Whaler Central - Boston Whaler Boat Information and Photos

Posted by mtjarrett on 07/31/20 - 1:19 PM

I put my 1971 Custom 16' in the water last week after a nearly year hibernation. It ran fine for the first 10-15 minutes. Then it cut off after I powered down. I had a lot of issues getting it re cranked and then when I did, it would die when I put it in gear. Was finally able to get it in gear and limp it back home.

• Had the carbs cleaned.

Then put it in the water on Monday. Cranked fine. Idled fine - it's a 1986 Johnson 110.

But when I put it in gear it cut out.

Finally limped it back home.

• changed the fuel water separator
• and the primer bulb

Put it back in the water. Started fine. Went into gear fine but then would cut out when I gave it a little gas.

• ran a Seafoam treatment through it

No change.

So as I was limping it back to the boat ramp it occurred to me to try to give it some gas and push in the choke at the same time. This worked. It got me over the hump. And once I got past the initial throttling up, it ran fine at the higher speed. I don't know how long it would have been fine. I was on the edge of a no-wake zone and didn't want to be that jerk. But it seemed fine for about 5 seconds.

I don't have to hold in the choke. I can just push it for a second as I am throttling up and it will make the pass from idle to speed.

So what's next to look at?

Thank for your help.

Posted by Turpin on 08/01/20 - 10:53 AM

On cleaning carbs, I had an issue of motor not taking throttle, I pulled carbs 3 different times, took them apart and sprayed them out with carb cleaner.
Still no luck(I had just rebuilt them 2 seasons earlier), I bought a gallon of Gunk carb cleaner and soaked carb bodies for about 2 days. Removed from solution, blew them out with compressor, reinstalled and finally success.
Just throwing an option to try.
Wouldn’t recommend for those that have plastic throttle bodies, I don’t know but probably wouldn’t be good.

Edited by Turpin on 08/01/20 - 11:01 AM

Posted by biggiefl on 08/03/20 - 10:47 AM

I personally would go through the carbs again but I can do that easily. Something might have been missed. The choke is not a choke, it is an enrichner that shoots fuel into the intake. Somewhere your idle circuit is not clean or not adjusted correctly. Using the enrichner allows the engine to gain enough rpm for the secondary circuits to kick in. Could be your butterflies as well.

Lastly you state it idles fine in the water. If the lower base gasket goes(common on older engines) it will usually idle fine but when you try to get on plane and the transom gets closer to the water the water in the midsection rises and gets sucked into a cyl or 2. This usually happens only when the transom ducks down and will run fine on muffs.