Mercruiser 140HP 3.0L 4 cyl I/O - Died out on the water - Bad Fuel Filter?

Hey all,

New Boater here, I need some suggestions to look at after my new boat died out on water today.

Here's the history: Just purchased a 1971 Fiberform, I replaced the starter and the carb and had her out running several times last week. Unfortunately, the gas gauge is bad and she ran out of fuel last time out. To make matters worse, I hadn't gotten around to siphoning out any old particle filled gas before I took her out the 1st week, so I'm sure some sediment ran through. After filling up and taking her back out today, took forever to start up but when she did, ran fine for a while, then all of a sudden at medium throttle, engine just died without warning. Engine turns over just fine and there's still plenty of fuel left in the tank, just won't start up now.

I'm thinking the fuel filter and fuel/water separater may be clogged or fuel lines perhaps? Hoping it's not the fuel pump.
If there's any ideas or suggestions on where to start I'd be extremely thankful! I'm new at the DIYer stuff but I read the fuel filter is relatively easy to replace. So long as that's the likely problem, I'll give it a go.

Thanks!

Re: Mercruiser 140HP 3.0L 4 cyl I/O - Died out on the water - Bad Fuel Filter?

Natoven said:

Hey all,

New Boater here, I need some suggestions to look at after my new boat died out on water today.

Here's the history: Just purchased a 1971 Fiberform, I replaced the starter and the carb and had her out running several times last week. Unfortunately, the gas gauge is bad and she ran out of fuel last time out. To make matters worse, I hadn't gotten around to siphoning out any old particle filled gas before I took her out the 1st week, so I'm sure some sediment ran through. After filling up and taking her back out today, took forever to start up but when she did, ran fine for a while, then all of a sudden at medium throttle, engine just died without warning. Engine turns over just fine and there's still plenty of fuel left in the tank, just won't start up now.

I'm thinking the fuel filter and fuel/water separater may be clogged or fuel lines perhaps? Hoping it's not the fuel pump.
If there's any ideas or suggestions on where to start I'd be extremely thankful! I'm new at the DIYer stuff but I read the fuel filter is relatively easy to replace. So long as that's the likely problem, I'll give it a go.

Thanks!

Click to expand...

Ayuh,.... Welcome Aboard,... Ya may be Right, 'n that's a Great place to start,....

Is there power at the coil's (+) terminal with the key "On",..??

Re: Mercruiser 140HP 3.0L 4 cyl I/O - Died out on the water - Bad Fuel Filter?

Bond-o, thanks for the reply. There was power yes, but here are some intersting updates:

I changed out the fuel filter and still got nothing, checked the fuel lines and they were spitting just fine. Checked spark plugs and found one that had a dog hair arching right on the tip and it didn't have enough gap. Cleaned it and gave it better "gappage?" and then she fired right up. Running strong now, taking er back out tomorrow to river test.