AQ231A acts as if it is starving for fuel

[mybadford]

I have a 1990 Baretta phaser 230 OB. I took it for a short run last night after replacing the water separater and cleaning the fuel screen/filter. It did not run very good. The more I ran it the worse it got. About 3800 rpms was about as fast as I could get it to spin at first. while trying to gain more I could feel the engine surging. I could here it spitting and popping back up through the carberator. if I tried to accelerate hard from a low rpm it would spit and pop and stumble. The more I ran it the worse it got. After about 2 miles it wouldn't barely run 2000 rpms. Then wouldn't idle. This was the second ride I took it on since I have bought the boat. The first trip out with the boat it ran pretty good at first. It ran 4400 rpms but it ran that with the throttle pulled back slightly. If I opened it up completely it would slow down a little. It didn't stumble near as bad under a hard acceleration. The more I ran it the worse it accelerated but ran ok at a cruising speed of 3000rpms. When it idles it is very smooth. It ran smooth at the beginning of the first trip. Even now when it idles its smooth but eventually dies. In neutral it revs ok but if I just crack the throttle open it spits and pops and revs quickly. I'm looking for your guy's thoughts. Possible fuel pump failure, varnish in the carb, timing issues? The boat has 223 hours on it. It has a full tank of fresh fuel. While under way I thought maybe possibly the tank wasn't venting so I had a buddy crack open the fuel fill plug. No gain. Thanks in advance

 

[Don S]

Re: AQ231A acts as if it is starving for fuel

Hook up a remote fuel tank (outboard tank) directly to the fuel filter on the engine. Then make a test run and see if it does better.
This will isolate the boats fuel system from the engines fuel system.
Or, there is this test. http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?t=167561

 

[Scott Danforth]

Re: AQ231A acts as if it is starving for fuel

I would also look a the distributor cap and rotor. I has moisture in mine and it ran like you describe.

 

[mybadford]

Re: AQ231A acts as if it is starving for fuel

I did pull the distributor cap and it didn't look like it had any moisture under it but I went ahead and wiped it out anyway. I put it in the water for a second it did the same thing under a load. It did however rev quick in neutral. No spitting and hesitation. I only had a couple minutes to mess with it. Hopefully by the weekend I will have more time to mess with it. I'm also wondering it the advance is working.

 

[mybadford]

Re: AQ231A acts as if it is starving for fuel

I pulled the fuel lines from everything and tried blowing back through the hose that is hooked to fuel tank pickup. Couldn't hardly blow through it. I could here a little bubbles but that was it. Is there normally a check ball of any kind of one way valving in the pickup inside the tank??

 

[mybadford]

Re: AQ231A acts as if it is starving for fuel

I also checked the advance in the distributor to see if it was froze up but it did move.

 

[Don S]

Re: AQ231A acts as if it is starving for fuel

Hook up a remote fuel tank (outboard tank) directly to the fuel filter on the engine. Then make a test run and see if it does better.
This will isolate the boats fuel system from the engines fuel system.
Or, there is this test. http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?t=167561

Did you try this yet ??????

 

[mybadford]

Re: AQ231A acts as if it is starving for fuel

Did you try this yet ??????

Yes sir. It mighta ran a little better. I cleaned the points and contacts on the bottom side of the cap. It'll run 3500rpms now. It'll do that without the 4 barrel open. Open the 4 barrel and it just makes more noise. I can pump the throttle and I can see gas splashing out of the secondaries. Also around 3500rpms the engine surges. Acceleration wasn't real good. Just wasn't smooth. Kinda sputtered as it was trying to accelerate. If I pumped the gas while accelerating it did help some.

 

[mybadford]

Re: AQ231A acts as if it is starving for fuel

When I put the boat back on the trailer I opened it up in neutral. It wouldn't turn any faster than 3800 rpms. The 4 barrel was starting to open. If I backed the throttle off back to an idle and then ran the rpms up slower it run up to 4200. I didnt try to spin it faster. If I ran it up slowly then cracked it open it up it would accelerate for a split second and then hover around 3800 rpms. I pulled a spark plug just to inspect and it has AC mr44t plugs in it. The cover on the flame arrester says mr43t. Would one number on the plug make much difference? The plug didn't look to bad. It was a little black.

 

[Don S]

Re: AQ231A acts as if it is starving for fuel

Have you replaced the points and condenser?

 

[mybadford]

Re: AQ231A acts as if it is starving for fuel

No I didnt. I was actually trying to find the part number for the pieces. Only thing I did was lightly scuffed the points with a piece of sand paper.

 

[Maclin]

Re: AQ231A acts as if it is starving for fuel

Anytime the points move the dwell changes and the timing changes. Do a proper tuneup (points, condensor, dwell and timing setting) then see if the problems still point to fuel delivery problems.

 

[mybadford]

Re: AQ231A acts as if it is starving for fuel

Anytime the points move the dwell changes and the timing changes. Do a proper tuneup (points, condensor, dwell and timing setting) then see if the problems still point to fuel delivery problems.

After scuffing the points I did check/change the points gap. I also did find the parts to do a tune up and ordered them. Hopefully by Wednesday or Thursday the parts will show up and I can get them put in and if anything either fix the problem or eliminate a possibility.

 

[mybadford]

Re: AQ231A acts as if it is starving for fuel

I put new points, condenser, cap, rotor and a set of NGK plugs BR6FS. Boat runs like a champ. It definitely pulls past 4,600rpms when I am by myself. Add two more 250lb guys and it stays between 4,400 and 4,600rpms depending on the roughness of the water and where I have it trimmed. The plugs I took out of it were AC MR44T. The flame arrestor says AC MR43T. The NGK BR6FS crossed over to the AC MR43T plug. It doesn't look like it ever had a set of plugs put in it. I say that cause there was a little orange paint on a couple of them. I bought the boat back in January. First few rides were trying to get this issue resolved. Now that it runs good, it does surprisingly good on fuel economy. With a combination of WOT, cruising around 3,000rpms and idiling along around 1,500 rpms. I have put on around 25 miles on it and it's only burnt right at a 1/4 tank. I believe the tank is a 30 gallon tank. Thanks for the help and advice fello more experienced boaters.

 

[Maclin]

Re: AQ231A acts as if it is starving for fuel

Good deal.

 

[mybadford]

Re: AQ231A acts as if it is starving for fuel

Is it possible for the points to be going out already? I have 10 hours on the boat after putting new plugs, points, cap, rotor, and condenser in it. It starting to act up again in the same manner as I stated in the beginning of this thread. About 4200 to 4300 rpms is all it has in it. After that you can feel it surge when I push that last little bit out of the throttle. The engine doesn't have a thermostat in it. I bought it this way. I have a thermostat just haven't put it in yet. Is it possible the plugs are starting to foul from the engine not really warming up? The manifolds have a little temperature to them.? The temperature gauge doesn't really even come up to 120 degrees. I don't really run wot very much. If I do its for a short run. I stay around 3,000 to cruise or between 1,000 to 1,500 to putt. The river I normally run in is low so I run low and slow speeds just incase I hit the prop on something.

 

[Maclin]

Re: AQ231A acts as if it is starving for fuel

Take a look at the plugs and see what they "say".

 

[mybadford]

Re: AQ231A acts as if it is starving for fuel

Take a look at the plugs and see what they "say".

Good point. I guess I will do that Monday morning when I get off of work. I was thinking the points might have been giving up on me. Later on I got to thinking about the engine never warming up and it might be taking a toll on the plugs. I know on my farm truck I have to put plugs in it because I always start it and shut it off and it never really gets run hard or warmed up in most cases.

 

[mybadford]

Re: AQ231A acts as if it is starving for fuel

Take a look at the plugs and see what they "say".

I pulled the plugs. They still looked new. I ended up replacing the coil because it looked like it was leaking oil. Still ran the same. I pulled the distributor cap and all of the contacts had corrosion on them. I don't know how moisture was getting into the distributor. I don't keep the boat near water and it's only rain an inch in the last 7 weeks. But anyway, I cleaned them up and took the boat out and it ran like a champ. The more I drove it the better it seemed to run. If it wasn't for the gps saying I was doing 47mph in rough water I woulda thought I'd need a license to fly in that thing.