3.0 Mercruiser power

Hi . I'd like to know how much power I should expect out of my 3.0 . I set the dwell and timeing to the specs on the air cover when we tuneup. It stumbles a little when you hit it to get a skier up if you slam the throttle down or you can ease into it . Either way it seems to take a long time to get a skier up with a couple of people in the boat.

Re: 3.0 Mercruiser power

Carb, or fuel problem?
Changed the fuel/water seperator yet?

Re: 3.0 Mercruiser power

Depending on the year it will be rated at 130 or 140 HP.

This difference seems to be from a where the power was taken from, prop or crankshaft.

Because the 2 engines are identical, camshaft and all.

You did say 3.0 so, this info is in relation to the 3.0 inline 4.

Good luck....joe

Re: 3.0 Mercruiser power

Hi . I'd like to know how much power I should expect out of my 3.0 .

Click to expand...

Just curious how you expect us to answer that one. Things like boat size, weight, hull design....... yada, yada, yada.
There is also a lot more involved in getting a skiers up than dwell and timing.
Hows the fuel system, including the carb adjustment, filters clean? Carb adjustments (inside and out), then there is the tuneup. New plugs, cap, rotor, points, condenser (if you have them) again, no year or anything to ID which 3.0L Merc you have, are the wires old, clean connections everywhere?
Have you checked the engine compression? how about the vacuume?

Re: 3.0 Mercruiser power

My 88' 3.0 litre OMC pushes a 16' bowrider with two people in it at 37mph , WOT.... I'm pretty happy with that.( literature says it should do 38mph, new ).. It's in an 88' four winns 160 freedom... We'd love to have a bigger boat but the fuel economy of the little 3.0 will be missed if we do... Engine has all tune up stuff done, points, condensor, wires, distributor cap, filters.. etc. etc.... Sadly, the boat is new to me and the previous owner (wife's ex husband) didn't winterize it.. Not sure when this happened but I have two cracks in the block, both external (no water in the oil) both repaired, the difficult crack up high on the block was done by a welder and I JBWelded the small crack between the freeze plugs. Engine RPM is at the upper limit of the range with stock prop, not cavitating...

Re: 3.0 Mercruiser power

Don S said:

Just curious how you expect us to answer that one. Things like boat size, weight, hull design....... yada, yada, yada.
There is also a lot more involved in getting a skiers up than dwell and timing.
Hows the fuel system, including the carb adjustment, filters clean? Carb adjustments (inside and out), then there is the tuneup. New plugs, cap, rotor, points, condenser (if you have them) again, no year or anything to ID which 3.0L Merc you have, are the wires old, clean connections everywhere?
Have you checked the engine compression? how about the vacuume?

Click to expand...

The boat is a 1991 ,16' capri. I changed the wires , plugs, and points all with the dwell and timing. So I'll look else were . Where do I find the specs on the carb.

Re: 3.0 Mercruiser power

assuming its running right more or less

To do skiing you will have to use a smaller pitch prop and limit your top speed when using it

On my 19' 3.0 boat we have 3 props

14 X 17 to ski (max safe speed around 32 MPH at it safe WOT)

14 x 19 for medium loads

14 x 20 4 blade for me and the wife on long trips (85 + miles )

Tommays

Re: 3.0 Mercruiser power

I use a 19" pitch on a 2004 Bayliner 195 (classic) with a 3.0 for pulling watertoys and skiing. It could really use another step lower pitch for pulling a single ski out of the water (as Tommays suggests) but as a compromise propeller the 19" works out what I'd call 'ok'.

The boat came with a Quicksilver 21" that was great as a runabout propeller. It is a very effecient prop and the boat would top out about 42 mph with 2 people and a half tank of fuel at sea level. However, with the 21" prop the boat was a complete dog out of the hole with a skier.

The kid just started wakeboarding and I've found the 19" works really nice for that application... and the 195 classic hull makes a suprisingly good wakeboard boat. So switch to wakeboarding. It's cheaper than a new boat... and the visits to the gas pump with the 3.0 are pretty cheap compared to a V-8. :>)

IMHO: Whatever you get, invest in a good quality prop. Propellers are kind of a 'black art' and having the right one makes a big difference in performance, especially on a relatively low-powered engine like the 3.0