HELP!!! no power when in drive

[goodspirits]

I have a 1998 pre 2002 wt. In neutral the motor revs strong. no hesitation or anything. when in drive sometimes it runs perfect and other times it runs like crap. even at full throttle it wont go over 2500 RPM or 20mph. it doesnt sputter or anything. just no power.

any ideas???

its memorial day weekend and i want to be on the water!

thanks,
Matthew

[TeamAllen]

How old is the fuel in the tank?

[goodspirits]

Well, it was 2 years old. I sucked out what I could. Added heat to the rest. And put on a new fuel filter. Then filled the tank with 93 octane and seafoam additive. Revs fine in neutral it no power in drive.

You think it's just a fuel issue? What else shoul I do?

[chpthril]

The old fuel more then likely has crystallized in the fuel rail and injectors (or carb). Enough fuel passes to start the engine and rev with no load, but not enough to rev under load. If this is the case, no amount of additive will help. In the future, stick with the 87 oct, the 93 is a waste of money.

[goodspirits]

So how do fix it?

Replace rubber hoses?

What about the rail?

What about the carb?

Thanks

[TeamAllen]

I don't have the answer to those questions, but I would imagine you might need your carb rebuilt. Only fuel injection motors would have a fuel rail.

Just out of curiosity, did you have any fuel stabilizer in the fuel that sat for 2 years?

[goodspirits]

Just got the boat Tuesday. No idea on fuel stabalizer. I doubt it.

The carb looks nasty. I sprayed carb cleaner down the card. Every time I would do that the motor would load up and almost die.

I ran it for a while yesterday. It's hard to start. Idles like ****. Once it's going sometimes it's great and sometimes it will barely move.

Everyone in agreement this is a fuel / carb issue?

TIA

Matthew

[chpthril]

Just got the boat Tuesday. No idea on fuel stabalizer. I doubt it.

The carb looks nasty. I sprayed carb cleaner down the card. Every time I would do that the motor would load up and almost die.

I ran it for a while yesterday. It's hard to start. Idles like ****. Once it's going sometimes it's great and sometimes it will barely move.

Everyone in agreement this is a fuel / carb issue?

TIA

Matthew

Unfortunately, what you can see in and around the carb is little to no indication as to the condition inside the card that has to do with its performance. Outside of sticking choke linkage.

If the engine is carburated, you are more then likely looking at an overhaul do to the old fuel. If its fuel injected, you would be looking at replacing the injectors and flushing the fuel rail. An injector flow test would indicate this.

[goodspirits]

Overhaul?

As in carb rebuild I hope!

Not engine overhaul?

[chpthril]

Yes, carb rebuild.

[TeamAllen]

Where are you located? Maybe somebody could reccomend a place to rebuild your carb?

[goodspirits]

Hot Springs, AR

My neighbor had her kids over for the weekend. Her son in law is a mechanic. He came over when I was messing with the boat and started tearing the carb apart. Two hours later....the thing actually runs half way decently! The holeshot is pretty bad still but it's got good top end and running real smoothe. Burned through 3/4 tank yesterday. It's getting better as its run.

Thanks for all the help.

Matthew

[IDBoating]

I presume he just cleaned the carb parts that were there? Unlikely he magically had the proper parts for your carb sitting around.

The fact that his cleaning job improved things is a really great sign. But it's also a sign that the carb should be overhauled properly - which means (given its age) new jets, new needle and seat, etc. You can do this stuff yourself, or pay someone else to do it, but I bet there's all sorts of performance hiding in that engine, waiting for a clean carb to let it out.

Report back!

[Ruger761]

I agree. You need to get a rebuild kit for the carb to get full performance out of it. The accelerator pump in the carb makes a huge diff on your hole shot and old gas kills the rubber on them. Plus it seems like no matter how well you clean the jets and needles you cant get all the stuff out of them. Rebuild kits range $20-75 for the it plus labor

[goodspirits]

Yeah. He didn't rebuild it. Just pulled it apart and cleaned it. I burned through a tank of gas. Would have like to done more but the lake was too crazy this weekend.

I will rebuild it soon.

Thanks