Engine not starting ***HELP***

[NetMatrix]

I took my boat on the water May 1, 2010, and she ran just fine. After a while though she would lose power, and I would have to shut the boat off for about 5 minutes. Turn it back on and off she went. Now on May 2, 2010 I went to put her on the water again, and she started and ran for 3 minutes then just died. After that haven't been able to get the boat started back up. I took the alternator to have it tested, and it tested perfect. I also had the starter tested, and it tested well as well. Now my motor has fresh oil, new plugs, dwell has been checked by local boat shop and results came back good. I have the MerCruiser 165 (1971). Please help me with this I'm starting to get extremely frustrated cause I can't figure out what is wrong with this boat, and can't afford to take it to the boat shop again. If you need anymore information on this please ask what information you need, and I'll give it to you.

 

[billy4hp]

Re: Engine not starting ***HELP***

I took my boat on the water May 1, 2010, and she ran just fine. After a while though she would lose power, and I would have to shut the boat off for about 5 minutes. Turn it back on and off she went. Now on May 2, 2010 I went to put her on the water again, and she started and ran for 3 minutes then just died. After that haven't been able to get the boat started back up. I took the alternator to have it tested, and it tested perfect. I also had the starter tested, and it tested well as well. Now my motor has fresh oil, new plugs, dwell has been checked by local boat shop and results came back good. I have the MerCruiser 165 (1971). Please help me with this I'm starting to get extremely frustrated cause I can't figure out what is wrong with this boat, and can't afford to take it to the boat shop again. If you need anymore information on this please ask what information you need, and I'll give it to you.

From your post, it doesn't sound like it ever ran well at all:

Ran but would then loose power
Would shut off by itself after 5 minutes but would restart
Ran for 3 minutes and died
Now doesn't restart

You have had the starter and alternator tested...

So does it still crank and not start or no crank? Since you said you have had the starter tested I am not going to guess if your problem is a no crank or crank no start concern...

As a rule, any internal combustion engine needs three things to fire up:

Fuel
Air
Spark (at the correct time)

So in the simplest terms you need to figure out which is missing...

Read the stickies at the top of the forum, there is a wealth of information there...

Good luck...

 

[Bondo]

Re: Engine not starting ***HELP***

Ayuh,... My 1st Guess is Fuel Delivery,... Check,+ change the fuel Filters...

 

[ENSIGN]

Re: Engine not starting ***HELP***

Sounds like water in the gas,take a sample from the tank

 

[ziggy]

Re: Engine not starting ***HELP***

myself, i'd start with a compression test to be sure ya got something to work with. good to have them numbers around for future reference anyways. i look at it as a kind of base health of the engine.
assuming that's good then it's either fuel or fire. which one don't you have? service manual #2 has a pretty good trouble shooting guide in it. a diagnosis tree. lets you check one item at a time and move on to the next.

so dwell is good, does that mean that ya checked timing too? 6*btdc @ under 700 rpm.

i've seen a coil act up and cause similar conditions.

it does sound fuel related to me too. there's the fuel system diagnosis thread in the adults only sticky + that's where ya can get s/m#2 also. 2 isn't for your boat (yours would be #1) but the list of causes for inop will be similar.

 

[freeboats]

Re: Engine not starting ***HELP***

start with the simple things first...fuel filter, or water in the fuel