Fuel Problem? 60HP Mariner Tracker Pro Series

Had the boat on the water it was running fine at full throttle then after about 30 minutes it didn't have enough power to get on plane. I replaced the primer bulb, fuel lines, spark plugs, and fuel filter. It starts then won't even stay running for over a minute. It cranks up fine. I give it gas and sounds like its starving for fuel. What else could be the cause of this problem? I have fishing to do! A few times at idle it will pop and a puff of white smoke comes out...don't remember it doing that before. I don't want to take it into a mechanic if its just a simple fix i can do here at home. Also how much oil should it be getting? Its oil injected could it be possible its getting to much oil? When i look at the carbs it has a little oil drippin when i pull off the air vent. And my old spark plugs were really black and with fuel and oil on them? Spark issue maybe electrical somewhere? I'm not an expert.

Re: Fuel Problem? 60HP Mariner Tracker Pro Series

First always carry NEW plugs and make sure all plugs are gapped right.
Then check the fuel system for Ethanol damage.The pump diaphram is where i'd check first.Then the carb for crap.Read my signature.J

Re: Fuel Problem? 60HP Mariner Tracker Pro Series

took the drain plugs off the carbs and turned the engine over to shoot fuel out to see what came out...had a few small chunks of gunk come out so decided to take the carb apart. They looked fairly clean, a few specks of gunk here and there but nothing serious. I had replaced the fuel filter with a glass filter and upon further investigation with that filter i could see air bubbles forming inside the filter from the in line. We followed the lines from the filter to the tank and it appears that the male/female quick disconnects are not seating right. The female end is brandnew since my last one was doing that same thing (one of the reasons to begin with that made me think it was staving for fuel). Its the right size for the male end but the rubber gasket is still leaking air/fuel. When i first put that new female end on and primed the ball i didn't have no air leaks or fuel but over the past 10 or so times i've disconnected it now its not seating right. I'm going to the boat shop tomorrow with both parts to see if they carry both parts and just replace them both.

From the looks of it I have a 1995 Mariner Tracker Pro Series 3 cylinder, 60HP(Mercury). Anyone know if there is a part number for the male and female ends that come together? What should the gap be for my plugs? I just set the gap for the new plugs to what the old ones were since they were all the same. Thanks for the reply very useful info on ethanol!

Would also like to add...when i placed two fingers over the top carb the engine would start to run a lot better cutting the air flow off and getting it more fuel that was before i notice the air in the fuel filter. Engine seemed to run a little bit smoother after some carb cleaner and i adjusted the fuel air mixture in that top carb just a bit.

Re: Fuel Problem? 60HP Mariner Tracker Pro Series

Do a compression/spark test.
Those inline connectors are JUNK.I get rid of them.If you have a built in tank you can do that.
If not use a straight line from the tank.At the tank use Mercury or OMC quick connectors.
It sounds like you need to go through the whole fuel system.Pull the pump check the diaphram, and all the hoses.Soft or mushy even real hard can be a problem.The squeezie can be bad.
Adjust the air screws.J

Re: Fuel Problem? 60HP Mariner Tracker Pro Series

finally got it to stay running but...the engine sounds good, only it will make a quiet pop like a cylinder is not firing. Sounds like its skippin a beat and a puff of smoke will come out. We've looked at all the lines tightend all the hoses with hose clamps etc...one weird thing, i'm having bad luck my band new primer ball would not get hard didn't matter how long we pumped it. Didn't do that when i first put it on 3 days ago. We turned the ball around so it was laying on the other side and it got hard? It's a brand new ball why would it do that? When the engine does pop i can see an air bubble in the fuel filter everytime. If all the lines are tight could it be the fuel pump? It has to be something so simple. We've messed the the screws on the carbs. We get it where it wont pop then after giving it some throttle it goes back to the poppin sound (runnin like crap again). When i figure this out i'll let you all know. I've made progress since it will stay running at least and sounds good for a little while then, "pop", smoke.

Re: Fuel Problem? 60HP Mariner Tracker Pro Series

I GIVE UP...i guess i'll have to take it to a mech. I had it on the water yesterday and i tested it out full throttle for about 1 mile and it ran perfect and sounded really good. Acceleration was awsome. After that 1 mile or so she started to loose RPM. Normally i see it running at around 5000rpm and it would only get me 4000rpm. I stopped to fish for a few hours...started it back up and it still was only going 4000rpm. My buddy got into the front of the boat to kinda plane the boat out a little more and my RPMs stated picking up then in a split second after getting on plane she took off full speed full RPM. I noticed when i was running slow my fuel gauge was jumping all over the place then when it took off fuel gauge was fine. Dont know if that really has anything to do with it or it was just a fluke it happend like that. We stopped for a while and when trying to restart the motor she wouldn't start without giving it throttle. But she took off full speed again like nothing was wrong. Its the complete opposite trouble. First she would idle good with no power now it has power but wont start without giving it throttle...? I'm done lol I'll be out of commission now for about 2 weeks cause the mechs told me the wait is 1 1/2 to 2 weeks out!

Re: Fuel Problem? 60HP Mariner Tracker Pro Series

I had a problem like that recently. I rebuilt the entire fuel system (tank,all the lines, carbs, filters, water sep.) I thought that should fix it...... WRONG. Turns out I had a bad sparkplug wire. I tested spark and that was fine but withe the covers on the spark would "jump" from the middle where the insulation had worn out. Double check your wires, It could save you a few hundred bucks.

Re: Fuel Problem? 60HP Mariner Tracker Pro Series

I'm stearing toward electrical now. I looked at my plug wires they look ok what do i need to test the spark? What else should i look at as far as electrical and the plugs getting spark? I have my spark plugs gapped at the 040. Is that right? I just used the same gap as my old plugs. I don't have a service manual or know where to find one for troublshooting. My serial number for the motor is 0G012120.

Thinking back to when i bought the boat i seen a male/female brown wire disconnected...i plugged it back in what does that brown wire go to normally? I've never tried to run the boat with it unplugged. Maybe the owner had it unplugged for a reason? I tried to follow it but can't find where it goes? Is there such a thing as "safe mode" where if the sensor to a thermostat is miss reading will that cause the boat to loose its RPMs? I pulled the cover off to all the electrical wires and everything still look brand new. No corossion or loose wires anywhere.

Re: Fuel Problem? 60HP Mariner Tracker Pro Series

messed around again today with the carbs took them all off and clean them out again. Found more crap! Hooked um back up primed the ball and watched my fuel filter fill up with brown crud and liquid! I think i just have a case of really bad gas. I looked in the tank and it appeared clean but couldn't see parts of the tank with such a small hole. I will syphon that gas out rip the tank out wash it and put it back in. When the boat sits level the crud in the tank must not get to the pickup tube but on the water it's mixing it all up and thats probably my problem! Will post hopfully in two more days after i get the tank cleaned and get it back on the water by monday or sunday afternoon at the earliest.

Fuel tank is out...i syphoned 10 gallons out and dumped the remainder into a 5 gallon bucket with all the debris. Three inches of fuel and i couldn't see the bottom of the pail. It looked like dark apple juice. Fuel tank is washed and clean now hope it runs smooth now. Will post tomorrow if i get it on the water. :redface:

Re: Fuel Problem? 60HP Mariner Tracker Pro Series

AFTER FIXING THE FUEL LINES FROM SUCKING AIR...DIRTY FUEL TANK IS CLEANED. Had the boat on the water Sunday afternoon. Ran perfect minus a small adjustment to my idle screw. No more popping sounds, no more puffs of white smoke. Runs clean sounds like she has lots of power now. Almost 6000RPMs 36mph. I get the boat on plane in about 2 seconds. Ran it all afternoon up and down the river for miles and not a single bad sound. She's running perfect! Thanks to everyone posting there ideas.

Re: Fuel Problem? 60HP Mariner Tracker Pro Series

Its been a while, had the boat at the mech shop for 2 weeks (long line). He said my carberator flaps were out of sink and readjusted my carbs. He took it out on the water and tested it and it ran perfect. I still have some questions about that though cause if the flaps were out of sinc and it ran perfect for two days with no problems then back to crap again...if it was out of sinc why would it have run good for those two days? Anyways he said it was runnin' good so i'll take his word for it for now since he is a mechanic and if it happens again he said to bring it back in. Will try to post later when i actually have time to get the boat on the water...its deer huntin' season now!

Re: Fuel Problem? 60HP Mariner Tracker Pro Series

I no this is an old thread, but I'm having the exact same problems you had/have on my '98 mercury tracker 60. So I'm curious how everything panned out for you? I'm basically going in the same direction you did with repairs, but I'm not quite done yet. Any advice would be greatly appretiated. Thanks.

Re: Fuel Problem? 60HP Mariner Tracker Pro Series

Forgive my error. "no" should be "know".

I also have the same problem with a 1995 mercury 60hp.....runs fine for few minutes then only 3200 rpms. Any help or comments would be appreciated. Thanks