Water in Gas?

[Waynes345]

My '99 Outback has run great all summer. Towed it to a different lake and filled up on the way. When we hit the lake, the engine was running lousy, hesitating on acceleration, gagging when trying to hold speed, missing, etc. I pulled out the water seperating filter which looked shot (bad seal and rusting). Found the last one in town and replaced it. Ran OK for a while and then started hesitating on starts and you can hear the gaps in the engine tone at speed. I emptied it and reinstalled with the same result. I added Sea Foam and Heet to the tank over the weekend as well. Anything else I should look for? Thanks.

[AaronWhitt82]

My '99 Outback has run great all summer. Towed it to a different lake and filled up on the way. When we hit the lake, the engine was running lousy, hesitating on acceleration, gagging when trying to hold speed, missing, etc. I pulled out the water seperating filter which looked shot (bad seal and rusting). Found the last one in town and replaced it. Ran OK for a while and then started hesitating on starts and you can hear the gaps in the engine tone at speed. I emptied it and reinstalled with the same result. I added Sea Foam and Heet to the tank over the weekend as well. Anything else I should look for? Thanks.




Hey I have the same exact boat as you do and live about a hour southwest of Naperville....
Anyways I've had my boat about a month and it has 140 hours on it. I experienced the same problem as you over the Holiday weekend.
I also switched out my fuel filter thinking it was the gas then I dumped a few bottles of heet and gas treatment in the tank then filled it with 93 V-Power from Shell.
After looking closely to the carb when mine was running I found out the choke was staying closed which made the motor flood. After I got that problem resolved I took it back on the water, but still had problems under full throttle the motor would miss and backfire and spit.
Well today I took out the spark plugs (AC MR43T) which I then found out after calling the dealer were the wrong ones. I replaced them with NGK TR5's. I am heading out here soon to see if she runs any better.
I would say if it's not your gas then maybe the carb or the plugs or possibly something else.
Hope I shot ya in the right direction!
Aaron