First post is a problem. Bad form, I know, but I'm really unsure of what's going on.
I just bought a 1995 Sea Ray 180 BR. Engine is a Merc 4.3 IO with carb and Alpha 1 outdrive. PO told me he hasn't run it all season and didn't winterize it at the end of last season (We live in the southeast though). Here's the deal with the engine - he had milky oil and replaced a bunch of the systems in the boat. Finally removed the heads and found a crack in the block between 1 and 3. A gearhead friend told him he could weld the block and fix it. They fixed the crack and rebuilt the engine with new gaskets and seals. No issues with milky oil afterwards according to PO. He ran it for me before I took it home and it idled a bit funky, but ran and went into gear fine.
So I take it out for the first time and it barley holds idle,s talls a few times at the dock. I get it moving and on plane and it's going great. Pressure is good, temp is good, power is good. After about an hour, it begins to stagger and lose power. I pulled the throttle back all the way and it went to idle just fine, no noises or anything. It would only let me give it 1/4 throttle without sputtering. So I'm cruising back to the dock REAL slow and decided to test how bad it was. I gave it throttle till it stalled. It would not immediately start back up. I pulled the cover off the carb and saw light milky residue on flame arrestor where the breather tubes attach. I pulled the dipstick and the oil looked ok. It sat for a few and started just fine. I was at the breakers, so i took it easy for a few, then got it on it. Ran just fine, no problems all the way back to the dock - about 15 minutes or so. I checked the dipstick again when it cooled down and still looked fine. The milky residue at the flame arrestor was dark brown after I got it out of the water. PO said it rained a lot the day I picked it up so maybe it was damp???
I took it out again today to run the old gas out before I tune it up. It started right up, ran great again (good pressure and temp) for about 1.5 hours and started to sputter again. I let it idle and opened the hatch to check things out. No milky residue this time, oil on dipstick fine, but visble fumes coming from breather tubes. My Dad was out with me and said he smelled a "shellac" smell ( I didn't). After a few minutes it ran fine again and as the tank got low, started to sputter again. I idled around for awhile and finally brought it in. My diagnosis was bad gas and maybe in need of a filter and carb cleaner/gas additive, but not sure??? Should I drain the oil and look for milky condition, or would it show on dipstick? 85% of the time it runs great, with great power and no hesitation, but 15% of the time it won't let me throttle up. This is over three days and on the same tank of gas I got it with. Sorry for the long write up, but the devil is in the details. Thanks in advance for any help.
I just bought a 1995 Sea Ray 180 BR. Engine is a Merc 4.3 IO with carb and Alpha 1 outdrive. PO told me he hasn't run it all season and didn't winterize it at the end of last season (We live in the southeast though). Here's the deal with the engine - he had milky oil and replaced a bunch of the systems in the boat. Finally removed the heads and found a crack in the block between 1 and 3. A gearhead friend told him he could weld the block and fix it. They fixed the crack and rebuilt the engine with new gaskets and seals. No issues with milky oil afterwards according to PO. He ran it for me before I took it home and it idled a bit funky, but ran and went into gear fine.
So I take it out for the first time and it barley holds idle,s talls a few times at the dock. I get it moving and on plane and it's going great. Pressure is good, temp is good, power is good. After about an hour, it begins to stagger and lose power. I pulled the throttle back all the way and it went to idle just fine, no noises or anything. It would only let me give it 1/4 throttle without sputtering. So I'm cruising back to the dock REAL slow and decided to test how bad it was. I gave it throttle till it stalled. It would not immediately start back up. I pulled the cover off the carb and saw light milky residue on flame arrestor where the breather tubes attach. I pulled the dipstick and the oil looked ok. It sat for a few and started just fine. I was at the breakers, so i took it easy for a few, then got it on it. Ran just fine, no problems all the way back to the dock - about 15 minutes or so. I checked the dipstick again when it cooled down and still looked fine. The milky residue at the flame arrestor was dark brown after I got it out of the water. PO said it rained a lot the day I picked it up so maybe it was damp???
I took it out again today to run the old gas out before I tune it up. It started right up, ran great again (good pressure and temp) for about 1.5 hours and started to sputter again. I let it idle and opened the hatch to check things out. No milky residue this time, oil on dipstick fine, but visble fumes coming from breather tubes. My Dad was out with me and said he smelled a "shellac" smell ( I didn't). After a few minutes it ran fine again and as the tank got low, started to sputter again. I idled around for awhile and finally brought it in. My diagnosis was bad gas and maybe in need of a filter and carb cleaner/gas additive, but not sure??? Should I drain the oil and look for milky condition, or would it show on dipstick? 85% of the time it runs great, with great power and no hesitation, but 15% of the time it won't let me throttle up. This is over three days and on the same tank of gas I got it with. Sorry for the long write up, but the devil is in the details. Thanks in advance for any help.
