350 CAT DTS Mercruiser Having Troubles Starting?

Anyone familiar with these newer engines? I've got about 10 hours on mine, and for some reason it seems to turn over a lot when I try to start it. We're using 91 octane in it, and recently had the oil changed, so we're not quite sure why it won't start immediately.

Not sure if elevation affects it, but we bought the boat at 1500 feet and use it at 900 feet.

Once it starts up, it runs perfectly. Just for some reason, it doesn't like firing up.

How long is a lot? 2sec,5sec,10sec? Newer injected 5.7's seem to have a short delay!

The engine tries for about 5 seconds or so, and then stops if it hasn't started yet. At one point I had to turn the key about 4 separate times, four 5 second attempts, before the engine picked up.

On our boat you have the option to turn the key counter clockwise, or clockwise (as if you're starting it again) to stop the engine. Counter clockwise kills the gps signal, clockwise just kills the engine but maintains the electronics and gps. The engine seems to have more trouble starting after being shut down with the latter method.

(Message edited by taft on July 22, 2009)

is it a sanger?

Ya v237