4.3l MerCruiser sluggish performance

[Mshealy]

I have a 1996 mercury 4.3 MerCruiser engine in my boat replaced all the spark plugs and fuel water separator Boat takes a long time to start cuts off sometimes while running and has sluggish performance
At full throttle boat seems to stall out on me can’t figure out if I have a dirty carburetor or the fuel filter is bad

 

[Grub54891]

How long have you gad this rig, and how long has it been acting up.
One more thing, model and serial number.

 

[Mshealy]

How long have you gad this rig, and how long has it been acting up.
One more thing, model and serial number.

 

[Mshealy]

November of last year I’ve had the chance to taking on water at least two times but I have to cold-weather start it
Sometimes it seems like it’s working fine but I am a new boat owner trying to figure it out

 

[martines]

I have a 1996 mercury 4.3 MerCruiser engine in my boat replaced all the spark plugs and fuel water separator Boat takes a long time to start cuts off sometimes while running and has sluggish performance
At full throttle boat seems to stall out on me can’t figure out if I have a dirty carburetor or the fuel filter is bad

I would go in similar sequence: Fuel filters, tank and carb cleaning, fuel pump pressure, rotor, cap, coil..

 

[achris]

Check the oil pressure switch that supplies power to the fuel pump. They get badly corroded and the connections become intermittent.

It's on the side of the engine block, just above the oil filter on the port side. There's a tee fitting in the block with two 'senders'. One is the oil pressure gauge sender and has a blue wire on it, the other is the switch, with a purple wire and a yellow/purple wire.

Chris........

 

[Scott06]

check the fuel filter contents for any thing but clean gas . Verify fuel pressure
what do your spark plugs look like ? My guess would be rebuild carb, ensure ignition components are good, set timing