boat will not idle
 

Hey guys, I am having some complications on the motor not wanting to idle. It will usually die on me or sound like it is running on about 2 cylinders. When the throttle is above idle it runs fine, but it just won't idle right.
Just a quick history, we discovered on the last trip out there was water in the fuel tank, I think Sam's gas was the culprit, but it could have been something else. I emptied out the water seperater and put some heet in and seemed to be better, but still not right. any suggestions, I think turning up the idle a bit would help, but I don't think it would solve the issue. The plugs are also new by the way. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Re: boat will not idle
 

If it is an AFB carb then the idle jets could be clogged

Re: boat will not idle
 

Did you get rid of the watery gas? Simply cleaning out the water separator will only provide temporary relief. If thats okay then your next step will be to dismantle & clean out the carb

Re: boat will not idle
 

not sure what kind of carb it is, other than the factory one in '96 on a 4.3 lx, I have been running it and checking the water seperator. We ran all day yesterday and all that was in the seperator was a small drop, rather than a filter full of water. I have ran some heet in it and a little sea foam. But what is wierd now is if you hold the butterfly just right on the carb, the thing will idle perfect, but as soon as it opens up, even at operating temperature, it will die. We have idled it up a little bit but still not helping.

Re: boat will not idle
 

when you dumped out the fuel filter was there rust and trash..if so pull carb off and clean all passages.trash in carb,water brings dirt faster than gas.

Re: boat will not idle
 

i agree, i just had a similar problem with my boat, was reluctant to pull the carb but in the end thats all that would fix it. and wow am i glad i did it was full of gunk it was definately time to clean it out.

Re: boat will not idle
 

I think its the carb, I deferred this repair to a mechanic. We tried everything we knew, but the idle jets seem to be the common answer, and I just don't like tearing into carbs. There has been some trash in the fuel though, I don't know really if there is anything I can do to prevent it though. Should I put an additional inline filter on it? or does the one on the front of the block that is right before the carb needing changed

Re: boat will not idle
 

I have a 95 4.3lx I assume your carb is probably the same as mine if they are original. They are really not complicated if you are carefull when dismantiling, but its money well spent if "rebuilding" carbs isnt your thing. the only filters on mine is the one built into the fuel pump and there are two screens inside the carb (4 barrel), leading to each bowl. one of mine was completely blocked and the fuel in that bowl was just down right nasty. after a good cleaning she fired right up and idled smooth as ever.

if you do decide on doing it yourself be careful of the springs and there is one ball bearing used in the priming jets that i almost lost when i turned the carb over, i didnt realize it was in there. luckily from experiance i always work over a tupperware bin when i am working on assemblies unknown to me. many hours have been spent hunting little parts that took a trip down to the garage floor never to be seen again.

good luck!

Re: boat will not idle
 

Been there done that, its real fun when you look for things and give up, then find them in the collector of your headers on your truck a few weeks later.
My carb is a 2 barrel, I didn't realize they put a 4 barrel on a v6. We checked the screen where the fuel line runs into the carb, but they are thinking it is the idle jets. There has been a lot of trash in the fuel. It amazes me how it got in there.

Re: boat will not idle
 

ya you wouldn't think it could with the filters and small openings the gas has to travel through. but it certainly finds its way, not to mention the varnish from sitting. I had alot of "jelly" in mine which i contribute to ethonol, i need to make sure i use the fuel stabillizer to prolong cleanings.

i thought the lx version of the 4.3 came with the 4 barrel i guess not.

Re: boat will not idle
 

good news! The carb was cleaned out and runs like a top. I was told to use the "HEET" in the red bottle, not the white bottle. It is suppose to be better than the regular. We are going to pull the tube with it this weekend and test her out.

Re: boat will not idle
 

awesome glad to her you got it worked out, have fun!

Re: boat will not idle
 

did you have to clean out your gas tank as well? I keep losing fuel pumps, right now I am thinking contaminated gas is the culprit but I havent started the task of emptying and cleaning the tank yet.

Re: boat will not idle
 

really and truely, I am not sure how I would go about it. I thought I might try, but you can drain that tank but the trash will still be in there. And since you would have to go in thru the filler neck you can't really wipe it out. I did consider getting an in-line fuel filter between the tank and fuel pump to try to catch trash. On the water situation I am just going to keep running heet thru it and checking that seperator, there wasn't any water in it from running it the hole day memorial day weekend, so I would think there can't be much left, but as that tank gets a little more empty the more water comes thru.

Re: boat will not idle
 

thats exactly the reason I havent cleaned mine out yet, best point of access into the tank is through the sending unit hole but thats not very big. I just cant afford to keep replacing fuel pumps everytime i want to use the boat :shakehead: so i need to figure out who or what the culprit is.

Re: boat will not idle
 

i could be wrong, but I wouldn't think the gas would be the culprit. Are you by chance putting re-manned automotive pumps on it? If it is mechanical, it is hard to believe you are going thru them so quickly, they are usually very reliable. How are you testing them to see if they are pumping?

Re: boat will not idle
 

sorry i dont mean to hijack your post especially that it ended in good news for you and I tarnished it lol.

I replaced with OEM fuel pump and it is an electric inline fuel pump. here is the link to my thread, it explains a little more.

http://www.mariahownersclub.com/foru...-help-pls.html

Re: boat will not idle
 

this might sound stupid, but did you check the fuse to whatever circuit you have it tied to for power. It is odd that it just all of a sudden quit like that, also I wonder if something happened to where it would not cut off after the boat was not running and burned up the pump motor. I honestly hate electric fuel pumps, as far as a vehicle goes, just for the noise and the wiring, but newer motors have to have them. I had one on my 72 chevy truck when I bought and it sounded like there was a lawnmower following me. Not to get off subject, but I wonder if it was the wiring for bypassing the shut off switch.

Re: boat will not idle
 

these pumps are actually pretty quiet but no it was not running after boating, I turn off the batteries when leaving the launch ramp. The very first thing i did was bypass the pressure switch, then look for a fuse, neither of which was the problem. To eliminate any faults of the boat wiring I then removed the fuel pump and connected it directly to a 12v source, and it will not pump at all, if you hold it in your hand you feel it try to engage but doesnt.

Re: boat will not idle
 

??? I really don't know on this one. Wish I could help more.

Re: boat will not idle
 

This spring I had a problem with my 18' shabah. Was winterized last fall put seafoam in a full tank of premium gas, was told all I had to do was put it in the water and start it up. So thats what I did ran for a minute and died, 15 minutes later finally got it running, ran it for a hour went home happy. Next time out started the boat at the dock ran it for couple minutes pulled away going through harbor boat stalled could not get it running had to get a tow. Called mechanic told me to pour a half bottle of mercury quickkleen in the gas shack the piss out of it and start it up. (with water muffs on outdrive), and run for 15 minutes. Did this and have not had a problem since. Was told the quickkleen removes water and cleanes carberator.

Re: boat will not idle
 

Hello
Just had the same problem, 55 gal of mid grade with water in it, I put in 2 bottles of heat, it started running better, (not great) it wont reach top speed and wont idle, I put it on the hose and ran it out of the water, I had to pick up the throttle just to get it to idle. I put in 2 bottles of octane booster, and after a few minutes, it smoothed out and now will idle.
I'm going to run it on the water and run that gas out.
thanks