Mercruiser 160 ran great...then stalled

[thunderroad]

SN 2497444. Took it out for the first time today. Started fine at home, started fine at launch. Ran up river a little, ran great. WOT 4500..not so much as a sputter. Cruising at 35-3700..smooth as silk. Slowed down to talk to some friends on a pontoon and as soon as I got to 1500 it blubbered and died. Wouldn't start right back up, but waited 3-4 minutes and it started and acted like it was flooded. Ran great for a while (about 15 more miles). Then as I slowed up near the ramp I could feel it blubbering again so I revved it back up a litte. Needless to say, I HAD to eventually slow it down so I purposely went a little upstream past the ramp and slowed down. Blubberred and died. The ramp was busy so I didn't fool with trying to start it. Let the ramp traffic clear and winched it on the trailer. <br />My instincts say carburetor but I remember a mechanic once telling me that a carburetor gets blamed for a lot of things that aren't it's fault. Other vitals.... new points, plugs and condenser. Dwell and timing set to specs. What do you think the problem might be?<br />thanks

 

[Bondo]

Re: Mercruiser 160 ran great...then stalled

Carburetor...........................Or atleast the Fuel Delivery System,....... Somewhere...........

 

[thunderroad]

Re: Mercruiser 160 ran great...then stalled

thanks..The fuel tank (plastic) was new last year along with all lines. The fuel pump was replaced earlier this spring, just on a hunch that the original one was goin south. I didn't buy a Mercruiser one but it was the Sierra equivalent and it looked identical and all lines hooked up the same. All it has is a sediment bowl and I checked it. Full and no water apparent.<br />Guess I'll take it to a pro. Every carburetor I've ever put a kit in ran worse after I got done than before I started. I thought about maybe bad fuel but it wouldn't have run so nicely at high rpm is that were the case, would it? It really ran smooth over 2500...even better than I remembered it running last year.

 

[Bondo]

Re: Mercruiser 160 ran great...then stalled

Ayuh,....... Still sounds like the Carb.....