Squirt it with ether and see if it fires off. I'm betin your not geting fuel. I've had enough fuel in the bowls for the accelerator pump to work (see fuel squirting) but the jets won't pick up.

A 97 motor with a carb. You probably have an electric fuel pump feeding the carb?

In response to: "If there's enough water in the fuel tank to fill the separator then you're still skrewed. The rest goes right into the engine."

I believe the water-separating fuel filter will not let any fuel thru if it is full of water and the engine will starve of fuel. It doesn't start letting fuel thru if it is full of water...

The spin on filters from Merc/Quicksilver etc. are only good for their capacity of water. Once the bottom of the filter can is full of water or other liquid contaminent, anything remaining in the fuel tank will pass through. That's why they should be changed regularly.

They do not stop the flow of fuel or water at that point. A separator that is "overwelmed" is the same as not having one at all.

I contacted my local Mercruiser repair place and he also told me that once the fuel filter is full, they starve the engine of fuel. He told me he just had a 24' boat in last week which would not run at all, the filter was completely full with water, replaced the fuel filter and everytime ran fine. So now I confused as to which theory is correct...

I would not believe the merc guy !!!!SD FEVER IS CORRECT !!!!! But u still need to change them . AND DO NOT USE ETHER OR STARTING FLUID !!!!!!

ITS NOT A DIESEL TRACKTOR !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:eek:

Change the filter regardless. They get very hard to "suck" through when they are full, but if you have a fuel pump ahead of the filter it can push rite through it.

Don't listen to others entirely. Put your old filter in a vise just well enough to hold it.

Take a hammer and sharp chisel and carefully carve off the bottom of the can.

Take a look at that and ask yourself "what magic would stall the engine after it's full of water"?

Answer - There is no magic. It's just a dumb device that is for basic protection.

Now if there were an actual water sensor that was linked to a computer/ecm or a dash mounted indicator of some sort then you would know for sure. However, even the water sensors on the expensive Durmax engines is still a piece of crap. It does NOT work all the time and it is linked to ecm and dashboard indicators. The cheapest and best way is to change if often or keep using it and buy engines.

Sorry, there is no "starve" capability in a spin on filter for 8 bucks.

Thanks for the info. Another lesson learned...

Hey that goes for me too. I've been wrong and it's a good idea to ask many like you have. it's also good to be able to form your own opinion.

Thanks again everyone!! Got the boat running yesterday!!!!!! Changed the filter and surprise surprise, water droplets float in it. Put in a couple bottles of K100 in the tank, a quick shot of starting fluid and started right up. Stalled a few times but eventual ran pretty smooth. I put 15 gallons of 93 in it and ran almost all of it out yesterday. Changed plugs today, and plan on going out tomorrow afternoon. Again, thank you all for your input!!