TOPIC: Motor cutting out......Merc 50hp...

Yesterday took boat out what a nice day.....
The lake was packed and well had some pretty good waves from the wind and the boats....anyway...
After shoring the boats and taking off again...while at WOT i hit a wave and the motor started to cut out...i backed off the throttle and it ran fine..it kept doing this the rest of the day....it wouldn't die completly once i backed out of it; it was fine....

Wondering what I should be looking at if anything...

Tank was full (little over 1/2) when this started to happen
recently installed water/fuel seperator
Installed inline filer too...(this was leaking a bit when above started too)....
Installed power trim unit..
Carbs rebuilt last year

if your filter was leaking gas it leaks air as well , cutting out as you give it gas is a symptom of an air leak and the pump cant draw the required fuel, it draws air instead

since you have been installing filters in the system I would start there

you may also want to make certain the fuel pump is able to draw fuel thru these 2 filters you just installed & in fact pump enough fuel to the carbs, the pump diaphram may need a rebuild/replacement if its gotten old and weaker and now needing to draw thru the 2 new filters

will look into...
was thinking the same thing...just ironic that it cut out when hitting the waves...will investigate & report...

Matt, what brand water separator did you install? One of the other members here had problems with a Moeller brand ff/ws, they may have had a bad run/batch of units get past their quality control dept. Most brands have a filter within, just wondering why you would run two filters. Asking an outboard's fuel pump to pull through one unit is plenty, IMHO. Two (even when sealed properly) may be too much restriction for even a good fuel pump to handle.

I believe it is a moeller....got it @ Gander Mnt.

I wanted the FF/WS setup because I have an interally mounted tank.
Whis was recommended on a few different forums I look through.

There was already an inline filter before my primer bulb i went ahead and changed out that filter at the same time installing the the other....after doing so thought i could probably eliminate that one (inline) and just have installed a new fuel line...but left it alone.....

changed the end of my fuel filter (wrong size) and tightened everything up....
A week in Chetek, Wi......ran great.........

Good deal Matt, glad to hear you got it worked out!

OK I'm wondering if I haven't got a similar problem- My '67 50 hp will run good at WOT. Then, when I throttle down to the slowest speed, it will stall out. It's really warm here right now and I'm wondering if that &%$#@ ethanol isn't boiling. I don't have an inline filter for separating out water. Just have whatever is on the engine. What should I put on there and if you have any suggestions on that stalling I'd appreciate it.

Thanks

mine would cut out WOT backing it off to go through a wave the back to WOT at that point it wold hicup until I let off the throttle...

I installed the Seperator due to my internal tank...there was alreadt a filter on the in line so I put a new clear one so I can make sure i was getting fuel to the motor (easily)....i installed the wrong ends (dumb@ss)....i just got back from Chetek, Wi...ran like a sewing machine..i had it several times in rough water and no cut outs..

if you have an internal tank...i would recomend a the FF/WS set up for sure....that crap ethanol asborb moisture (water) which then resides in yur fuel....I always use stabil or Sea Foam with every fill up...

I alway use Stabil too. What filter brand and model would you rceommend?

I picked one up at gander mnt. Moeller...like $25 for filter,housing and barbed hose fittings...just like an oil filter you need to use a little oil on gasket to make seal if you don't it could leak...did you try just changing the inline filter?....if it is getting clogged at lower RPMs it may not pulling enough fuel through...just 2cents....

I priced one out a my Marina was going to be like $50 for everything...if you don't have Gander you can order through Overtons.com

Just as an aside, your motor should already have TWO fuel filters inside it - one on each carb. Adding yet another filter inline is putting more stress on the fuel pump(s). There should be either a sintered or screen/mesh filter on each carb (not sure what style as you didn't note the year of your motor). They'll either be on top of the carb (if running earlier Tillotson carbs) or on the side (if running MerCarbs).

then I shouldn't have no worry about dirt getting into my carbs then....lol

thankx