I have a 1997 Mercury Sportjet 175 in my Boston Whaler Rage. The V-6 gas motor has less than 50 hours on it, and it's run flawlessly up to this point. The engine serial number is 0E263389. <br /> <br />About a month ago, after being on the water for several hours, the engine stalled out like it was running out of fuel. It still had 1/2 tank or so of gas, but I switched over to the reserve anyway, to no avail. The engine barely ran, and I limped it back home at 1200 RPM's - the most I could get out of it. It acted like I had run out of fuel - 1200 rpm (or so) max, sputtering a bit, with no accelleration. It died several times and was difficult to start. <br /> <br />I took the boat to my local shop, and they first tested the ignition, and said it tested fine. The engine compression was at spec, and it seemed obvious to them it was a fuel delivery problem. <br /> <br />The shop checked the tank, lines, check valves, and entire fuel system. They ultimately replaced the electric fuel primer pump, a check valve, fuel lines, rebuilt the vacuum-operated fuel pump, cleaned out all 3 carbs, and made sure there was no air in the lines.They said the reed valves looked fine. Then I took the boat home to test it. <br /> <br />It still will start ok, but when I give it gas, it still falls flat on it's face, stalling out and nearly dying. It won't get above 1200-1500 rpm's or so. If I suddenly accellerate, it will get up to 3,000 rpm's for a few seconds, then die. The shop believes it's a fuel problem, but it seems we've been through that already...<br /> <br />The shop has 20+ hours into this, and they have no idea what's wrong. After all this work, it's still the same as when it first died on me. The shop called Mercury Tech, who is the one who suggested rebuilding the fuel pump, which the shop did. The boat has been out of the water for 4 weeks, in the shop for 2+ weeks, with no solution in sight. <br /> <br />Any ideas? I'd like to get my boat back in the water and with no ideas as to what this could be, we have no idea on how to proceed. <br /><br />I've read about the stator giving problems like this. It seems to test out fine with an ohmeter, could it still be bad?<br /><br />Finally, when cold, it seems to run ok at low speed as I head out into the harbor. When I give it gas after warming up, it dies, then I have to limp it back to the dock, while it dies, sputters, and barely runs. So it **seems** like it runs worse when warmed up.
