2003 Mercury XR6 0T 666017

[xcoach]

Thought I would send this out in spite of the fact it will show my stupidity but would give me more trouble shooting ideas. I went to the lake a couple weeks ago and motor was missing when I got up to 4500 rpms. I installed new plugs and that didn’t help. Installed fuel pump diaphragm next. In my haste wanting to get to to lake that afternoon, I placed the larger spring and black cover against the back cover of the fuel pump instead of putting it inside of the gaskets. The motor cranked up and ran 1 minute and slowly died. I came home, bought a new kit and installed it correctly. Now my motor will not crank in the driveway on muffs. I have double and triple checked kill switch, battery breaker, motor fuses, and it’s in neutral. No burning smell as it died and no burnt wires. I am totally baffled. Any idea’s guys.

[SilverFox579]

Will your engine not turn over or is it turning over but won't start?

[xcoach]

Turning over fine, will not start.

[jrh_67]

What kit did you use to rebuild the pump? Aftermarket or OEM? I installed one of the aftermarket kits on mine and it ran like crap so I had to buy the factory mercury kit to fix it. If it's pumping at all I would think you could remove the fuel line from the carb and see gas squirt out while turning it over but I've never tried it. Is there gas in the filter between the pump and carb?

[xcoach]

Hard to believe I ruined stator, trigger, or voltage regulators installing diaphragm wrong, but guess I could have.

[xcoach]

It was aftermarket, all dealer had, 2nd OEM I installed ordered off <EDIT- SEE ANNOUNCEMENTS>.

[EuropeanAM]

Take a moment to review the Announcements- there are some sources we do not support here AT ALL.

You also have a number of PM's running with me as well, so let's just do it HERE. Please confirm that you have installed a NEW, OEM Mercury Kit, and exactly what part number that was.

Have you checked for SPARK at the SPARK PLUGS?

[xcoach]

Don, just sent a private message apologizing for all of those, won’t happen again. I installed OEM kit #857005A1. I just checked, I have spark and fuel is getting to the diaphragm. Should I bypass the battery breaker and see if that might be the problem, motor is turning over fine.

[EuropeanAM]

Shouldn't be a breaker on the engine battery cables. Perhaps on the accessories....

Check the spark plugs and see if they are WET. Clean and dry them, then re-try starting (without any further enrichment).

[xcoach]

I wiped the plugs today, checked to make sure fuel is coming out of the diaphragm and it was, rechecked spark, still won’t crank, giving up, waving the white flag. Thanks for all your help, appreciated as always.

[EuropeanAM]

Is it possible you have contaminated fuel? Unless something really strange is occurring, it only takes Compression (air), Spark and Fuel to make the "magic" happen.

[xcoach]

Guess I’ll put the flag back in my pocket and completely drain the tank. Will post after that step in the process.

[xcoach]

Ok Don, completely drained the tank and put 10 gallons of non ethanol gas in the tank( treated with quickkleen , care and stabilizer). I could not get the bulb to prime, took the water separator off and filled it with gas and still could not get it to prime ( new mercury primer bulb). I’m going to check all lines and instead of using zip ties on fuel pump lines, I am going to buy clamps and see if it will then prime. When it rains, it pours.

[EuropeanAM]

Don't use clamps on the gray Merc line or lines inside the cowling, as they can cause failure of plastic or composite components.

Disconnect the line at the engine, use your finger as a "check valve" and see if you can get it to prime up to that point. A "dry" primer bulb may require this type of assistance (also helpful to hold bulb with arrow pointing UP when pumping it).

[xcoach]

Here’s what it seems to be my daily check in with Don, I got the bulb primed tight yesterday and still turns over and has spark and should crank but doesn’t, so Don I guess it’s time to take it to Airport Marine, it just sounds like something is tripped somewhere but can’t figure it out. I will make a new thread when I know so my ordeal might help others. God is good, it’s just a boat. Happy Friday everyone!

[EuropeanAM]

How about updating in this thread, so it's "conclusion" is available (once you've got an answer from them).

[xcoach]

I will, thanks.

[xcoach]

Here’s an update, when out after work yesterday and checked to make sure I had fuel to the carbs, loosened the hose after the fuel filter and primer the bulb and fuel was present. Felt like motor should crank and after holding in enricher for 15 seconds then 5 after that repeatedly it cranked but would not stay running, choking down it seemed. I hated doing it this way because I did not want to ruin my starter. But by my indications are, something is causing it to choke. I don’t want to ruin anything so will still take it to a certified mechanic but at least it started even though it took forever. Obviously, no failure to any expensive electrical parts. I will post what mechanic determined to be what’s wrong.

[OldTimer57]

you can still have old fuel in powerhead fuel lines and carb bowls. I have seen this kind of problem (bad/stale fuel) on several engines. Neighbor's weed-eater which took me a couple of hours to clean up, only to figure out he had bad gas in his red gas can. My leaf blower failed to crank earlier this week. Fuel smelled bad, even though it was less than 2 months old and had stabil in it. Had to clean carb and lines as it would not crank even with fresh fuel.

[xcoach]

Thanks for letting me know that Robert. I am anxious to know what is wrong. The XR6 is pretty simplistic but I’m stumped.