Tweet
I keep my 2003 SAN in the water all the time. Clearly I can't complain about this, but it does have downsides, one being the boat's electrical and fuel systems are near a plentiful source of moisture all the time. Of course I keep it covered, and during weeks like we're having now in New Hampshire where it's very tropical and raining on/off constantly, I have a full trailer-type cinch cover OVER the other cover, so it really does stay pretty dry inside the boat.
We used it last Friday and Saturday, and both times it ran great as it has since I got it about a year and nearly 200 hours ago. But last night, it ran like crap. It started fine, idled fine, but struggled under load. It didn't want to plane, and then sounded like it wasn't running on all cylinders. I had to give it much more throttle than usual. However, if you backed off the throttle, it would run more or less fine at lower RPM. You could even rev it in neutral and it would rev up OK, although I can't say for sure it was firing on all cylinders. It wasn't stumbling, though, in neutral.
I thought, Oh I'll check for loose plug wires just for kicks. But I couldn't, because I couldn't reach down there with the dividers next to the engine and with the exhaust being hot. And I couldn't check the distributor cap because I didn't have a torx bit on the boat. So, I gave up and covered the boat back at the dock.
When I go back, I'll also drain some fuel from the FCC to see if there's any water. And I'll look at the distributor cap, and check all the plug wires to be sure they're snug on both ends (I did check the cap end). What else should I have a look at? I am hoping there's either water in the fuel filter housing, or moisture in the distributor cap thanks to the horrendously wet weather we've been having for nearly a week.
Since I don't have service records with the boat, I may just do a cap/rotor anyway so I know when it's been done - that is, unless it looks perfect under there. If there's no water and no corrosion and it still runs like crap, maybe spark plugs, and wires, again just to establish a baseline; here's hoping it's simple.
Engine is the Excalibur with v-belts. Not that the belts matter, but just... it's one of those. Approximately 650 hours overall.
We used it last Friday and Saturday, and both times it ran great as it has since I got it about a year and nearly 200 hours ago. But last night, it ran like crap. It started fine, idled fine, but struggled under load. It didn't want to plane, and then sounded like it wasn't running on all cylinders. I had to give it much more throttle than usual. However, if you backed off the throttle, it would run more or less fine at lower RPM. You could even rev it in neutral and it would rev up OK, although I can't say for sure it was firing on all cylinders. It wasn't stumbling, though, in neutral.
I thought, Oh I'll check for loose plug wires just for kicks. But I couldn't, because I couldn't reach down there with the dividers next to the engine and with the exhaust being hot. And I couldn't check the distributor cap because I didn't have a torx bit on the boat. So, I gave up and covered the boat back at the dock.
When I go back, I'll also drain some fuel from the FCC to see if there's any water. And I'll look at the distributor cap, and check all the plug wires to be sure they're snug on both ends (I did check the cap end). What else should I have a look at? I am hoping there's either water in the fuel filter housing, or moisture in the distributor cap thanks to the horrendously wet weather we've been having for nearly a week.
Since I don't have service records with the boat, I may just do a cap/rotor anyway so I know when it's been done - that is, unless it looks perfect under there. If there's no water and no corrosion and it still runs like crap, maybe spark plugs, and wires, again just to establish a baseline; here's hoping it's simple.
Engine is the Excalibur with v-belts. Not that the belts matter, but just... it's one of those. Approximately 650 hours overall.
Comment