Logo
FULL SITE MENU

1998 90 HP mercury elpto problems

R

Rycullen41

New member
Hello all,
first time posting as I have an engine question that I am hoping someone could steer me in the right direction on. As my title says I am having some engine trouble and not sure what is causing it.
I was running my boat this weekend and all of a sudden the engine just quit. When I went to re-start it it seemed as if the battery was about dead, even the the gauge said 12V. I finally got it running again, and got it up to full speed, and it died again. So, again it seemed as if the battery was about dead. When I got it going again, I just limped back to the dock.
i check and replaced the plugs, put a new fuel filter in, tried a different tank of gas, and even a different gas hose. All of which did not help the problem. It kind of leads me to believe that there is an electrical issue that I cannot pin point. I live in NY and my boat is kept in canada where I will be heading on Thursday to give it another go for the weekend.
So, anybody with some ideas, they would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
Ryan
 
lets start with the battery...a fully charged battery should read 12.6 or 12.7 volts...when you start the motor and give it a couple minutes at 1500 rpms the regulator should read more than the 12.7 and settle out at 14.8....
the battery is not the cause of the motor dieing though...it may be that the engine is getting hot..is your warning horn working?..it should give a short beep when you turn the key to the run position...you can also test the sensor circuit by disconnecting the sensor and grounding the wire that feeds it....you should get a continuous beep..
there are many things that could cause the motor to die...but i believe in fixing what i see as a problem first and go from there...and if you have a problem turning a warm motor that just died then there lies one problem...
 
I was thinking that was a possibility that the motor could be overheating, but the sensor you are talking about does not work. As I have never heard it go off before. I know there could be many possibilities to why it is over heating, but can you think of a few places for me to start searching. I have had the boat for 10 years and have never had a problem with it dying on me like this. It doesn't get a whole lot of use, maybe 6 to 8 weekends a year. Thanks again for the reply.

ryan
 
the first thing i would fix is the horn...there have been many engines ruined because the horn didnt work...on the possibility of heat..after you fix the horn does it go off when the failure is on the motor...can you hold your finger on the top of the block for a count of 6 without it being so hot that you cant?how old is the impeller in the water pump?
if the motor is getting that hot be aware that every time you run it you are doing more damage...expensive damage...
with your particular situation and depending on your knowledge of outboards i would suggest you take it to a good shop and buy a couple hours of a good techs time...300 bucks now may save you 5000+...that depends on your expertise though...
 
I will have to check on the horn. I know before the only time that it would work was when it was running at a pretty good clip. As far as the impeller, I have never changed it, so I'm sure it is pretty old and probably needs to be replaced. I might try a few things this weekend if I can get some parts, and if nothing works then take somewhere and have it looked at. Thanks again for the info.

Ryan
 
Back
Top