I bought the boat and engine last October. The electronics totally melted last November. I had a shop replace stator, power pack, regulator, wiring harness, etc. $1,600 bill. The mechanic told me he couldn't tell what shorted first, because of the extensive damage to the wiring. He also said, the timing was too far advanced, and had I kept running it, I would have blown it up.<br />He checked the compression, set the timing, and it ran fine after that.<br />Recently, the plugs have been fouling, very oily, intake box covered with oil. The plugs used to look ok, light brown.<br />I just replaced the VRO pump, fuel filter, priming bulb, all new hose clamps, drained the tank, drained the float bowls (no sign of water) added Johnson fuel stabilizer and de-carbonizing treatments, added 40 gallons of mid-grade Chevron gas.<br />Runs like crap on the muffs/hose.<br />New Champion QL77JC4 keeps oil fouling. Cleaned them several times.<br />Will idle, popping some, no smoke. Rev it up, some smoke, not bad, but missing.<br />At slight throttle opening, say 1/16 to 1/8 open, engine starts bogging and dies. Fast throttle wide opening, chokes and dies.<br /><br />1st question: Does it die because it's not under load, or because the residual oil is being drawn up into the combustion chamber from the crankcase?<br /><br />2nd question: The manual states the "standard" recommended plug is QL78YC. The "alternate" is the QL77JC4. How much hotter is the QL78YC?<br /><br />I usually run in the ocean, low to mid range speed. I am going to a lake at 5000' and plan on trolling. But, I do NOT want to melt the pistons.<br /><br />Can I run a hotter plug like the QL82YC?<br />Is there a hotter JC4 plug I should use instead?<br /><br />Should I just run the QL77JC4 and rev the **** out of it to clean it out?<br /><br />Should I run different plugs for high altitude/ocean/water skiing/trolling?<br /><br />I apologize for posting several questions, but they are all related to the plug choice.<br /><br />Thanks.
