Just purchased a '99, 19' Bayliner with a Mercruiser 3.0 (100 hours). The previous owner said it's "cold blooded" for the first 20+ minutes and gave me a few tips on how to warm it up (blower on 4 minutes, pump throttle 3 times, run at trolling speed and gradually work up to full throttle). I took it out for the first time a week ago and it started fine and idles great, but took a good 15-20 minutes of slow/medium paced trolling before I was able to open the throttle wide open without problems - just as the previous owner said. <br /><br />Yesterday I had it out for the second time and trolled around for a good 20 minutes and did the same prep to get the engine "warmed up," but it died whenever I tried to give it more than 1/4 throttle. It would start back up no problem, idled fine without killing but was kind of rough/shaking at times when I trolled. <br /><br />So my questions: Does it need to be warmed up for 20-30 minutes? Is this typical for a Mercuiser? Is there a bigger underlying issue that I need to have serviced? Should I be looking at my gauges for a desired temp reading? <br />The only maintenance info I have is that it never had problems, was cold blooded at first, has a fresh full tank of gas and the oil was changed last year. <br /><br />Any input much appreciated!
