"Put boat in at ramp; started
"Put boat in at ramp; started right up, idled over to dock to tie up. Engine died on the way, and would not restart. Sprayed starter fluid in carb throat, and cranked, and after a few tries, started up and stayed cranked.
Drove boat about six miles, cruising speed. All was fine. Slowed to an idle to allow a friend to catch up, and when I did, engine died. Same story; after cranking and cranking, many pumps of throttle, and sprays of starter fluid, boat finally caught and we were off cruising again. I did up the idle speed a little, because I had decreased it a couple of weeks ago trying to deal w/ dieseling.
Drove boat back six miles. I was starting to slow a little because I was getting a little closer to the dock (the one I started at), so I pulled the throttle back a tiny bit. Engine died. Same thing again. Pump throttle, spray lighter fluid, try not to spew profanities, and about 15-20 minutes later, it finally caught and ran again. Went to dock and pulled out boat, and it acted fine.
On the last incident, I did notice, after the boat had died, that the temperature was 175 or so, which was weird...never seen it that high. The temp did fall immediately after I got the boat cranked finally (fell back to 150 where it always is), so I think the high temp was just a result of the boat dying while underway (latent heat from the engine all transferred into water that was not circulating any more).
This same behavior has happened once before, about a week ago. Died at near-idle, and would not recrank until about 10-15 minutes later. Who knows if all of the throttle pumping and starter fluid spraying helped. Although, that time, it did recrank right after spraying the starter fluid, but it might have been a coincidence.
I know that this is only partial info to go on, but I thought I'd throw it out there and find out if the symptoms fit something like vapor lock, or something else. Or, what can I check on the water when the boat does this?
1996
4.3LX Mercruiser
Alpha One
2 bbl Mercarb (rebuilt last year)
Thanks a million,"
"Put boat in at ramp; started right up, idled over to dock to tie up. Engine died on the way, and would not restart. Sprayed starter fluid in carb throat, and cranked, and after a few tries, started up and stayed cranked.
Drove boat about six miles, cruising speed. All was fine. Slowed to an idle to allow a friend to catch up, and when I did, engine died. Same story; after cranking and cranking, many pumps of throttle, and sprays of starter fluid, boat finally caught and we were off cruising again. I did up the idle speed a little, because I had decreased it a couple of weeks ago trying to deal w/ dieseling.
Drove boat back six miles. I was starting to slow a little because I was getting a little closer to the dock (the one I started at), so I pulled the throttle back a tiny bit. Engine died. Same thing again. Pump throttle, spray lighter fluid, try not to spew profanities, and about 15-20 minutes later, it finally caught and ran again. Went to dock and pulled out boat, and it acted fine.
On the last incident, I did notice, after the boat had died, that the temperature was 175 or so, which was weird...never seen it that high. The temp did fall immediately after I got the boat cranked finally (fell back to 150 where it always is), so I think the high temp was just a result of the boat dying while underway (latent heat from the engine all transferred into water that was not circulating any more).
This same behavior has happened once before, about a week ago. Died at near-idle, and would not recrank until about 10-15 minutes later. Who knows if all of the throttle pumping and starter fluid spraying helped. Although, that time, it did recrank right after spraying the starter fluid, but it might have been a coincidence.
I know that this is only partial info to go on, but I thought I'd throw it out there and find out if the symptoms fit something like vapor lock, or something else. Or, what can I check on the water when the boat does this?
1996
4.3LX Mercruiser
Alpha One
2 bbl Mercarb (rebuilt last year)
Thanks a million,"