Hi all,

I have a 1989 Carver 3207 Aft cabin with twin gas 350 Merc's. I thought I'd share some knowledge about my experience with a flaky running engine. My starboard engine sometimes would cut out and simply not start again. The problem is, the key would never allow me to crank the engine right away... I was forced to wait a certain amount of time and then I could crank her up again. It normally happened during low idle maneuvering, which isn't the best time to have an engine cut out.

The engine would also never repeat the problem while I had the engine room opened up. So, I thought it was temperature related and I installed a fan to bring fresh air into the engine room. Anyway, while I was playing around with the engine this week the problem happened while the engine room was opened. After cussing to myself, I finally rule out a temperature problem.

I then jumped online and looked at various causes for this problem. I found people were looking at fuel lines, filters, water separators, key switches, distributor caps, resistors, and a whole bunch of other ideas. After checking these things, I replaced the key switch without success. I then started looking at the engine electronics and discovered something funny. The previous owner had gone through the starter solenoid pack at the front of the engine. He covered it in some kind of black electrical paint. But, during his project it looks like he did not replace any of the components. After looking closely, I discovered the main engine circuit breaker was halfway disconnected from the mount. This led me to believe that he had possibly seen this problem in the past.

After seeing this little "project" of his, I decided to head down to my Mercury dealer and pick up a new starter solenoid and 50A circuit breaker. While I was discussing the problem with the dealer, he told me that he sees these circuit breakers die around this age. I explained the problem and he agreed that replacing both parts is a good idea.

In conclusion, I installed the circuit breaker and starter solenoid and my problems have gone away. So, if you're looking to replace some engine electronics (and your boat is of the same age), I highly recommend taking a look at picking up these components as well. This was a $150 job and took a few hours. I'm planning to do it to the port engine when I get a little more free time. Hope this helps some of you!

Mike