Wont hold idle

"i just recently purchased thi

"i just recently purchased this boat that had been sitting in a driveway for the last 4 years.
the previous owner had given it a tune up prior to pulling it out of the water. he also tuned up the carburator prior to taking it out for a trial run on the water.

the boat started fine, we ran it on idle thru a no wake zone, and then took it up to full throttle and ran for a short while, then brought it back to the marina. all seemed fine.

i then took the boat out for a shakedown run a few days later. everything ran wonderfully until i was idling back into the slip. it would not idle...i could start the engine and run it at around 1200 rpms, any lower than that and it would sputter and die.
i managed to get it back into the slip without too much of a hassle, but this is the situation as it stands now.

the engine will start with the choke on.
i can run it thru a warm up procedure.
as soon as i drop the engine back to idle, it will try to hold 650/700 rpms, and after roughly 10-20 seconds it will drop to about 500 and then die altogether.

i have replaced the water fuel seperator, and after that, she ran fine for a short trip but then it was back to the same situation.

i am curious if anyone could point me in the right direction with this problem.

any help would be greatly appreciated
thanks in advance.
ray"

"carb probably isn't tuned

"carb probably isn't tuned right. I would also recommend getting rid of all that old fuel in there if you havn't already. Check and see if there is an inline fuel filter in there anywhere, change it if there is one. Not sure but the accelerator pump on the carb may be part of the problem. Someone else will have to comment on that. Check all of your elect connections like plug wires. It could be runnin on 3 cyl...never know. You can also check the fuel pressure to make sure the fuel pump is work properly. Its in the manual i think."

"Carb is flooding. Warm the m

"Carb is flooding. Warm the motor thoroughly and then turn the idle screws all the way in. If the motor stalls, the carb is okay. (Adjust for best idle.) But if it keeps running, rebuild the carb.

Jeff"

"If it wasn't run in 4 yea

"If it wasn't run in 4 years, and if fuel stabilizer wasn't used, the carb could be gummed up. If this is the case, spraying carb cleaner in the carb won't work. I had this problem with a truck with old gas. It ran good for about 100 miles and then it acted up. I cleaned the carb with gunk from the gallon and it ran good for another 100 miles and then gummed up again because the bad gas was still in the tank.
The gas breaks down and forms gum which is a brownish goo. It can be seen by taking the top off of your carburator and looking into the float bowl. The only thing which will get gum out of the carburator (gumout doesn't work!) is to remove the carb, disassemble it completely, removing all rubber parts, and soaking it in gunk carb cleaner that comes in a gallon can with a strainer basket. All your old gas has to come out of the tank or else it will just gum up again. Your whole fuel system has to be free of the old gas."

I’m having a problem similar

I’m having a problem similar to Ray. I’ve sent the carb out to be rebuilt and tomorrow I’m going to try and siphon the ¼ tank of fuel that’s left in it.
Is it a good idea to use Seafoam to break down any gum that may be left in the bottom of the tank…the fuel I wont be able to get out?
I don’t want to chance gumming up this carb when I get it back.

"I agree with Mike, get rid o

"I agree with Mike, get rid of all ( I mean all !!! the old gas ) It has been said and will continue to be said, our problems will continue if we don't use fresh gas."

"I agree with Mike, get rid o

"I agree with Mike, get rid of all ( I mean all !!! the old gas ) It has been said and will continue to be said, our problems will continue if we don't use fresh gas."