Hello all. I am a newbie to iboats. Found some great advice on this web site from other peoples posts. My problem description may be a bit wordy, but I guess more details may offer more clues to the source of the problem.
I have a 1995 23? Wellcraft Coastal with a Johnson 200 OceanPro with 350 hours. The power head was dealer rebuilt in 2006 due to failed piston, rings, and scored walls in two cylinders. The motor has worked pretty well for about two years until at the end of last season it started to ?cut out? at 2500 ? 3000 rpm when attempting to plane. This is what I mean by ?cutting out? ? the motor will sound fine until throttled up and it sounds as if the motor is being turned off and back on at four or five times a second. I throttle back as soon as I hear the motor cutting off and on. The problem is intermittent. I can often shutdown the motor, wait a minute, restart and not have a problem planing. However, the problem is becoming more frequent. I don?t run the motor hard. Cruising speed is ~20kts at 3800 RPM. Current compression checks at between 95 and 108 psi which is what the compression was (from memory) before the ?cutting out? problem began. The alarm does not sound when the motor cuts in and out. I replaced the alarm driver at the beginning of this season and confirmed operation with the temperature switch test as described in the Clymer?s manual. The alarm key test also works. I replaced the main fuel filter, (can?t reach the in-line bolder catcher just before the VRO), decarbed with Valvetec aerosol and replaced plugs with OEM Champions gapped to manual specs (.030). The Champs that were removed were pretty dark. The side electrodes were black with baked on carbon. I ran the boat a day after the decarb and chunks of carbon floated to the surface at while warming the motor in the water. The motor worked well at first and planed quickly. Ran up to 4500 RPM and all was well. Shutdown and restarted a few time with no problems. Then about a half hour into the test I attempted to plane and the motor cut off and on while trying to plane, again about five times a second. So i limped back at 6 kts and called it a day. At this point I am figuring the problem may be caused by a faulty coil, stator, power pack, or possible fuel flow ? but I am not getting fuel flow alarms. I do have the Clymer?s shop manual, but do not have any of the ?specialty? tools, such as meter attenuator, spark plug tester, etc. Could a cyl have less compression when warmed? Sound like an electrical problem coils, power pack, etc? Any ideas or advice of what to check?
I have a 1995 23? Wellcraft Coastal with a Johnson 200 OceanPro with 350 hours. The power head was dealer rebuilt in 2006 due to failed piston, rings, and scored walls in two cylinders. The motor has worked pretty well for about two years until at the end of last season it started to ?cut out? at 2500 ? 3000 rpm when attempting to plane. This is what I mean by ?cutting out? ? the motor will sound fine until throttled up and it sounds as if the motor is being turned off and back on at four or five times a second. I throttle back as soon as I hear the motor cutting off and on. The problem is intermittent. I can often shutdown the motor, wait a minute, restart and not have a problem planing. However, the problem is becoming more frequent. I don?t run the motor hard. Cruising speed is ~20kts at 3800 RPM. Current compression checks at between 95 and 108 psi which is what the compression was (from memory) before the ?cutting out? problem began. The alarm does not sound when the motor cuts in and out. I replaced the alarm driver at the beginning of this season and confirmed operation with the temperature switch test as described in the Clymer?s manual. The alarm key test also works. I replaced the main fuel filter, (can?t reach the in-line bolder catcher just before the VRO), decarbed with Valvetec aerosol and replaced plugs with OEM Champions gapped to manual specs (.030). The Champs that were removed were pretty dark. The side electrodes were black with baked on carbon. I ran the boat a day after the decarb and chunks of carbon floated to the surface at while warming the motor in the water. The motor worked well at first and planed quickly. Ran up to 4500 RPM and all was well. Shutdown and restarted a few time with no problems. Then about a half hour into the test I attempted to plane and the motor cut off and on while trying to plane, again about five times a second. So i limped back at 6 kts and called it a day. At this point I am figuring the problem may be caused by a faulty coil, stator, power pack, or possible fuel flow ? but I am not getting fuel flow alarms. I do have the Clymer?s shop manual, but do not have any of the ?specialty? tools, such as meter attenuator, spark plug tester, etc. Could a cyl have less compression when warmed? Sound like an electrical problem coils, power pack, etc? Any ideas or advice of what to check?
If your's is bad get the new digital replacement pack from CDI. I hear their awesome! You've got three dual coils so I doubt it's one of them. One bad would cause a stumble but not the turn off condition you explained. Intermitttant turn off to me indicates power pack, stator, optical sensor or wiring problem. With the foam finger most likely pointing to power pack. The others can be easily tested and eliminated.