1997 Mercruiser 30L fuel check

"I think I had a bit of bad ga

"I think I had a bit of bad gas starting out this season. I put in a pint of seafoam and about 15 gal of 92octane fuel. The boat is still not running with a lot of power. It is a inline 4cyl-carberator engine. I dont see a water seperator anywhere - just the fuel pump. Where are my fuel filters? Should I change/clean the fuel arrestor? It seems to be dirty. Should I have the timing checked? I have adusted the mixture on the carb, but dont know what I am doing. One change I made on the lake made it run better, but still not great. It is embarassing not to be able to pull up a skiier."

"Does it idle rough or stall?

"Does it idle rough or stall? Does it fall on its face when you slam the throttle to pull a skier? How much weight are you hauling in the boat; fuel, gear and pasngrs?

Does the accellerator pump produce two jets of fuel when you hit the throttle? W/engine cold and off, look down the carb throat w/choke held open to see the fuel squirt.

When cold and you pump the throttle does the choke plate close? Does it open wide after 5 mins? Take a cane of carb cleaner and spray both the throttle and choke plates and their bushings along w/the linkages. Then put a drop of light oil on each bushing and linkage.
With a cold engine and choke closed, turn the key on to RUN, not start, and watch the choke to see if it opens in 5 mins.

Clean the flame arrestor. Check and or change the spark plugs. The color of each plug should be light tan to med. brown. A dark plug is a rich condition and a off-white plug is a lean condition.

There should be a filter screen in the carb's fuel inlet. Follow the line from the carb back to the tank. There should be a filter after the fuel pump."

"It died idleing about 2 out o

"It died idleing about 2 out of 10 times on the lake yesterday.
It does not fall on its face, but definately does not pull up a skiier.
I had a full tank (20gal) and about 775 lbs body weight. And about 150 lbs of ice, gear, refreshments.
At lunch I looked at the carb closer and it is squirting fuel in with engine off. The "top" flap remains wide open all the time. Is that the choke plate? If so, I will try the choke test you mentioned.
I wiped the arrestor good - it was covered in oily grime. How can I clean it better - soak in gasoline?
I will check the spark plugs again. I did mess with the carb screw to see if I could get the right mixture by "hear".....
As far as the fuel filter....I started to take the fuel line off the carb., and it was not coming off easy and I did not want to break it. I know it has not been replaced in over 4 years. There may be another filter in the fuel line on the fuel pump, but I dont know. There is no visible fuel filter, they must be all inline."

That is the choke plate. It s

That is the choke plate. It should close when the engine is cold and you move the throttle arm forward.

Clean the flame arrester w/brake clean spray from the inside out. I use that or degreaser spray and very hot water and dry w/comp. air.

Spray some liquid wrench on it and wait overnite. Use a "tubing wrench" (looks like a box end wrench w/a slot cut into it to slip over the tube) to remove/attach fuel lines or you'll round off the edges. Take the line off then the large nut which holds the filter screen inside. Make sure you put it back the same way; one end is closed.

If you can't find it between the carb and fuel tank; there isn't one. Look for a filter by the pump that looks like an oil filter. That's a fuel/water separator filter.

"[b]" but dont know what I

"" but dont know what I am doing."

Ayuh,...

Have a Mechanic do a Full,+ Complete Tune Up,+ Compression Test....

There's a Fuel Filter inside the Fuel Pump,+ another at the Carb's inlet...
Have the Mechanic replace them as well...
And,.. It might also need a Carb Rebuild..."