89 125 hp Force has spark but won't fire!!

Hello everyone, I need some help on this one. I live in Iowa and have called many dealers that basically laugh and tell me good luck. I found 1 dealer that would work on it and when it was there, they never touched it in 3 weeks because they didn't know much about a 1989 Force. After I paid them $110.00/ hr. for 4 hours I was upset along with my children and my wife so here is the problem, I have good spark and great comp. on all 4 cyl. If I take the plugs out and squirt some gas in the cyl and then try to start it, it will fire. I took the carbs apart and cleaned them and put new gaskets on. My question is why won't the gas go trough the carbs and into the cyls??? any help with this problem would be thankful from me.

Re: 89 125 hp Force has spark but won't fire!!

Hello yosser and welcome to Iboats. First off when you pump on the gas bulb does it get and stay hard? If yes and no leaking on the carbs I would next go to the fuel pump and rebuild that. You did not post your model number but it looks like most of the 125 HP from 1989 have the same fuel pump. Here is a link for the parts fuel pump <br />The two parts you are most interested in are parts 7 and 8. These are simple to replace. Most of the gas around here is blended with alcohal and dry out the pump diaphram. The part numbers are mercury numbers so you should be able to get them local so you dont have to pay 15 bucks for shipping. If that dont work check out your choke on your carbs to make sure they are working properly and maybe replace all your fuel line with new. good luck

Re: 89 125 hp Force has spark but won't fire!!

Hello eurolarva. When i pump the bulb it stays hard and if i pump it enough, fuel comes out of a couple vent holes on the carb so i think it is not leaking down. if the fuel pump is bad that would cause the gas not to go into the cyls??? but when i squirt fuel into the cyls, it fires. so it is basically starving itself???

Re: 89 125 hp Force has spark but won't fire!!

This may be a stupid question but when you try and start the motor you are pushing the key in to choke it right? Lots of people dont know that is where the choke is. When you spray gas and it starts does it continue to run or die out when the amount of gas you sparyed is gone?

Re: 89 125 hp Force has spark but won't fire!!

LOL eurolarva, thanks that made me sound like an idiot, but I'm sure it has appened before. I have owned the boat for 12 years and it has ran fine. I took it to the lake it started and ran like normal shut it off in a bay for my kids to ski and it took about ten minutes to start. When it started I headed back to the boat ramp and shut it off and then it wouldn't restart. Help

Re: 89 125 hp Force has spark but won't fire!!

I would think fuel pump diaphram.<br /><br />When the diaphram starts to break down, it will still work well enough to run the engine. But sometimes when you shut the engine off, it will leak fuel into the powerhead and cause a flooded condition. This will make restarting the engine very difficult.<br /><br />If you have had the boat that long, its time for a fuel pump rebuild anyway. Parts are about $12, and it will only take you about 30 minutes.