Engine will not hold idle.....

apane

Cadet
Joined
Sep 5, 2005
Messages
14
My boat was running fine until I had to pull the boat out of the water due to a hole in the transom seal. I replaced the seal and launched the boat again. The boat would not start I was getting no juice. I looked at the ignition switch and there was a wire missing. So I found one which was hanging there and connected it. Go to start the boat and the igntion fuse blows, I replace it and it blows again. I disconnect the wire which I connected to the switch and found a yellow wire which was also not connected. I connect that wire to my switch and she starts. So I start the boat at the launching ramp and let her idle, go to park my car, come back to the dock and she shut off. Try to restart her and she starts but stalls right away. Tried a few more times and get the same result. I get towed to my dock, go and get fresh gas replace the gas in my tank and still does the same thing. Can this have something to do with my ignition switch? The boat was running great up until this problem occurred. Any help would be greatly appreciated. By the way it is a 1982 Chevy 305 with 4 barrel carb with OMC Stern Drive.
 

f_inscreenname

Commander
Joined
Aug 23, 2001
Messages
2,591
Re: Engine will not hold idle.....

Did you try to attach both wires? Maybe the other one is for the choke or something.
 

apane

Cadet
Joined
Sep 5, 2005
Messages
14
Re: Engine will not hold idle.....

Well I left the black wire disconnected, it looks like it connects to the cigarette lighter. I am going to check all my wiring again to make sure thre are no other loose wires behind the console. But would an incorrectly wired ignition switch cause the engine to start and shut off.
 

f_inscreenname

Commander
Joined
Aug 23, 2001
Messages
2,591
Re: Engine will not hold idle.....

"Try to restart her and she starts but stalls right away"<br /> Is it like you turn the key off when you release the key off the starter position. That would be a bad switch. If not I would start looking for other wires (like I said, another wire may do something like power the choke and if the choke was on and didn't open your motor would run when first started, then die and would not start unless you were moving the throttle, manually oping the carburetors butterfly's) and find out why you were blowing fuses in the first place
 

KRS

Banned
Joined
May 15, 2004
Messages
2,383
Re: Engine will not hold idle.....

Yes, if it's not wired right it could stall it.
 
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