1988 23L misses at idle stalls if it gets below 800RPM

"This boat ran fine earlier in

"This boat ran fine earlier in the spring, but sat for a month. When I first put it back in the water it wouldn't start. It rolled over fine, but it didn't seem to be getting much spark. I put it back on the trailer and took it home. The first thing I did was put the charger on it for the night, because I'd run the battery down trying to start it. The next day, I put muffs on it and rolled it over and it started right up! Ever since then it won't idle properly and if I don't turn the idle up to around 1000RPM and leave it there, it's hard to restart out on the lake.
I checked and regapped the points, swapped condensers, dwell is at 39deg, can't check timing because I can't get it to run 600-650RPM. Choke is wide open and mixture seems OK. I changed the fuel filter and put in fresh gas. Also when running WOT I can hear a popping sound as if it's backfiring a bit back through the carb.
Any help would be greatly appreciated"

"well id like to give you some

"well id like to give you some imput but after working on other things for the past month im in the exact same situation, but the thing is... is that mine now has an electronic spark so maybe its another issue we are both having.... not sure.."

Did you change the water/ fuel

Did you change the water/ fuel seperator? If not you probably should. When you take the old one off pour it into a glass container and try try to determine if there is much water present.

try unplugging the ESA

try unplugging the ESA

"The ESA is working fine. When

"The ESA is working fine. When you activate it even at the higher idle, the idle drops noticeably. I already changed the filter/fuel water seperator canister and there was some water present. That's when I got rid of the fuel in the tank and put fresh in. I also added some methyl hydrate to absorb any left over moisture."

well not trying to high jack y

well not trying to high jack your thread but mine doesnt have a fuel water seperator should all of them have one i bought mine kinda in bits and peices and im not sure if the esa is working or not never really seemed as if it was working to be hones... im going to drain the gas first thin in the morning and run if of a bladder and the muffs... say john is yours making a popping / back firing type noise throught the carb casue mine is and at first it was a spark problem but it all seems to be sparking just fine... not sure how yours is sparking

[b]"Mixture seems okay&#34

"Mixture seems okay"

Can't see how you know this since it wont idle and the mixture screws only affect idle. I would probably start at the carb. Go through it and clean it good and check it for gunk / pluggage. You could first try removing the mixture screws and shooting some carb cleaner down the ports and blowing them out with air. Then reset them at 1-1/2 - 2 rounds open to start with. Get the thing to idle and then look at your timing.
You need to get that idle speed down. If you are shifting it at 1000 RPMs you are asking for much bigger problems.

"Thanx for all the info! I did

"Thanx for all the info! I did what you said and removed the mixture screws and used carb cleaner and air to clean the ports out. I got it to idle down to 650 and checked the timing, it was at 8BTDC. I set it to 10 and then fine tuned the mixture screws. It will now restart after sitting for 1/2 hour, but it still has a bit of a miss/shudder every once in awhile. Dwell is at the top limit 38deg., but I think it's probably still fuel related. I'll probably need to put a kit in the carb over the winter. I've already orderded the pertronix electronic ignition kit, so that will be done too, so I won't have any more points/condenser woes."