Gas lasts 4 hours?

Nakia Romeo

New Member
Jul 14, 2018
11
Boat Info
1990 sea ray 180 i/o mercruiser
Engines
4.3 Mercruiser Alpha One drive
94D440E4-FC32-45F6-95F0-6B737147FA4D.jpeg when I gas up my 180 it only lasts 4-4.5 hours. Is that normal, I’m filling the tank with about 23 gallons. Also, after boating today for 2 hours, we anchored. Killed the engine, disconnected battery and swam & ate for a while. Maybe an an hour & a half. Upon restart the engine wouldn’t turn over for a good 4-5 key turns. Made me nervous. What could have gone wrong?

Thanks!
 
We have a 21 foot jetboat with a 350. It burns 8 gallons an hour. So you are doing well. The starter thing could be due to starter wearing out. Easy to remove and get rebuilt. My starter failed after first year as engine area was warm and humid.
 
Sounds like you’re burning about 5 gallons an hour. That’s about right if you’re running around at cruising speed on a boat that size.
 
We have a 21 foot jetboat with a 350. It burns 8 gallons an hour. So you are doing well. The starter thing could be due to starter wearing out. Easy to remove and get rebuilt. My starter failed after first year as engine area was warm and humid.
Great info. Thank you!
 
I had an hour and half trip earlier this year with my 200OVOB 135HP 2-stroke. Did a lot of WOT, 5200ish rpm 40ish mph, because the kids wanted to go fast. 18.6 gallons burned, 29 miles traveled. 3 hours another trip at mostly 3500-3800rpm 22mph, same amount of fuel and twice the distance. Did quite a bit of dropping off of plane and turns because that time they wanted a lot of spray lol. They miss the bow rider, didn't go as fast, was 3 foot shorter but they got wetter being out front.
 
You must be running it like you stole it! Good for you!

Sounds like a bad battery... get it load tested.
 
If it makes you feel better, my twin 350s burn about 24 gal per hour at cruise, about 3200 rpm.
 
Did the starter click or were there any other noises? When it did start was it turning over properly? I had a 180 with a 4.3 that occasionally did the same thing. I'd turn the key and nothing...not a click, no noise, motor didn't even crank. It turned out to be a faulty ignition switch.

It only happened once in a while and wiggling the key in the ignition was the trick to get it to crank.
 
Did the starter click or were there any other noises? When it did start was it turning over properly? I had a 180 with a 4.3 that occasionally did the same thing. I'd turn the key and nothing...not a click, no noise, motor didn't even crank. It turned out to be a faulty ignition switch.

It only happened once in a while and wiggling the key in the ignition was the trick to get it to crank.
Yeah when I turned the key, it wanted to start. Battery seemed fine... but wouldn’t turn over.
 
I have a 100 gallon tank. I burned 55 gallons on a 3.5 hour cruise for 15 gph. Then another 50 or so on the return trip. You're doing OK.
 

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