Possible Bad Gas/Fuel Delivery - Thanks SP

[CaptJohn]

A few weeks ago I stopped at a fuel dock near the manasquan inlet. They where out of regular, but had premium, I usually use regular, but decided to have them fill my 80 gallon tank, took about 65 gallons. (Added Startron)

Since that time I had noticed that my usually very dependable 2001 Mercury 150 2-stroke was taking alot longer to start. I actually took the boat out last wednesday just to run it hard for an hour or so to "clean it out", seemed to run ok, but still hard starting.

Went out this past sunday and fished many spots from the seagirt reef, down to the pipe and out to the Carlson. After a few drifts I stated noticing that it was taking alot longer to start up. At one stop, I couldn't get it started, tried for 20 minutes and called tow boat.

Each time I noticed the ball was not full, and pumped it several times with no luck filling it up.

Contacted a friend on VHF, said he had a problem with a valve on top of his fuel tank, I tapped the fitting several times and seemed like the ball filled up.
It started up, I cancelled the tow boat and headed home. The inlet was crazy with the large swells and plenty of boats, made in with no problems. I ran the 3 miles to my slip, and just before entering our dock area she dies again. The ball was still full this time and could not get it to start, no matter what I did.

A State Police boat was near and came over and towed me right to my slip. THANK YOU!

Any ideas if this may be bad gas, a bad fuel tank valve, bad primer bulb?

Thanks

John

[Gerry Zagorski]

I would start by first trying to determine where the issue is....Could be bad gas in your tank, the fuel delivery components of your boat (tanks, fuel lines, fuel filters, vents, pick ups etc) or the engine itself.

First thing I would do is try and run your engine directly off of a portable tank. If it runs fine then you have eliminated any engine issues and it has to be something in the fuel or the fuel delivery components of your boat.

Take the portable tank and rather then hooking it up directly to the engine, take the line that comes out of your tank an introduce the portable tank there. If once again the engine runs fine, you have eliminated that the problem is being caused by upline fuel lines, primer balls, filters etc and the problem now lies with bad fuel in your tank or one of the tanks components like the vent or pick up.

Easiet way to elimiate the vent as an issue is to leave your fuel fill open and see if that resolves your issue. If not then it's the fuel in the tank or the pick up and these issues are better left to professionals who can filter and or dispose of bad fuel.

[CaptJohn]

Thanks Gerry,

Sounds like a good plan!

John

[CaptJohn]

I had a chance over the weekend to try a few things:
1. Changed mercury fuel filter, the one I removed was about 1.5 years old, it was not clogged. (Still would not start)
2. Hooked up fresh gas from a different tank. (Would not start) Drained all old fuel from the lines.
3. Replaced spark plugs, the removed plugs where installed in April 2013. (Would not start)
4. Removed air cleaner and for some unknown reason it starts. Runs well at around 3000rpm, but I do notice a miss at idle speed. I ran it for about a 1/2 hour with the air cleaner off.
5. Turned off, and replace the air cleaner. Took awile but I got it started again with throttle lever abour 1/2. Ran again for about 5 minutes.
6. Shut down to replace the cowl. Would not start again??? Tried for about 15 minutes and gave up.

Anyone have any ideas? Carbs?

Thanks

John

[PAFireGuy]

You may want to try to compression test the cylinders. Take note of any noticeable differences between each cylinder. You may have more than a fuel problem.

[Gerry Zagorski]

Good advice from PA above.... Given the age of your engine, before I'd invest any money on rebuilding carbs or other stuff, I want to know the compression is good. No sense throwing good money after bad.

[CaptJohn]

Thanks for the advice, I am going to check compression next!

[CaptJohn]

Had the motor running yesterday, still seems like its missing.

I checked the compression last night, Port side T-115 M-116 B-115 Starboard side T-120 M-121 B-121.

Maybe I will try seafoam to clean the carbs.

[Gerry Zagorski]

Compression seems OK... I would not worry about a difference of 4 or 5 lbs.


Seafoam spray is not going to clean your carbs.... What Seafoam spray does do is decarbon the pistons, rings and cylinder walls which is a good thing to do, especially on the older 2 strokes.

If you want to try and clean the carbs without taking them apart then you will need some sort of fuel treatment. Probabaly best to do this with a portable tank so you don't have to treat all the fuel in your main tank to get the ratio you need. Having said that, the best thing to do is remove the carbs and clean/rebuild them.. They sell kits for this but not something I would attempt.

Before I went that route I would check other places first like spark....

When you take the plugs out, are any of them more fouled then others ? If so you could have a bad wire, coil pack, ECM etc....

Wires are an easy fix and place to start but Coil packs and ECM testing way over my head and probably something I would have a mechanic check out who has the right test equipment.

[maxturbo]

I also have a 2001 Merc 150 2 stroke. Had same issues, end result I removed the carbs and overhauled them. very simple to do. Kits are cheap. Once doing the carbs. Started right up on first shot every time. If you have any questions you can PM me and ill explain what i did.

Do you have a fuel /water separator? This helps determine if u have any water in ur fuel also if your primer bulb is original. you should consider replacing that.

[CaptJohn]

I ended up "throwing parts" at the problem,

New fuel lines
New fuel water seperator
New fuel filters
New fuel pump
New Fuel bulb
New portable fuel tank with fresh gas
new plugs
Replaced 1 CDM Module that was cracked
Checked compression (all 6 cylinders between 115-120)
Cleaned carbs

Finally called a mechanic who said its not the fuel or carbs, but ignition. He ran several tests and said that it was the 2 things, 1st was a vacuum line that had a small split that was causing the low idle stall.
2nd is a bad stator, he said the output was only about 75% of required. Said its needs replaced. I told him to order the parts and he will install.
I will tell you next week how it comes out.

[Foul Hook]

Sucks spending all that money for those parts but at the end of the day your engine will run better. good luck!

[Gerry Zagorski]

What Foul Hooked said.... Once you get the other issues taken care of you'll be in ship shape and you can keep all the things that you replaced as spares.

If you already haven't, it's probably a good idea to get some Sea Foam and decarb your engines while you are in maintainece mode.

Best of luck.

[maxturbo]

Glad to see u finally found the problem. those stators arent cheap either.Let us know how it turns out. Good luck

[CaptJohn]

Back on the Water!

After a month of trying everything I could think of, and alot of help from all who commented, my boat is up and running.

Thanks to a Mobile Mechanic!

Went out yesterday and fished along the inlet for about 2 hours, My Merc ran strong, and started immediatly after each drift.

Thanks again for everyones help.

John

[Gerry Zagorski]

Man I love happy endings :D

[PAFireGuy]

Glad you got that straightened out.
I have the same motor with a similar issue, but not to the extent you had.
The replacement of the stator fixed the problem?

[Gerry Zagorski]

Stators are a very common issue with Mercs. I had twins on my Hydrasports a while back and had to replace the stators on both engines. It's basically a set of magnets and windings under the fly wheel. As the flyweel spins the magnets and windings creates the juice you need to feed spark plugs and charge your battery, much like a car alternator.