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Engine Stalling Issue - Merc Laser 220 XRI

Wildman78

Wildman78

Active member
OK...so you all know I took the new to me boat out yesterday for the 1st time. Well I dropped it in the water and she fired up 1st time great. Let her warm up a little and headed out. From my launch its about a 8-10 minute 5mph zone till you hit the lake. I idled out to lake fine and she ran good. From there i cruised around the lake for about an hour with no issues still running great. I then stopped at a popular spot on the lake to hang out and take some pics etc. I let here idle for about a min and then shut her off. we sat there for about 20 minutes, took pics and listened to radio. When we went to leave this is what I got while starting it and putting in gear.

I have 3 video clips of it starting right up and going into gear and stalling right out. Tried a quick rev to clear here out and that was a no go. Also tried to let here run at high idle for a min and still no go. What do you think is causing this?

Once i got her running in gear and we took off she ran amazing for about another hour cruising the lake at different speeds. once we hit that no wake zone again to load up for the day she was running awful at low speed. She didn't like it at all and rpms would fluctuate high and low and not stay steady. She just sounded like she didn't wanna run at all and had a noticeable shake to her.

http://youtu.be/uZXNgIHrnu8
 
Gosh, that sucks. I'm sure one of the O/B Merc guys will have some input. It kinda sounded like it might be starving for fuel in the video. If you get a chance you might look through the post gerritvaniperrin has titled "88 exciter". He was dealing with several fuel/ carb problems on an Evinrude. mainly from old fuel line break down. Just something to check out. hopefully it's just something simple. Good luck. Jim
 
mishawakajim said:
Gosh, that sucks. I'm sure one the O/B Merc guys will have some input. It kinda sounded like it might be starving for fuel in the video. If you get a chance you might look through the post gerritvaniperrin has titled "88 exciter". He was dealing with several fuel/ carb problems. mainly from old fuel line break down. Just something to check out. hopefully it's just something simple. Good luck. Jim
Click to expand...


I have a feeling its something simple myself. It runs to good everywhere else and starts right up. I would think if it was something major it would rear its ugly head elsewhere.
 
I would say start with a set of plugs. see if that doesn't smooth out the idle a little. sounds like it is misfiring
 
demag67 said:
I would say start with a set of plugs. see if that doesn't smooth out the idle a little. sounds like it is misfiring
Click to expand...

I have a video shot on my phone of when I went to pick it up and we ran on hose. I think you can hear it miss a few times in the video. I'll post it up later so you can check it out. Could be just plugs.
 
Depending on how long the boat sat it could be fuel related also. For the price of plugs I would start there.
 
demag67 said:
Depending on how long the boat sat it could be fuel related also. For the price of plugs I would start there.
Click to expand...

Yep, very good suggestion. As inexpensive and easy as spark plugs are to change, that's a good place to start. The fuel system is a lot more involved and time consuming. So, with nice weather coming to an end in the near future, less time spent fixing means more time to play on the water. Jim
 
mishawakajim said:
Yep, very good suggestion. As inexpensive and easy as spark plugs are to change, that's a good place to start. The fuel system is a lot more involved and time consuming. So, with nice weather coming to an end in the near future, less time spent fixing means more time to play on the water. Jim
Click to expand...

I'm really hoping that's all it is. I'm dreading anything else being wrong. All that fuel injection and electronic stuff scares me lol. Especially since that laser engine is known for electronic issues.
 
It does sound a little bit off, these 220's have a sound all their own and sound great at idle, don't ask me why but if you trim it up a little bit when your idling around or parked it won't stall when you go to take off, mine did the exact same thing as yours since day one, trim it up to say the top of the trim but not into the tilt area and you should be good, it does sound like you have a plug down though possibly, mine would sometimes act like that too and just give it a good run and it would straighten out, I loved that motor, ran her every weekend for 5 years and she never let me down, only issue I had was a rectifier go.

Here's what it should sound like, mine the same motor as yours just different decals, notice my trim angle at idle.

http://youtu.be/gVHGVEXXA1w

Here's another vid kinda showing how I just trim it down on take off.

http://youtu.be/6hnFlOHm_eM
 
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I know on the older mercs you had to trim them up a little while idling because the exhaust ports were under water. On the newer motors they moved the upper exhaust port up some. To relieve back pressure and they said it was to stop them from fouling plugs while going thru long slow no wake zones.
 
john lamon said:
It does sound a little bit off, these 220's have a sound all their own and sound great at idle, don't ask me why but if you trim it up a little bit when your idling around or parked it won't stall when you go to take off, mine did the exact same thing as yours since day one, trim it up to say the top of the trim but not into the tilt area and you should be good, it does sound like you have a plug down though possibly, mine would sometimes act like that too and just give it a good run and it would straighten out, I loved that motor, ran her every weekend for 5 years and she never let me down, only issue I had was a rectifier go.

Here's what it should sound like, mine the same motor as yours just different decals, notice my trim angle at idle.

http://youtu.be/gVHGVEXXA1w

Here's another vid kinda showing how I just trim it down on take off.

http://youtu.be/6hnFlOHm_eM
Click to expand...

Your motor sounds good. You made an excellent point and that may be the issue. When I launched the boat and idled out of the no wake zone the 1st time the engine was not trimmed down all the way infact it was pretty high on the trim like just below the trailer setting where she slows way down on the trim. This is embarrassing but i forgot to trim her down so when i got outta that 5mph zone and went to take off all the boat would do was stand straight up in a wheelie. I proceeded to do this about 3 times then got scared and thought I forgot the plug which i triple checked hahaha. I then realized that I never trimmed down and was a long way from being fully down. Now when I went back threw that long 5mph zone at end of day i left engine trimmed down fully and that's when she was running like crap. Toward end of that zone when I got close to the docks I trimmed up a bunch and she seemed to clean up a bit. Next time I take her out ill try that trim thing and I bet that does the trick.

Now I just gotta figure out why she was stalling going into gear after the 20 minute sit. Wonder if it also had to do with being trimmed down.

Now here is the video we took of her running when I went to get her. I never noticed until now but she was popping a few times even then sitting and idling. If you watch the exhaust where the prop should be you can see it. Check it out and tell me what you think. Sounds good otherwise I think.
http://vid570.photobucket.com/albums/ss144/Wildman1988/Checkmate/EngineRun_zpsc4d594ae.mp4
 
May be a stupid question but did you hit the primer bulb after sitting? I seem to forget that and have a lot of trouble with restarts until I give her a few pumps then all is good.
 
oddly excitered said:
May be a stupid question but did you hit the primer bulb after sitting? I seem to forget that and have a lot of trouble with restarts until I give her a few pumps then all is good.
Click to expand...

I did not. I didnt think it was necessary. She had no problem starting right up it was the stalling as you went into gear.
 
I'm very curious to see how this gets resolved. My evinrude sounds very similar to the way yours was running. It pops a little like a mild backfire.
Good luck!
 
gerritvaniperen said:
I'm very curious to see how this gets resolved. My evinrude sounds very similar to the way yours was running. It pops a little like a mild backfire.
Good luck!
Click to expand...

I don't think its going to be resolved this year. I'm without a tow vehicle at the moment. Looks like it will have to wait till spring :-(
 
Start with the simple things like new plugs, new lift fuel pump diaphragms and new fuel filter. They are regular maintenance items that since they motor is new to you you will want to change anyway since you don't know when they last time was. Might solve the problem but it might not. If that doesn't solve the problem and you are going to try to fix it yourself you need to get a Merc service manual and go thru the troubleshooting steps. My best guess is a bad sensor, TPS, or the idle stabilizer. But there are other possibilities. A bad coil, bad switch box, bad injector etc. These are complicated motors and are run by numerous sensors that effect timing and fueling. The manual is great but these motors are a pain to troubleshoot.
 
Update

Ive had the boat out a few times this year so far and have not had an issue. I put new plugs in it and ran the old fuel threw it and some new fuel. If I idle around a little bit she will load up pretty quick i noticed. When I took her out of the water last weekend I did notice she is running pretty rich as noted by the soot on my boat. My temp gauge is not working and I would guess its the sender and not the gauge. I think this because of how easy the engine will load up for being fuel injected. I have a feeling my problem is its just running rich due to the computer thinking its cold all the time. But anyways just running it, good fuel and new plugs has it running fine. I just cannot idle around or she will foul the plugs. Gotta get the gauge/sender fixed and go from there.
 
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