94 MerCruiser 4.3 LX w/ Alpha One stalled. It cranks but won't start

[Patrick_L]

Hello, I just bought a used 94 Rinker 202 Festiva from a private owner ( clean engine with marina service records ) and few days ago I took it for a test drive. 10 mins into cruise on fresh 25 gals on premium fuel ( not sure if old fuel still in the tank was premium or what ) it stalled out. It made few exhaust pops and saw a trace of whitish smoke. No alarms, smells or hot engine at all. At 1st I noticed a loose ignition wire which I plugged back in prompting it to start right up. 3 mins later in died again and wouldn't start the 2nd time. It cranks and turns but wont fire up. Could it be something clogged like a fuel pump, filter or clogged jets going to the carb ? It was it's 1st run this season. ( hint: after trying to start it up the 2nd time for about 10 mins, a continuous beep did go off forcing me to stop cranking and getting it towed by a friend of mine ).

I haven't had the time to attempt to start it again or look into spark plugs for water deposit but I checked oil, which looked perfectly clean. No milky stuff. Any ideas what it could be ? One thing I noticed was low gear lube tank ( about an inch from bottom ). Thanks guys.

 

[alldodge]

Howdy

The continuous beep was probably coming from the ignition being on and the oil pressure being low (not running) or because the drive lube is low.

Start with the basics, check for 12V at the positive side of the coil when the key is turned on
Check for fuel going down the throat of the carb when the throttle is moved forward
Remove the fuel filter and pour the contents into a clear jar or baggie and see if its clean, with no water, and smells like gas

Comment: It's your boat, but premium fuel will give you no more benefit then regular, unless you just want to pay more

 

[Patrick_L]

Thanks mate. I will check and let you know what it is. I hope it's simple clean up that's related to fuel components.

 

[achris]

Check fuel, check spark, check compression. One of those is missing.

 

[Patrick_L]

I bought an inline spark tester & it flashed as I cranked so it leads me to believe that it's getting voltage ( unless plugs inside got wet ). Prior to taking off I put 25 gals of fuel so "I HOPE" it didn't eat all the reserves in just 20 mins. We went full speed for about 20 seconds just to see how fast it went but that's it.

- oil looks clean ( not milky at all )
- it is low on gear lube oil

 

[Bondo]

( unless plugs inside got wet ).

Ayuh,.... Welcome Aboard,... Ya won't know til ya look,...

Is the carb the Merc/ Weber 4bbl,..??
Or the Rochester Quadra-jet,..??

Mechanical fuel pump, or electric,..??

 

[alldodge]

Got spark only a couple other things to find out

 

[achris]

Ayuh,.... Welcome Aboard,... Ya won't know til ya look,...

Is the carb the Merc/ Weber 4bbl,..??
Or the Rochester Quadra-jet,..??

Mechanical fuel pump, or electric,..??

Same year as my old V6, so Weber and electric pump.

 

[Patrick_L]

Looks like Weber Or Rochester ( even though i don't know where to look for the name ) and "i think" it's electric fuel pump as achris stated. I would feel pretty dumb if it's just an empty tank lol but I don't think that's the case since i put 25 gallons of fuel in it and had it run for less than half hour.

It was rough waters so we were going up and down ( if it matters ).

 

[Patrick_L]

I brought it in for check-up this morning to let them figure it out. If there is in fact no fuel in the tank ( doubt it ), I will be laughing out loud at myself.

 

[Patrick_L]

Hey guys. The source of the problem has been identified: water in the fuel system ( 12 gallons to be flushed out until it became pure again ).

Questions I have:

1) could it be the fuel I bought at BP? ( doubt it ), or
2) could it be old gas sitting in it without any fuel stabilizer added over the course of off-season ?
it was my 1st time running it since I bought it from someone else who supposedly had it winterized properly
3) or could I have sucked in some of the water while on in reverse ? ( also doubt it )

I want to avoid spending $400 on this crap again ( fingers crossed )

 

[Bondo]

it was my 1st time running it since I bought it from someone else who supposedly had it winterized properly

Ayuh,..... I think ya bought the water with the boat,.....

 

[alldodge]

I think ya bought the water with the boat

Agree, 12 gallons didn't just splash in. Check around the gas cap to see if when it rains water can come in, or the tank vent line

 

[Patrick_L]

The cap was snapped into place. We got no rain 95% of time and when we did, I put the cover on.

I suspected it had old gas sitting in it during the course of the offseason where it separated but then again yeah 12 gallons ? I gotta ask him if this was 12 gallons of water or 12 gallons of 'contaminated' fuel with water.

 

[Patrick_L]

PHASE SEPARATION with 12 gals of "contaminated" fuel. We used Seafoam treatment and it's good to go.

 

[alldodge]

PHASE SEPARATION with 12 gals of "contaminated" fuel. We used Seafoam treatment and it's good to go.

We can agree to disagree but I just will not believe that for two reasons, once gas goes bad (phase separation) nothing is going to bring it back to usable condition. The second reason is IMO seafoam should be called snake-oil-foam. Only thing I like about seafoam is I wish I would have bought stock in it years ago, could have made some money

 

[Patrick_L]

I wanted to use Quicksilver ( per manual ) products but mechanics liked seafoam better so I said "alright" seafoam it is. As far a repair work is concerned, we flushed 12 gallons of contaminated fuel until it got to clean fuel. We changed the fuel filter, cleaned fuel lines, carb and let it run for about an hour ( after seafoam treatment ).

When you say "nothing is going to bring it back to usable condition" - what did you mean by that ?
You're scaring me lol

 

[alldodge]

If gas has phased separated, turned to varnish and such, it will not go back to being gas, only way to get bad gas to good, is to re-refine it and the gasoline plants.

Stuff like seafoam (again IMO) may do something to so called clean or add some alcohol to soak up some water, just like products like Heat. But once gas goes bad, its bad and should be removed and properly disposed of

So if you filtered phased separated gas you just have cleaner phased separated gas. If you add enough fresh gas to it, it may burn enough to run the motor. Now if your gas was not passed separated and just dirty from tank build up, that's a different issue

 

[Patrick_L]

Little milky. It all got flushed out, fresh fuel was put in, fuel lines were cleaned, new filter was installed, seafoam was added and got ran again. I hope that's it. Me being the new owner will make sure to put treatment at every fill up and add proper stabilizers at the end of each season.

 

[micucci]

Hello everyone,
I was having problems with my Mercruiser 3.0 lx cranking but wouldn't start. Took it to the mechanics and they changed the starter and solenoid (needed, it locked uup), all new plugs and wires. They gave it back to me and it still did the same thing, took it back and they just called me and said it was "CRACKED DISTRIBUTOR CAP AND IT WAS SENDING SPARK DIRECTLY TO THE PLUGS". Just posted this to possibly help anyone who is still looking for a possible cause of their boat not starting but is turning over.