[Jared]

I hate it!

3 Weeks ago I just finished organizing my tackle and reloading it all into my boat. My floating office was now completely stocked and organized with everything from flipping sticks and push poles to TP and SPF.

Well, today I spent an hour and a half this morning UNLOADING it all! Reason being is my boat will be sitting at the dealers for the next 2 to 3 weeks.

I have a 2000 Johnson 150hp Pro Series. I had intended to bring it down to have my impeller replaced and to have my aerators replaced. My impeller was old and not producing enough pressure to keep my cool at idle and my aerator just completely quit and wasn't doing a thing rendering my livewells useless.

Last night on the water I ran into a new situation. While running down the lake my boat would suddenly begin to starve for fuel and cut off. Trying to crank it back up would result in it almost catching but then nothing. I checked my bulb and realized it was soft so I pumped it up until it was firm and my motor then cranked back up. I ran 30 seconds and it died again. Again I checked bulb - soft again. I pumped it up again and the motor cranked up again. This time I just idled. The boat continued to run and never quit. Only when I increased the RPM, which in turn increased the fuel demand, would my motor quit.

I explained that to my dealer and they said that they feel it could be one of two things.

1. It could be that my fuel lines are corroded or gunked up from ethanol in the gas.

2. There is a pump in the motor that pumps both fuel and oil and they said that could be cutting out on me and dieing.

I am not sure if it could be #1. The reason why I say this is because I have been putting Marine Stabil and Seafoam in my motor pretty regularly and supposedly that will counteract the affects of ethanol. The only possibility is that for a while I was only using Stabil when I knew the boat would be parked for any length of time. Perhaps that was long enough for t he ethanol to do its damage.

On the other hand I am hoping it IS #1 because #2 is about twice as expensive to fix.

Anyway, all my tackle is back inside and it looks like for the next few weeks I will be back to my 10' jon boat.

 

[retired-psg]

:sad2: :sad2: :sad2: :sad2: :sad2: :sad2: :sad2: :sad2:

 

[pro reel]

Well, it's already at the dealer, so it's to late to check anything, but that may have just needed a new bulb. It could be any of the things they mentioned, but it could also be that the bulb just went bad and was not holding presure. I had one that I had to have my partner ride on the back deck and just kept pumping the bulb until we got to the dock. As soon as he quit pumping, the motor died. I changed the fuel line from the tank to the motor with a new bulb and it ran like a champ. Hopefully, it will be something simple and they won't charge very much to get it fixed. Guess you will be using the ******* jon boat for awhile.

 

[buzbait88]

Definately a fuel delivery problem Jared. Have you replaced fuel filter lately? Sounds like your fuel lines are going bad or the bulb, ethanol is nasty stuff and the interior of the gas line will actually crumble to pieces and get clogged in it.

On a side note, I wouldn't have taken it in for the reasons you did. The impellere is pretty easy to change and there is videos on youtube showing you how. The livewell pumps are also pretty easy. Just a couple of hoses and wires. Actually the ones I have in my boat have a cartridge and when it goes bad you just take it out and replace it with a new one.

 

[POWERWORM]

i would disable the oil injection and just mix it because when that side of the fuel/oil pump goes out you can still get gas but not oil and thats not a good thing

 

[JEVPhoenixBass]

You can store your "extra" stuff at my place Jared..... Just offering!

 

[fish4funinfl]

Hope you dont have to sell one of your kidneys to pay for what I am sure they will charge ya lol

 

[mlsims]

Sorry to hear about the motor issues old buddy, hopefully it wont be as bad as you are thinking. But just in case it is, I would be available to store all your baits and tackle for you, dont want it to go unused or risk the chance of it going stale from lack of use.

 

[FIRE]

Jared,you sound like you are having some of same issues as me.My boat would ideal fine and at times would just slow down and sound like not getting fuel.Have changed main fuel line and bulb and filters and had all new plugs installed in it.I have run treatment for ethonal to with stabil and they went ahead and put fuel cleaner in tank and running now.They also said the ethonal is causeing a lot of problems with older motors.Have run for past couple weeks and still having some problems but not as bad.The next thing I might be looking at relpacing is fuel pump,another thing that could be causeing all these problems might be power pack also.The fuel pump and power pack in my motor is 15 years old.What I have found out and unsure about it is power pack are good for around 10 years,I am unsure on that.But good luck.

 

[mxr133]

I have a 2000 Johnson 150hp Pro Series.

Found the Problem ^

Call your nearest Mercury dealer to get this fixed!




lol jk

 

[billproxs]

Let us know

 

[retired-psg]

So whats going on with the Motor Jared??????

 

[Jared]

I called the other day and found out it needs a VRO pump so that is on order. They haven't checked the fuel lines yet. They really annoyed me when instead of calling me to explain what they found before starting the work, they just went ahead and started the work and ordered the parts. However I called them up and all is straightened out now and if they find anything else wrong they assured me they will call me before they do any more.

 

[Guest]

when my VRO pump went out not long after I bought my boat last year I just removed it and now mix my gas. Couldn't see spending $200 dollars on it and it works fine. Don;t know how not having a VRO pump would effect your motor though.

 

[Jared]

I read that on my year Johnson if the VRO pump goes, it can be circumvented by hooking up an electric fuel pump.

The VRO pump for my motor costs about 400 retail but I would rather have the most all OEM so it retains trade in value when I try to upgrade and trade it in fall/winter 2012.