Mercury 115hp EFI 2014

by Mike
(Plantation Florida USA)

Fuel filter cut in half

I’ve been having problems with getting full power out on the water. I can run the engine for a short period using muffs at 4000rpm out of the water, no problem. The fuel lift pump was changed, spark plugs were changed, fuel tank was drained and cleaned. The water separator filter was replaced and the two inline plastic filters were replaced about a year ago. I was about to change the high pressure fuel pump and thought I’d just replace the inline filters one more time. When I took them out I thought I would cut them in half to see what condition they were in inside. The photos show that I found what can only be described as a large piece of plastic, loose inside both filters. I hope by replacing these filters it will resolve my issues.
Has anybody else experienced this problem? Could it have built up in the filters from particles from the fuel tank? Or is it a filter manufacturer defect?
Fingers crossed!!!