Just bought a boat, not it's broke!

[Kuneha]

Hello there,

I have recently purchased a 1999 Regal Commodore 242 with the 5.0 Mercruiser V8 EFI. (340 hours)

I'm new to boats and I am still trying to remember my starboard to my port, so forgive my ignorance.

Once the boat was launched in to the Marina of my choosing, I started having engine problems. I would turn the key and the engine would fire and idle and then cut after 3-4 seconds. It does this religiously after this amount of time, over and over again.

So I applied a bit of throttle before starting and the engine sort of struggles then it revs up and it'll sit at idle indefinitely. I'm not sure why revving it initially seems to fix the cutting out for a short time. When it does cut out, it doesn't sort of stutter, it just simply dies. The engine also dies when putting in either Reverse or Forward.

I consulted the Marina's Marine Engineers and they advised that a service and new ignition coil is all that is needed to cure these ailments. He mentioned the shift cables were fine. Well.. after £350 the problem still exists. It doesn't die when putting in reverse or forward now (I don't think, I'm too afraid to even move the boat now) but the cutting out still happens.

What are your thoughts?

 

[rob2]

I wonder, do you have a manual for the engine? What you are describing sounds like the tickover revs are a little too low. It's not unusual for an engine to need to warm up at a fast idle before use, in fact my Honda car does this for itself on the engine management system (no, it's not me revving it up - honest). Older cars had te choke cable set to increase the idle speed first and then start to close the choke. It's a fine line between too fast to engage gear and too slow to overcome the drag of the cold, thick oil - all whilst the cold engine is running at less than optimum efficiency. That raises another issue - is the engine oil of the correct grade for the ambient conditions? If it's too heavy, it could mean that a thorough warm up is essential before the engine can idle. The manual should give starting procedures for both cold and hot engines, plus suggested warm up times.

These are, of course, just general thought as most of us on this forum have sailboats, so are more familiar with small diesels and their peculiar annoying traits. You might try the Mobo forum as there will doubtless be more folk there with direct experience of such larger engines.

Rob.

 

[Spyro]

You may find there is a procedure you need to do with the throttle before starting to set the automatic choke. Not doing it properly may be the problem.

 

[mlines]

Its a EFI engine so it should "just work" - no chokes etc. Therefore it is a sensor telling the electronics some false information (ie. intake temp sensor) or its something defeating the electronics (ie. injectors)

Try on the Regal Owners Forum - http://www.regalownersforum.com/forum/index.php

And why do marine engineers seem to always offer "try replacing this" style solutions? I know of many occasions where they have just gone through the boat replacing items (at your expense) until the fault goes away rather than any proper targeted fault finding and "guaranteed" fixes.

 

[William_H]

Its a EFI engine so it should "just work" - no chokes etc. Therefore it is a sensor telling the electronics some false information (ie. intake temp sensor) or its something defeating the electronics (ie. injectors)

Well that is the question. I hope the OP knows the difference between EFI and carburettor engine. We had an old Rescue boat with a Mercruiser 140 (4cyl) and despite having a new engine fitted well into the car EFI era the new one had the same old carburettor. The engine(s) always acted the same way as OP described. A terrible thing to start when cold. The trick was to exercise the throttle from neutral to full throttle about 5 times. This opened the auto choke and pumped fuel in via the throttle pump. Then start with about half throttle. Then wait for it to warm up.
If indeed the engine is EFI then it has a problem. I would look at fuel pump (in the tank in cars) Fuel filters. It sounds like a shortage of fuel. good luck olewill