Re: '99 Mercury Tracker 40 HP
I have a 2003 4o HP merc ELPTO probably very similar to yours. If I can save you time and trouble, I'd say go ahead and bite the bullet and take it to the nearest authorized merc repairman first, don't waste your time / money like I did. I've rebuilt and restored a couple of old trucks, I'm no stranger to the wrench but this thing kicked my hind parts. Mine was doing the same thing, idle all day long but no power once the gas in the carb bowl had been used up at mid to full throttle. I checked the vent to make sure it wasn't vapor locked. I cleaned the fuel filter. I rebuilt the carb. I blew out the lines and for giggles rebuilt the fuel pump (it would take off like a jet for 20 feet if I pushed the enricher/ choke button). I replaced spark plugs, emptied the gas tank and just for giggles replaced the lower unit oil way ahead of schedule. I added sea foam to the new gas to keep it fresh and hopefully clean the fuel system. I went back over everything, blowing out lines and replacing some of them. Taking it back and forth to the lake for test drives every other day to see if my latest efforts changed anything. Somewhere along the way I lost all of my patience and most of my marbles, and I also missed reconnecting the rod that connects the throttle to the oil pump. I had ran it a pretty good while, I'd say 30 minutes like that on a test run to see if by some miracle I'd fixed the problem. When I realized what I'd done, I hooked it back up, eased back over to the ramp with my head hung low and winched it on the trailer and my very next stop was that $85 an hour boat dealer I'd been trying to avoid. I don't know if I ruined it, didn't hurt it, or took 10 years off it's life, but I'm not messing with it any more. Lesson learned, it looks easy enough, but I've given up after 6 weeks of tinkering with this and I'd highly recommend you not do much more than check the usual suspects (filter/ plugs) before you seek help. It'll probably be a week or less but I'm really dreading the call from the mechanic. I may have turned a $150 problem into a terminal illness.
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