroughly and never had the problem again.

 

[Bondo]

Re: Fuel or drive??? 1977 888 Merc.

Maybe I don't understand it's function but think I will at least replace it and see.

Ayuh,.... Don't just change it,.... Inspect the contents of the take-off for Crud or Water...

 

[dubs283]

Re: Fuel or drive??? 1977 888 Merc.

definitly check the fuel system - as described in above posts

also, you mentioned changing the plugs - did you also change cap/rotor, points/condenser - set dwell/timing??

sitting for eight years, the ignition parts definitly need to be changed

 

[Ted K]

Re: Fuel or drive??? 1977 888 Merc.

Thanks, I will check and change fuel line and filters and try to get fuel drained. I am taking it out of the water in a week or so and then I will do the rest. IE ignition and such. I really would like to get one or two more days of use this season.
Oh, and when you say "inspect the take off" are you reffering to the fuel I remove and the lines and filter?

 

[dubs283]

Re: Fuel or drive??? 1977 888 Merc.

Inspect the contents of the take-off

pour the contents of the oil filter style water/fuel separator into a clear glass jar and inspect for water/debris

 

[Ted K]

Re: Fuel or drive??? 1977 888 Merc.

Gotcha! Off work @ 4, marina closes at 5. get parts and give 'er a whirl.