2003 Mercury outboard 115

[Bencarpenter112]

Went offshore today for a bit and managed to find my buddy stalking me at the reef on a hook and line later. Was a great day untilllll we were coming back in and the motor died spontaneously. Than woul crank and run WOT while pumping the primer bulb. Thinking this is a fuel pump issue? confirmation or thoughts?

[boatnamesue]

Fuel pump or fuel line restriction.  Was the primer bulb normal or collapsed when engine died?

[fitz73222]

 

Went offshore today for a bit and managed to find my buddy stalking me at the reef on a hook and line later. Was a great day untilllll we were coming back in and the motor died spontaneously. Than woul crank and run WOT while pumping the primer bulb. Thinking this is a fuel pump issue? confirmation or thoughts?

So the engine would not run below WOT while pumping the bulb? Does not make sense as fuel restriction since the highest demand is at full throttle. So I'm thinking it is something else but more description may help.

[Bencarpenter112]

Fitz the motor was running fine at low or high rpm when pumping the primer bulb which is why my thought is the fuel pump itself. even when we elevated the line without pumping the ball i could get the rpms up for a bit before it died. Also everytime it would die the ball was empty.

[fitz73222]

Sounds like clogged water separator, plugged tank vent or sticking anti-siphon valve if so equipped. To validate the fuel pump, try running on a separate 6 gallon tank to see if it still starves for fuel. The fuel pump rebuild kit is cheap <$50 and easy to do. Marineengine.com is where I shop for my Merc parts.

[Bencarpenter112]

checked the fuel water seperator and that was fine. checked all the fuel lines up in the motor and found a pinhole leak so replaced that and rebuilt the fuel pump with the kit. Ill let ya know how she runs tommorow. Thanks for the help