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Stranded in the middle of the lake.


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Yesterday my Business partner was drivin my boat pretty freakin' hard (you should of seen the look on my face as he almost burried the windshield into the water with very little directdrive boat driving experience) he then came out of a hard turn and killed the engine..... we sat enjoying the sunset for about 10 minutes and he went to start the boat.... 1 attempt to turn over then it just did nothing....almost seemed like the battery was dead.... Engine wasn't hot, bilge was empty, and we were stuck in the middle of the lake with 1 canoe paddle....wasnt going to get us too far. Mercruiser 350mag EFI btw...

we waited another 15, no dice, another 10, no dice..... finally i push him out of the way choke back twice on the throttle like the 89 mastercraft with a carb that i used to drive, waited a minute, turned the key....it sputtered but then roared back to life...... When my boat vaporlocks usually it will start but then immediately stall again until its had its 5 minutes to relax and cool off....

What did my business partner do to my boat? will it start today when i go try? I've never had any reason to suspect the battery on this boat yet, so i dont think its that....

Any help would be apreciated.

-Mark

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I don't believe EFI vapor-locks... the fuel circulates under pressure, and it would clear itself when you turn the key.

Not sure what the issue was - maybe you can describe what it was doing when you were trying to start it. You said it sounded like the battery was dead (ie hard to crank) What makes you think the battery isn't dying?

How did you identify the engine wasn't hot? If you drive it hard, and then immediatly shut it down - it could very well have been very hot, since there isn't any cooling going on. Not sure where the temp sensor is on that engine, but there is a chance, that it isn't very accurate without the engine running, and water circulating past the sensor. So the engine could have been really hot (hence the difficult to start)

Those are my two guesses

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Are you sure he had it in neutral?

This sounds like the most probable. Especially when you said that you "choke back twice on the throttle like the 89 mastercraft with a carb that i used to drive". This would indicate that you moved the throttle forward a couple times to "prime" the carb. Then you put it into neutral to start it, and it started right up.

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Did you check the oil? One of the members on this board that shall remain nameless (no, it wasn't me) had a similar thing happen only they couldn't get it started. Turned out to be hydrolock.

Like I'm the only guy on the planet that's gotten hydrolock - SHEEEESH!!!!

:lol:

It wouldn't be that, if there was water in the engine it wouldn't crank, period. Not until you cracked it open and emptied the cylinders.

I agree about it being in neutral - at least from your description. It wouldn't start, wouldn't start, then when you messed with the throttle and put it 'back' in neutral it started.

Also could be a loose safety lanyard - did they even have those on your model? ? ?

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Also could be a loose safety lanyard - did they even have those on your model? ? ?

i even forget that we have one sometimes...its moved so out of the way and the lanyard tucked up with all the wires and cables

-krak

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Also could be a loose safety lanyard - did they even have those on your model? ? ?

i even forget that we have one sometimes...its moved so out of the way and the lanyard tucked up with all the wires and cables

-krak

You mean when you're not driving.. righ? I'm assuming you've got it out, and connected while under way Yes.gif

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No, it was in Neutral the whole time... i was very sure of that, when its not in Neutral it doesn't crank at all...this was a "vvvvvrrrrrr" then nothing where u would expect the 1st plug to fire and the engine to turn over.

I was out all day on it today with not a single problem.... isolated incident from running it hard then shutting it off? I dont think its the battery because i sat in the bay today listening to tunes and getting sun for probably 3 hours with the engine off and the sterreo on and it started right up with no hesitation after.

-Mark

believe me tho....making sure it was in neutral was my 1st check..... i even locked the little colar on it so it wouldnt move out of neutral without releasing the colar.....and my boat does not have a safety lanyard....at least not that ive seen. lol.

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