My Four Winns Keeps Stalling :(

[nave74]

Hello, this is my first post and really would appreciate any ideas all of you experienced boaters have for me.

I have a 1988 Four Winns Freedom 160. Has a OMC i/o inline 4 cylinder w/ 130 horsepower. Spent about a month removing oxidation and cleaning up the interior. Boat looks mint but now having trouble with stalling.

Here is the problem. When we took it out for the first time, it would stall at about half throttle, around 2000 RPM (The points were checked prior to this). We could not open it up b/c we were on a canal with a speed limit. The boat was not run for about two years prior to us purchasing it, so we thought there might be water in the gas. Added some dry gas and fuel injector cleaner and refilled the tank full w/ new gas.

Second run post dry gas/fuel additive, we opened it up full throttle at the lake. It would run full speed but then would stutter and hesitate and then eventually completely stall at full speed. Did this several times. The problem seemed to be worse when turning.

Had to jog in to dock just to get it back. Does anyone have any ideas what could be causing this, and/or what needs to be replaced? Thanks a lot!

 

[Bondo]

Re: My Four Winns Keeps Stalling

Does anyone have any ideas what could be causing this, and/or what needs to be replaced? Thanks a lot!

Ayuh,... Sounds like it's runnin' outa Gas..... Change the Fuel Filters 1st...

 

[MercBravoIII]

Re: My Four Winns Keeps Stalling

Besides changing the fuel filters, i wouldve emptied the tank completely, where i work when a customer tells me their boat has not run in that time frame I would reccomend emptying the tank dry, the dry gas miracle in a bottle doesnt really compensate if you have a ton of water. Also now would be a great time to add a fuel/water seperator if you dont have one. Lastly if you had watery gas then also it has probaly by now clogged the carb jets by the varnish that forms inside the carb. If your really lucky the new filters might clear the issue up, but beware of the other problems that can still arise

 

[maxxman04]

Re: My Four Winns Keeps Stalling

MERCBRAVOIII has extremely good points/ideas. it is possible the fuel lines, filters, water separator, and even the carb need to be cleaned out, gone through AFTER the tank is emptied and dried. gas has a shelf life of generally less than six months if sitting. adding additives to old gas won't help it, and could make things worse. the fuel system is kept "clean" by the constant flow of gas. if it's allowed to sit for a period of time, it will surely gum up, varnish the system.

 

[MercBravoIII]

Re: My Four Winns Keeps Stalling

also i would like to mention gas besides gumming up and cvausing varnish, it loses its octane rating and if you try to run gas less than 87 you could lean out or even worse cause detonation and pre-ignition which will wind up cause a complete tear down of the engine is damaged

 

[speerscat]

Re: My Four Winns Keeps Stalling

I had the same problem with my 89. If the fuel is ok and the filters are new the only other thing you may wish to look at is the pump inside the carburetor. There is a small plunger on it that may be torn or ripped entirely which would allow some fuel flow and then when need is higher is completely gone, this would also account for jogging at about 2000 rpms...just a thought, not a bad fix either, just take the old one and go buy a carb repair kit from the local auto parts dealer with a plunger the same size if they can't match a carb kit for your carb. Bring every number on the carburetor you can if thats what you decide to do.

 

[nave74]

Re: My Four Winns Keeps Stalling

Thanks for all your advise, I'll keep everyone posted what the problem was. We just got some tanks to drain the gas and we are going to look at the carb as well, along with the fuel filter. Thanks!

 

[nave74]

Re: My Four Winns Keeps Stalling

We drained out the gas today and ran it some more to burn the rest of the gas out.

Interesting thing happened....The main battery was also drained when we initially tried to start it. Hooked up a new battery, started and then we turned the steering wheel and it stalled. So we went under the dash and there were some loose wires, both positive and negative attached to the voltage meter. When I twisted the positive wire it would stall once again. The nuts were loose holding the wires on. Would these loose wires cause the battery to drain?

Good thing we started playing with the steering wheel to find a source of one of the problems. Any thoughts on the electrical?