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I recently discovered that my fuel gauge is not working after running out of gas on the water this past weekend . I know boat fuel gauges never work right, but mine seemed to work fine until this last weekend. Anyway, Sea Tow was able to fuel me up and send me on my way. Afterwards I was unable to get the motor past 3500 rpms. Typically will run around 5800-6000 wide open. After speaking with a few folks I'm being told that I may have gotten bad gas or there could be sediment that got pumped through the fuel line as I ran out of gas. Anyway I'm probably going to be taking the boat into Parkway Marine soon, but before I Bust Out Another Thousand , I was wondering if anyone else has been able to EASILY fix this issue before that would be willing to share their knowledge.

I have a 2004 115hp Yami four stroke. Also when the motor would get up to around 3500rpm it seemed to be making a rattling noise that I have never heard before. The motor will still start and I can idle around fine.

Could be fouled plugs. Same thing happened to me with my Etec (although no rattling noise) and that was the culprit. Cheap to test that. Good luck!

You probably sucked all the crap off the bottom of your fuel tank -- and like BeachRum said, it's fouling your plugs at the higher RPMs. Since it runs, i would put about three gallons of fuel in the tank and a couple of bottles of Sea Foam additive!! If the plugs have some run hours on them, replace them. Take it somewhere to run, and see if it will clear out the engine.
PS: Never use a marine gas gauge to determine how much gas you have when leaving the dock!

The fact that you ran out of fuel scares me RoRo. That sound that your motor is making scares me as well. Hopefully it is just what BeachRum1962 said, fouled plugs. However, I feel that you sucked up debris into the injectors. I had the same thing happen to my 150HP Yammy, and it turned out to be ethanol issues. Or so I was told.

Worst case scenario, sounds like a piston ring has broke loose and is being battered into the head by the piston..... I know what that sounds like..

Never leave the dock without checking your fuel tank (top it off). Use ethanol free fuel only, it is becoming more widely available.

Ro -

The bad gas issue can be eliminated by hooking your motor to a 6 gallon portable tank with fresh fuel in it. If it runs okay on the small tank, then you have found the problem.

- Steve Stinson

Thanks everyone for the advice, hope I can fix this issue without taking to much of a hit financially. MJ I hope your not right about the Piston ring... Steve really liked your suggestion seems like a simple way to test the fuel, Thanks again!