Idle problem on '92 Sport Nautique

[rshrews]

Made the first trip of the new season today and had a bit of a problem at idle. There are no issues when given some throttle but the idle is very rough and after 5 to 15 seconds the engine would cut off. As the day went on it became more difficult to start the boat at idle and i was forced to give a little more throttle than usual. The idle would be better if I went to idle after crusing at very low throttle and progressively worse the more throttle that was used previous to the idle.

I am not very mechanical but if anyone had any ideas as to the issue or something that I can check out to come up with some diagnosis I would appreciate it. I have a buddy that works on sterndrives so if I can get him pointed in the right direction we may get it figured out.

[SuperSquirt]

RE: Idle problem on

I assume you have a Holley carburetor, not EFI? If so, you can adjust the idle to make it run higher rpms when in neutral. I had to do this with my 96 Ski Nautique, which is super easy to do and all you need is a flathead screwdriver. I bumped mine up to around 750 rpms at idle. I don't have any pics to show you, but google it and you'll see where the adjustment screw is. Hope this helps

[JUST-IN-TIME]

RE: Idle problem on

i would rebuild the carb first

[tapenick]

RE: Idle problem on

So it was fine at the end of the year last year? Did you winterize properly - fog the carb, add fuel stabilizer, fill up the tank, run a little to get some stabilizer in the carb? (not necessarily in that order)

[rshrews]

Thanks for the help guys.

Made the adjustment to the idle speed up to about 750 rpms and it completely resolved the problem.

Still not running perfectly yet though.

Under heavy throttle with a heavy load the engine will still not give full power on command consistently. The engine doesn't miss or stall but it feels like its not getting enough fuel fast enough and won't quite accelerate as it should.

I havent changed the fuel filter this year so i am going to do that. But I also think I need to adjust the fuel/air mix on the carb.

Am I correct in assuming all I need to do is loosen the screws on each side to richen the mix?

[tapenick]

Yep, counter-clockwise richens the mix. Sounds like you might want to check the timing too....