My brother went on vacation for the week and the boat is running badly. Has three days of vacation left.

94 SeaRay, 4.3 liter motor. I have not had a single problem with it.

He filled the tank in town and ran it for almost 6hrs straight on Monday with a big tube behind it.

Filled the tank at the marina on Tuesday and ran it down to a quarter tank and that is when the problems began.

It seems to have power down low, starts and idles fine. After it gets up on plane he says it seems to run out of power and won't go over 35 mph. Spits and backfires some. He took it back out after I talked to him and he got it up to 45 MPH (which is max I have seen) and then spit through the carb and slowed back down.

I assumed bad gas. He changed the fuel filter but same thing. Any thoughts?

Jeff

Sorry a bit late..... Were all six plugs getting spark??

I had the exact same problem a couple of years ago on my 2002 Baja. Check the Fuel Injectors - might have a bad one. The engine computer senses this and automatically cuts back the amount of fuel going to the engine so as not to blow the engine (nice of them eh?). Until the bad FI's are replaced and the computer reset it will run half-throttle.

Let me know if that's it. Good luck.

I think its a carb.

Sounds like you got some dirt in the carb.

Thanks for the info.

So, I can't tell you much because my brother is pretty inept when it comes to anything that needs gas.

He did get it to run again later that day. Ran for about two hours normally. Parked at a beach for a short time and took the Mrs. water skiing and it bogged down to 10 mph. Had to go long ways back to the dock and could not coax it over 10 mph.

Brought it to my mechanic on Monday (not on a lake) He let it run in the parking lot for an hour and could not get it to stumble. (no load) He said alot of times if it is electrical he can get it act up because the engine compartment gets hot just sitting there running. He told me to get it on the lake and add fuel to see if it picks up then we can start looking into fuel issues, if it doesn't it's electrical.

I am going to pull it to the lake this weekend and see if I can diagnose it.

Jeff

Replace the distributor cap, rotor, and wires.

get a small six gallon tank and a piece of hose you can hook to the fuel pump. take it out and get it to act up, then hook up to the small tank. this way you can eliminate water in the tank, bad anti siphon valve, something in the tank partially blocking the tank etc. use process of elimination or your guessing will get expensive. also when it starts bogging loosen the fuel cap to make sure the vent isnt clogged.

does it have a fuel and water seperator= gets the water in it when down low

I brought it to the lake and started checking all fuel related stuff. Filter in the tank, check valve ect and everything seemed ok. Pulled the line off the carb and turned it over and fuel came out at a fairly low PSI. (thumb guage) When I was working on it I had the cover off and was sitting right next to the motor and it seemed to run very smoothly. Decided to leave it to the pros. I was driving it back to the launch which was about 300 yards away plowing a bit becuase it would not come on plain and motor locked up. Starter would not budge it.

Keep in mind my brother had to get it back to his resort and drove it like that for about two miles. Hours on the motor are very low.

Brought it to the dealer and they said there is water in the cylinders and even with the plugs out it turns over very hard.

$6,000. Looking for alternatives.....


Jeff

Jeff, just wondering if you had found an alternative route to fixing the motor. My only thought would be to do some long and hard searching and find a replacement motor instead of rebuilding this one. Not sure if it is cost effective but you might get lucky?

Those sea ray's with the 4.3L are some nice boats. My younger cousin has a 1990 20 footer with the 4.3L and it drives and cuts the waves beautifully. Think it tops out around 43-44.

I had a simmilar problem with one of my boats , after checking EVERYTHING over and over i removed the anti siphon or check valve on the tank and was good to go, It didnt always act up just sometimes, drove me nuts.

I found a local shop that does alot of motor replacements, uses an engine rebuilder with a two year warranty. $4,500. I am just really dissappointed, love this boat, worked perfectly for about 12 years. I would be fine with $1,000 repair but this is a bit of a kick in the nuts.

I don't want to cheap out on it. If I fix it I want it done right so I am probably gonna sink the 5K into it, then I will have a $6.000 boat!

I'd personally junk it at that point. Sea Rays are great but its still a 94 and Im guessing its an 18' or 19' with that engine size its not worth more than 6 or 7 even in excellent condition.

I didnt read this post,oops.

Sounds like my boat. A 96 Sea Ray with the 4.3merc. Good boat, but I have trouble starting it. The boat is used very infrequently. It is carb also. when I go to start it, I press the lever down twice to choke it, then back off and pretty much turn the key. Sometimes it stumbles and catches but it never stays running. If I spray starting fluid in the filter, it starts right up and runs fine, and starts up for the rest of the day. What is the proper starting procedure? Thanks for any reply.

I know.

It's a 180 BR and the interior is a little ragged. So, If I sink $5,000 into it it would not be for resale, it would be to have a boat that I know has a good motor for $5,000.

I have the same engine in this boat currently for sale.

http://www.hardcoresledder.com/forums/inde...howtopic=349509

Here is what I do:

1. Press the lever 4 or 5 times choking it.

2. Hold the lever in choke about 1/2 way if it doesn't start on the first few cranks pump the lever until it starts.

Should fire right up.

Once mine starts its good for the rest of the day.

Its when it sits for a few weeks at a time its hard to start.

If your having issues starting it after its hot, sounds like your carbs are out of sync or dirty

Mines for sale.
http://www.hardcoresledder.com/forums/inde...howtopic=349509