Engine Troubles

[76Allgood]

So boating 3 weeks ago, i have a 05 18.5 bayliner mercruiser motor, I dont know crap about mechanics. I could use any help as possible as this is the 2nd time to leave my family of 5 stranded. 3 weeks ago, started boat takes a min to start as it is never rt. away. Which i still don't get. But, we ride 5min ish go to a beach sit for a few hours then ride across the lake. get 10min riding mid throttle, then pop sound in engine compartment. Engine dies, try to start then takes a min to start. then it starts, put engine in gear at min. anything over the bare min engine seems to flood and die. Or when in grear for a couple min. and running it seems to flood out or engine dies. Can seem to try to catch engine dieing and put in neutral and idle for a min or so and put back in gear but at min speed. My alternator caught fire last time and was replaced thought that was the issue and took family out today and same issue but no alt issues. can anyone help and i thank you for all opinions.

 

[ondarvr]

If you don't know anything about working on motors, and don't have any tools to do it, you might want to take in to be looked at.

 

[76Allgood]

I dont but any ideas would be helpfull as i have had it repaired i thought and same issue coming up.

 

[tpenfield]

:welcome:

It is really hard to speculate as to what the problem may be from a general description. It could be a number of things, and since you don't know nothing about engines, you most likely will have to rely on a repair shop to fix it for you.

It sort of sounds like a carburetor issue, but it could be ignition and/or timing. Sure would like the back story on the alternator fire . . . how high were the flames and what else got damaged?

 

[76Allgood]

:welcome:

It is really hard to speculate as to what the problem may be from a general description. It could be a number of things, and since you don't know nothing about engines, you most likely will have to rely on a repair shop to fix it for you.

It sort of sounds like a carburetor issue, but it could be ignition and/or timing. Sure would like the back story on the alternator fire . . . how high were the flames and what else got damaged?

Thanks for the reply, yes i plan on taking it somewhere to get fixed, but was curious on the issue. As far as the Alt., after the first trip engine cutting off, and restarting the boat 30x smelt electrical fire. Opened eng. compartment and alt was smoking bad, no flames were present. But i disconnected battery and got it to stop, and fire extinguisher to be safe. So i thought it had to be Alt. issues. Got it replaced and boat seemed to do good for the first part of the 2nd trip. But like i said we didn't run it long at all. Till we where leaving and decided to make a trip across the other side of the lake. Which was about 10-15min at mid throttle. Then a pop (almost like a back fire sound in a car) in engine compartment and it died. Was able to restart it, and put it in gear but at its min. any extra would cause it to stall. Or sometimes it would stall after running it at min. throttle for 2-3min. Thanks for all the opinions, as i am clueless on boat engines.

 

[Rick Stephens]

Boat engine is a car engine installed in a boat. Needs clean fuel and spark to run. Not a lot of mechanical difference - details like all the parts are designed to prevent explosions since in a boat fumes cannot escape out the bottom like in a car. Otherwise a boat engine works the same as a car engine.

What you describe could be dirty fuel filter, plugged fuel tank vent, bad gas, dirty carburetor or fuel injection, stuck anti syphon valve on the fuel tank, ignition issues. Since I do all my own repair work, if it was mine I would be starting at fuel delivery and whether you have spark. That is a lot easier if you know your boat's fuel system and ignition than starting from scratch.