hawkeye625

Yes I've had my share of crazy things happen too. Mud wasps in the breather tube have given me trouble in the past. That's why I started the thread. Figured it might be something stupid, but, being the mechanic ran it off a portable can, most of the fuel issues should be eliminated from the "problem" list. Of course now I'm running off my main tank, it could be an issue again. Oh the joy of boat ownership. Pap, it is a 1992 Crestliner Sabre. Just to clarify, I'm not bashing any mechanics or anyone's ideas - just trying to fix the boat!

Ok, I just found the receipt from the mechanic in NY. The receipt has 1 fuel pump, 1 electric amplifier $598(module I'm assuming) 1 carb kit. The cap, rotor, coil and distributor module were replace by a marine mechanic here in PA last year. Both guys are certified and timed the engine when they had it. Plugs were replaced this year as well. At this point, I am just going to take it to my "certified" mercury dealer here in PA come spring. Just figured someone may have had the same issues. Hopefully it is just the timing. I'll update when I get it strait in a few months. Nothing more frustrating that boat issues.

My mechanic at home played with the timing for a while, it didn't fix the issue. The accelerator pump was replaced in August, also did not fix the issue, but, made starting (when it ran) much easier. One other thing I just remembered was going on when I got it back, it almost seemed like the battery was dead when I tried to start it. Hesitated, then started to crank like normal. The battery had full charge.

Fuel freshness varied throughout the year, but, all new now. We also ran it on new gas from a portable can and it ran the same.

The Rotor, cap, and sensor have all been changed in the last 1.5 years. I pulled the cap and everything was clean and dry. The mechanic from NY ran through the diagnostic sequence and it ended with the module. I'd just take it back to him, but, 4 hours away, I'd rather get it fixed at home and have it running 100% in the spring. I wonder what the next thing in the diagnostic sequence is? Fuel pump was also replaced before we got into the electrical hunt. Also put new plugs in. Thanks for all the input guys.

Thanks pap. It has the thunderbolt ignition. Sent from my SM-G930V using Lake Ontario United mobile app

1992. Coil has been replaced. The carb was wet, and, I shot starting fluid in. No fire so assuming no spark.

My boat starting acting up 1st thing last spring. It ran fine at idle, but, when trying to throttle up it struggled, then it would correct itself and run fine. We could troll all day without issue, then when throttling up, it would hesitate again...almost like it was starving for fuel. We figured it was water in the fuel so went through weeks of changing filters and running dry gas additives. (4 hours for me to get to the lake-so I didn't have a chance to run it every day). The problem seemed to be getting better as the year progressed but it would still miss when throttling up sometimes. A friend rebuilt the carb (Rochester quadrajet) but, it still didn't fix the issue. I dropped it off to a well known mechanic up there to clean/rebuild carb - that didn't fix it, after diagnosis - he figured it was an ignition module - so put a new one on. Got it back last August, still ran rough but, a little better. I towed the boat back to PA and when trying to winterize it, it would not start. I had a local mechanic look at it, he couldn't get it to run either. He manually winterized it and said we will look deeper into it in the spring - he thought maybe the distributor was stripped. Figured someone else may have similar problems in the past so might have an idea of the problem. Over the past 2 years most of the ignition components were replaced. I think the only thing that wasn't was the distributor itself. Any ideas? Jeff