My motor has had cooling problems. I replaced thermostat and water pump. It runs cool now and does not get hot when it is at full throttle. My problems are:<br /><br />Can't put the cover on the motor or it will not idle.. seems like an air restriction of some sort.. I don't see any obvious way that a large volume of fresh air can get into the motor housing. So, I have run the motor without the cover on. It runs good but does not idle great. <br /><br />Also, the other day I took the boat out and it ran full open for more than 30 minutes. Didn't have a single problem with it until I came back near the dock when it sputtered and would not stay at idle. I found watter in the fuel filter and in the float. Cleaned all of that out and it ran great. I had the manged go get way too much watter in the engine compartment and it got sucked up into the carborator. <br /><br />Today I took the boat out hoping I had fixed things and it stopped running after 5 mintues. I was running full open and it just shut down. It would fire, but not idle consistently. The cover was off of the motor today too. <br /><br />I'm just lost on this now. I've fixed a lot on this boat, but this probelm is just beyond me. I've cleaned out the carborator, but not put anything in it like a re-build kit. Was thinking that it was possible that the carb get's empty at full throttle, but this is inconsistent with my experience the other day when I ran if full open for a long time without any problems. <br /><br />Also, I'm running 16:1 fuel/oil. I need a reliable engine as I have two small children who are with me when I boat. I feel like I can trust this old motor if I can get it going and maintain it well. Any obvious things I can do to avoid having to take this old motor to the shop?<br /><br />Thanks to everyone here for their contributions. This is a fantastic place to get information.<br /><br />Dean