Master of Disaster
New Member
I bought this 1994 Sea Ray Laguna 16’ last July. It has a 1994 60HP Mercury outboard. Serial 0D297548. 3 cylinder, 2 stroke, carbed.
I have had an intermittent issue ever since I brought it home: fuel delivery/starvation.
I’ve fixed/replaced many things and I’m now trying to decide what to do next.
So far I have done the following: (not in chronological order)
1) Replaced the fuel tank. (It came with 2 old 6 gallon portables that weren’t in good shape, I put in a new 12 gallon one.)
2) Replaced the fuel with known good fresh fuel, treated with Sta-bil or Startron.
3) Removed all quick-disconnects from the system. Barbs and metal hose clamps all the way.
4) Replaced the primer bulb with a Mercury OEM bulb.
5) Replaced all fuel line, from the tank to the carbs.
6) Put a brand new fuel/water separator in line between the tank and the motor. (It did not have one previously.)
7) Replaced the in-line fuel filter between the fuel pump and the carbs. (Several times. Now I have a glass one for visual inspection.)
8) Replaced clamps/ties on tubing between 3 carbs. (2 were missing).
I don’t have a good sense of how well it was maintained, but I did have a mechanic check the compression and he gave it the thumbs up. He also synced the carbs and adjusted the idle. This was about a year ago. I know that the previous owner had the stator replaced from the black one to a red one.
WOT is usually about 4800-5000. (The owner’s manual says it should be 5000-5500). When it’s not acting up it runs strong. No knocking or anything.
It always starts strong. Most of the time I can run anywhere from 20 minutes to 1.5 hours before failure. When it fails it usually drops down to about 4000, then 3000, then 2000-2500. Most of the time, I cannot get it to come back. I will try dropping to neutral, then giving it full power. Sometimes I try turning it off and letting it sit for a few. If I bump the choke the RPMs will rev up for a few seconds. Of course, I always try pumping the bulb. In the past, this has not seemed to help. However, today it did. The bulb felt empty and I would pump it up and the motor would come back strong for as long as 5- 10 minutes. This is a new development. It doesn’t always fail. 2 weeks ago, it ran fine for 2.5 hours. This was after I did #8 above. I really thought that I had fixed it. Then the boat sat until today. This morning it ran fine for at least 25 minutes. Then, after about 2 hours of fishing, it started up again.
Now I can’t think of anything else left to do but rebuild the fuel pump and/or the carburetors. One possibly important observation is that when I take the cowling off I always see fuel/oil mix laying in the bottom. Sometimes more than other. Today it seemed like it had at least 3-4 ounces. It’s definitely dripping out of the attenuator plate on the front of the carbs. When I take the attenuator plate off, the carb throats are sopping wet with fuel. I don’t know if that’s normal.
Advice?
It looks like there is a gasket kit that gives you the gaskets for all 3 carbs as well as the fuel pump. Am I reading that right? 812867A97?
If so, should I get that and do both? This wouldn't include the carb parts like jets, etc. Just the gaskets.
Or should I buy 3 carb rebuild kits and 1 fuel pump diaphragm kit?
Or just start with the fuel pump kit and see if that fixes it?
Thanks in advance for the help!
Chris
I have had an intermittent issue ever since I brought it home: fuel delivery/starvation.
I’ve fixed/replaced many things and I’m now trying to decide what to do next.
So far I have done the following: (not in chronological order)
1) Replaced the fuel tank. (It came with 2 old 6 gallon portables that weren’t in good shape, I put in a new 12 gallon one.)
2) Replaced the fuel with known good fresh fuel, treated with Sta-bil or Startron.
3) Removed all quick-disconnects from the system. Barbs and metal hose clamps all the way.
4) Replaced the primer bulb with a Mercury OEM bulb.
5) Replaced all fuel line, from the tank to the carbs.
6) Put a brand new fuel/water separator in line between the tank and the motor. (It did not have one previously.)
7) Replaced the in-line fuel filter between the fuel pump and the carbs. (Several times. Now I have a glass one for visual inspection.)
8) Replaced clamps/ties on tubing between 3 carbs. (2 were missing).
I don’t have a good sense of how well it was maintained, but I did have a mechanic check the compression and he gave it the thumbs up. He also synced the carbs and adjusted the idle. This was about a year ago. I know that the previous owner had the stator replaced from the black one to a red one.
WOT is usually about 4800-5000. (The owner’s manual says it should be 5000-5500). When it’s not acting up it runs strong. No knocking or anything.
It always starts strong. Most of the time I can run anywhere from 20 minutes to 1.5 hours before failure. When it fails it usually drops down to about 4000, then 3000, then 2000-2500. Most of the time, I cannot get it to come back. I will try dropping to neutral, then giving it full power. Sometimes I try turning it off and letting it sit for a few. If I bump the choke the RPMs will rev up for a few seconds. Of course, I always try pumping the bulb. In the past, this has not seemed to help. However, today it did. The bulb felt empty and I would pump it up and the motor would come back strong for as long as 5- 10 minutes. This is a new development. It doesn’t always fail. 2 weeks ago, it ran fine for 2.5 hours. This was after I did #8 above. I really thought that I had fixed it. Then the boat sat until today. This morning it ran fine for at least 25 minutes. Then, after about 2 hours of fishing, it started up again.
Now I can’t think of anything else left to do but rebuild the fuel pump and/or the carburetors. One possibly important observation is that when I take the cowling off I always see fuel/oil mix laying in the bottom. Sometimes more than other. Today it seemed like it had at least 3-4 ounces. It’s definitely dripping out of the attenuator plate on the front of the carbs. When I take the attenuator plate off, the carb throats are sopping wet with fuel. I don’t know if that’s normal.
Advice?
It looks like there is a gasket kit that gives you the gaskets for all 3 carbs as well as the fuel pump. Am I reading that right? 812867A97?
If so, should I get that and do both? This wouldn't include the carb parts like jets, etc. Just the gaskets.
Or should I buy 3 carb rebuild kits and 1 fuel pump diaphragm kit?
Or just start with the fuel pump kit and see if that fixes it?
Thanks in advance for the help!
Chris
