50hp sometimes dies at idle / low RPMS / full power

NicholasP

Seaman
Joined
Jul 28, 2012
Messages
59
I have a Mercury 2003 50HP 2 Stroke that has a hard time running at idle and low RPMs. It also sometimes dies while I'm at cruising speed (like it starts bogging down and I go full throttle and it still dies). I pulled out the carbs (all 3 of them) and they looked clean (though I sprayed them thoroughly with carb cleaner). I talked to the guy at the the local outboard shop and he said it sounds like the fuel pump is going bad. Just wanted to check with you guys to see if it might be something else before I ordered that part..
 

racerone

Supreme Mariner
Joined
Dec 28, 2013
Messages
38,527
A simple test by squeezing the manual pump on the hose can be done.-------If operation DOES NOT change than fuel pump is ok.-------Do a compression test first !
 

lmuss53

Lieutenant Junior Grade
Joined
Sep 9, 2008
Messages
1,227
It's also unusual for a failed fuel pump to give you trouble and then be OK, usually when they go, they are gone.

Check the fuel lines and see if one is maybe kinking or getting pinched off somewhere. Look for blockage in the vent for the fuel tank.

Dirty carbs are dirty inside, in the bowl and float areas and the jets and internal passages, spraying thru them does very little to help those issues.

If you are a handy mechanic you can clean the carbs yourself, Take them off, just like you did and open them up one at a time. Watch a couple youtube videos and have a pristeen clean well lighted work area. I uses spray carb cleaner for the small passages, make sure you can see through each passage after you think it is clean, use a strand or two of copper wire to pass through clogged jets. I blow them out with low pressure air from my compressor, regulated down to 4 or 5 psi. I use a dishpan with HOT water and Dawn to wash the big parts like dishes, then blow them out with the low pressure air. Check the specs and reset the float height, then put them back together the same way you took them apart. Any needle that looks at all deformed or hangs up at all should be replaced, deformed, damaged or fuel saturated gaskets should be replaced too. You should be able to get them clean without disassembling beyond taking the bowl off, pulling the pin and dropping the float off, taking the cap and gasket off the top if one is there and cleaning out all the passages you can get to from that point.

Visit boatinfo.no and find your manual, read the carb section a couple times and get familiar with you carb, watch a vid or two and maybe give it a go.
 

NicholasP

Seaman
Joined
Jul 28, 2012
Messages
59
I'm waiting for new gaskets to arrive before I test to see if cleaning the carbs worked. I was referring to the inside of the carbs looking clean -- the needle looked good, the gaskets looked good, there was no gunk present. I'm going to do see if the newly cleaned carbs solves my issue before I install the new fuel pump (ordered it anyways, I'll probably need it at some point). It's a plastic fuel tank, so the vent is a just a little screw in the cap. I don't think that's the culprit because I've definitely forgotten to unscrew it and seen the suction deform the tank (and I didn't notice it this time).

I will post back and see if cleaning the carbs solves the issue or not....
 
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