Lakes84
Petty Officer 1st Class
- Joined
- Aug 28, 2011
- Messages
- 253
OK, First off, I've done a TON of reading and searching, then reading some more. I think now I have more questions than answers.
I have an 87 4.3 OMC with the Cobra outdrive. Before I purchased this boat (Sport Craft) I did my due diligence and had the whole thing gone over. It was said to have bad gas in it. Well the gas tested out fine. What it needed was a good tune up. New cap and rotor, points condenser...everything. The Marina said the boat ran great and it does, but when I put a heavy load on it, say 50% throttle, it will die. So, what I could glean from past posts was the problem could be anything from the fuel pick up on the tank, to a clogged fuel filter, either in carb on or the inline one, pcv valve, dirty gas or maybe even the fuel pump itself. When the motor dies, it will start again shortly there after and idle fine, then history repeats itself. Giving it some gas, seemed to help a little, but it would eventually die again. I understand the bowl is being emptied quicker than the fuel system can fill it, thereby causing this issue..... That's also a guess, but I think a pretty good one....Am I on the right track with that assumption?
However, after going through this process 3 or 4 times, I went to start the motor again....then nothing, no clicking, no noise, nothing. The gauges all were silent, so me thinks there's a fuse somewhere that has tripped, but I'm not sure where. My friend who owns the resort we stay at, says theres a 50 amp fuse on the Mercruisers, that is on top of the engine in plain site, that sometimes needs resetting. We couldn't find that on mine, anywhere. There are two rubber boots on top of the engine close by the lower unit solenoid, that he thinks has fuses in them, I'm not so sure. Everything else works on the panel, blower, lights, bilge pump, so I know the batteries are good. Possibly, I was thinking the key switch might need to be replaced, or maybe a ground somewhere...engine compartment for that maybe?
I can trouble shoot computers all day and get them fixed. I need to reeducate myself on the finer points of "old" engine maintenance. Any help or pointers I receive on the way are sincerely appreciated.
Joe
I have an 87 4.3 OMC with the Cobra outdrive. Before I purchased this boat (Sport Craft) I did my due diligence and had the whole thing gone over. It was said to have bad gas in it. Well the gas tested out fine. What it needed was a good tune up. New cap and rotor, points condenser...everything. The Marina said the boat ran great and it does, but when I put a heavy load on it, say 50% throttle, it will die. So, what I could glean from past posts was the problem could be anything from the fuel pick up on the tank, to a clogged fuel filter, either in carb on or the inline one, pcv valve, dirty gas or maybe even the fuel pump itself. When the motor dies, it will start again shortly there after and idle fine, then history repeats itself. Giving it some gas, seemed to help a little, but it would eventually die again. I understand the bowl is being emptied quicker than the fuel system can fill it, thereby causing this issue..... That's also a guess, but I think a pretty good one....Am I on the right track with that assumption?
However, after going through this process 3 or 4 times, I went to start the motor again....then nothing, no clicking, no noise, nothing. The gauges all were silent, so me thinks there's a fuse somewhere that has tripped, but I'm not sure where. My friend who owns the resort we stay at, says theres a 50 amp fuse on the Mercruisers, that is on top of the engine in plain site, that sometimes needs resetting. We couldn't find that on mine, anywhere. There are two rubber boots on top of the engine close by the lower unit solenoid, that he thinks has fuses in them, I'm not so sure. Everything else works on the panel, blower, lights, bilge pump, so I know the batteries are good. Possibly, I was thinking the key switch might need to be replaced, or maybe a ground somewhere...engine compartment for that maybe?
I can trouble shoot computers all day and get them fixed. I need to reeducate myself on the finer points of "old" engine maintenance. Any help or pointers I receive on the way are sincerely appreciated.
Joe
