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1999 Tracker 60hp 2-cycle HELP NEEDED!

M

Matt Roach

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Hello, I have a 1999 Tracker 60hp 2-cycle 3-cyl Bigfoot on a 20' tracker pontoon (mated pair from dealer). Bought the boat at the end of June, had it out 6 times, had to be towed back 5 of them. The motor will start and idle perfect. On the lake in open water, we'll be going WOT then it's like you throttle it down and it dies. It doesn't spit or sputter. It's literally like pulling the throttle back until it dies. It could run from 10 mins or an hour. It has spark from all 3 plugs when this happens and each cylinder spits out oil/gas. Plugs are new and has had new gas since we've had it. Plugs are a medium dark brown, no deposits or soot built up. Motor will not start back up. Next day, after things are cool, fires right up and runs fine. Here is what has happened so far, all separate issues: bullet connectors (lower ones close to regulator) for yellow wires from stator to regulator melted together, ohmed stator (OK according to service manual) and replaced regulator. Next trip, the upper bullet connectors did the same thing. New regulator, cut out all connectors for yellow wires and soldered with heat shrink and wire loom. Why Merc decided it needed two connector for 6" of wire is beyond me. Found several wiring issues on the boat causing stator to overcharge system and fail. Fixed all and now motor runs off one battery (new) and boat is isolated to another battery (used). Have replaced water pump, as I always do with a used motor. Changed lower unit oil, nothing to note. Flushed fuel tank, replaced primer bulb and hose assembly (inside of fuel line looked suspect). Replaced inline filter from fuel pump to carb lines, little debris inside. Carbs were just rebuilt before we bought it, doesn't mean they were done right though. Would the rev limiter due that if it's breaking down due to heat? All lines have fuel in them so it's not like it's vapor locking. Fuel pump diaphragm? Adjustment to high speed carb circuits needed? I am just at a loss. Any advice would be much appreciated! Also did a compression test, 115-120psi on all. Manual says anything above 90 is ok.
 
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''It has spark from all 3 plugs when this happens and each cylinder spits out oil/gas.''....................does it have both at the time of failure?the decision to be made is whether you have a fuel or fire problem...i would put an inductive timing light in the boat and use it to make the decision...before i put it into the water i would make sure i have good fire by making sure it will jump 7/16 of an inch with a good snap...
you dont know why the person got rid of the rig in the first place probably...try to get a little history from him or her..probably a long shot in doing so..but it would be good to know if parts were put into the motor trying to fix a problem...if a stator was replaced for example it would be wise to check for wrong part etc..i dont like that burning up wiring...
 
two bullet connectors in one wire sounds suspect but i dont know for sure...did one of them in each wire look newer than the other?the stator may have been replaced....have an open mind on your problem and dont be surprised about anything you may find...fuel or fire is the first question...
 
Yes, after it dies, I take the cover off remove each plug and have the wife crank it over. Each has spark and fuel spitting out. The spark is a perfect blue snap, and will definitely jump 7/16 or greater as it got my hand while not paying attention. The guy we bought the boat from said it ran great, they had just had it out tubing the previous weekend...blah blah. Definitely going to have to call BS on him and he is sticking to that story. When running, I can manually press the button for the choke solenoid and the motor bogs and dies. Same with choking from the key switch. Installed a see thru filter between fuel tank and primer bulb, it is pulling gas at all times. Stator charges fine now and doing a resistive test of regulator, it checks out. Continuity one polarity, open circuit the other. Rectifier is doing it's job. The wires burning were due to shorts under the console and wires rubbed bare. Boat circuits and motor were all running to one battery. New wiring and dedicated grounds to all circuits. It was all still factory wiring and I'm not sure why Merc ran the grounds like they did. Each ground circuit was daisy chained to the other back to the battery. Nothing dedicated to each circuit. Now if a fuse pops, I'll know directly instead of chasing down gremlins. But, all circuits work properly and always have except for the radio so it's been removed.
 
After searching for parts, I found that the stator wiring is that way from Mercury. Even after market harnesses, stators and regulators come setup to have two connectors for those yellow wires and it's literally 6" from regulator to stator. Stator ohm test and ground fault checked good. Vdc to battery while running is 12.6 at idle and 14.3 running in gear. I don't have an ammeter installed yet but wires (16 or 18ga) are not hot, merely cool/warm to the touch.
 
how fast does it crank over?you need a mimimum of 300 rpm to get fire...i would still do the gap test and put a timing light in the boat and make damn sure you are firing when it fails....the reason for this is you need to know for sure what is failing..fuel or fire...you can beat yourself to death and spend a small fortune working on the wrong area...the timing light is about 40 bucks and is a good tool to have anyway...
 
Motor turns over rapidly. Haven't taken my timing light with me but I will next time. Running it in the driveway, the timing is dead on. Then again, there's no load on the motor other than the little bit the water pump pulls. The one time it didn't die was a fishing trip. Running 5-10 minutes from spot to spot and fishing for 30+ minutes. What's strange is I can tell when it's going to die. The pitch of the motor changes to a higher pitch. A 2-cycle has a certain sound it makes when running proper. After running a while, the motor pitch gets higher, the tach suddenly rises from around 5,200 rpm WOT to close to 6,000. It doesn't bounce around (the tach needle) and the motor stays constant until it throttles itself down and dies after a few minutes. Now, yesterday when the pitch changed and it tried to die, I backed off the throttle to about 1/3 and kept it running. Got the boat turned around and headed back. After about 20 minutes, I sped up a little at a time until I got to WOT and then it died. Maybe that tells something?
 
the motor is speeding up as it runs out of because its leaning out and running on vapors....i would get another 6 gallon tank and put fresh fuel in it and check fuel pump...running lean will cause a motor to run hotter and eventually damage it because of lack of lubrication...lets get those two things out of the way and if still have the problem we will address that...
 
What would the symptoms be if the oil injection pump isn't mixing the correct ratio? It uses oil, I'm just not sure if the mix is correct. I already replaced the fuel line and primer bulb assembly as the inner lining of the hose was deteriorating. There wasn't any debris in the fuel filter (after the fuel pump) when I changed it. There wasn't a filter between the tank and fuel pump so maybe something got sucked into it. I am going to rebuild the fuel pump and go from there. I'm also going to replace the internal fuel lines just in case. Thanks for all your insight! I will let you know what I come up with.
 
I think I found the problem, or at least a problem. Inside the fuel pump, there are 2 check valves. Each of them only had the plastic disc and not the rubber along with it. I read one guy state that using only the plastic is for ethanol fuels. After talking to a Merc technician, he told me that's incorrect as the plastic doesn't fully seal and will push fuel out of the inlet while pumping. So, either the rubber discs weren't installed when numb nuts rebuilt it, or they had eroded away over the years. My Clymer's manual also said to use the rubber and plastic discs, but mentions nothing about ethanol fuels. Nothing conclusive looking at the gaskets, they hadn't been replaced in the past year though. I doubt they were 14 years old but I may be wrong. I'm pretty sure this is the issue but I will keep you posted. If this fixes it, I'm going to either find ethanol free fuel, or rebuild/inspect this thing each season.
 
After pump rebuild, motor runs great, smooth and strong as long as you don't go more than 3/4 throttle. At WOT, it's still running too lean. Checked the fuel, ignition and oil linkage timing and everything is dead on. Now the only issue is the carbs running out of fuel after running WOT. I installed a transparent fuel filter inline between pump and carbs. When running less than 3/4 throttle, the filter is 75-100% full and the fuel is pumping into it. After running WOT, it's like the lines are vapor locking. After the motor dies down, the filter is less than 1/8 full. While cranking, fuel is spurting into the filter but the fill level never rises. The only way I can get fuel into the bowls is by working the throttle linkage while someone cranks it over (console control pontoon). As I work the linkage, the filter fills right up and after a couple seconds it starts and runs without issue. What I can't figure out is this: After it runs out of gas and putters down and dies, why won't fuel fill back into the carbs while cranking? Even with using the choke, no fuel will make it to the carbs unless I work the throttle linkage while cranking. Going to check float height when my carb kits come in. I don't know what else it could be. 3/4 throttle and below - runs great. WOT - dies by running out of gas and/or vapor locking. Hitting the choke at idle or WOT bogs the motor and kills it.
 
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