2006 Four Winns with Carburator - Good or Bad Idea?

steve8650

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Jan 19, 2017
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I am looking at my first boat. I have had a PWC for about 7 years. The one I am most interested in is a 2006 Four Winns. My only concern is that it is a 2 barrel carburator rather than fuel injection. My first cars had carburators and they always seemed to be having issues so over the last 20 years plus I have owned FI cars and have had very little issue with them running or starting from that aspect. When I started to look at boats I told myself I would only by a boat with fuel injection. Am I overreacting or will I have problems with a carburator if I go that way?

Thanks for your insight.
 

shaw520

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Aug 27, 2009
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Fuel maintnance is key,.. Use stabilizers ALL the time, not just for storing. Carbs can be maintance free if fuel is carefully maintained..
 

Scott Danforth

Grumpy Vintage Moderator still playing with boats
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the boat is only as good as the maintenance and love it recieves. nothing wrong with a carburetor. lack of maintenance is what causes fuel system issues, whether it is carburetor or fuel injection.
 

Baylinerchuck

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Like stated above carbs can be problem free so long as you do the proper maintenance. In my opinion carbs can be tricky to tune, but nothing to be afraid of. I'd rather mess with a carb than injection system as far as troubleshooting. But that's me.
 

Chris1956

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Carbs work very well on I/O motors, and are only slightly less efficient than fuel injection. However, carb issues are very cheap to fix, versus FI issues. So if you do have a FI issue, open your wallet wide. FI relies on multiple sensors and complicated electronics. Some of the sensors are electromechanical, and some are electrical only, however, either can fail, and repairs are expensive. Even the wiring connectors can cause issues, especially in the salt environment. FI motors do start better, and might (might) idle better.

Water in the fuel is fairly common and is very hard on fuel injectors and repairs can be hundreds. Conversely, carbs are not adversely affected by water. Carbs do get dirty over time and require maintenance. I.E. I needed to rebuild my carb only once during the 12 years I owned the boat. The kit was $20, and took about 1/2 hour, for my 4bbl Rochester Carb.

To minimize dirt buildup in the carb, use the boat often so the fuel is fresh. I don't think a stabilizer i needed until the off-season storage. Clean the spark arrestor in the fall, and replace fuel filters on a regular basis, or when you have issues. A water separator is a good idea.
 

bruceb58

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No problem with a carb'd engine. The Wellcraft in my signature is carb'd. Never had an issue...starts first time. No stabilizers or snake oil ever used.

The only time I wish it had FI is when I take it to a high elevation lake. It would be nice to compensate the mixture like a FI engine would.
 

HT32BSX115

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Dec 8, 2005
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No problem with a carb'd engine. The Wellcraft in my signature is carb'd. Never had an issue...starts first time. No stabilizers or snake oil ever used.
Same here with my 1997 Mercruiser 7.4L V-8//Bravo III
Never used snake oil, and the automatic choke is completely disconnected.
 

byson2

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Jan 4, 2017
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The main issue with any carb is wear and tear. The average car back in the 70's or 80's probably put more wear on the carb in one week than a boat would see in one season. You're not constantly speeding up/slowing down etc. Also, automotive cars had to be designed to work in a wide temperature range whereas boats are usually jetted for warmer weather. This made them more complex and more likely to fail. I'd be more concerned with engine choice then fuel delivery.
 

four winns 214

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Carbs can be slightly more finicky to start and such- no just tapping the key to start- but there are thousands and thousands of carb'd boats on the water every day. I own both an FI and a carb'd boat. Given the choice, I'll take FI. But with used boats, find the best deal, best condition. All things equal, take the FI.
 

muc

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You don't say what engine ----- but if you see the letters TKS ------ bad idea.
 

wrvond

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If I were going to go with fool injection, I'd stick with throttle body injection. It is more simple and less costly than a carburetor. Other types of injections systems are too complicated to suit me.
 

bruceb58

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If I were going to go with fool injection, I'd stick with throttle body injection. It is more simple and less costly than a carburetor. Other types of injections systems are too complicated to suit me.
Not by much. You still have an ECU, electric fuel pump and sensors. You just have more injectors In my opinion, if you go the EFI route, might as well go multi port.
 

thumpar

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Throttle body FI is more like a carb. It has injectors in a body kind of like a carb. It shoots down the body and joins the air to go through the intake and into the cylilnders. Multi port FI has an injector for each cylinder at the point just before it enters the cylinder.

As for carb vs FI. They are both great when they are working correctly. They both can fail and have problems of their own. I like FI for the same reason I like distributors without points. They don't require as much maintenance. When FI fails it is not as easy to fix though.
 

muc

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http://forums.iboats.com/forum/engi...ator-good-or-bad-idea?p=10333576#post10333576

Could you expand on this? I would like to understand what to look for and why it is a bad idea. Thanks.

TKS stands for Turn Key Starting. This is a carburetor that MerCruiser installs on their newer I/O engines. It has had a few more problems than past carbs.

I'm a big fan of EFI, especially the newer multi-port systems.

As Four Winns 214 said -------- But with used boats, find the best deal, best condition. All things equal, take the FI.
 

H20Rat

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Not by much. You still have an ECU, electric fuel pump and sensors. You just have more injectors In my opinion, if you go the EFI route, might as well go multi port.

not overly familiar with any of the TB fuel injection systems on boats, but at least some of the early automotive ones were painfully simple. They were all open loop systems with a combined air temp/pressure sensor, a water temp sensor, and nothing else. They didn't adjust dynamically based on engine conditions, so they had none of the downstream sensors.
 

bruceb58

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not overly familiar with any of the TB fuel injection systems on boats, but at least some of the early automotive ones were painfully simple. They were all open loop systems with a combined air temp/pressure sensor, a water temp sensor, and nothing else. They didn't adjust dynamically based on engine conditions, so they had none of the downstream sensors.
As were early multi port injection systems. Not so with marine TB systems. If you have a pulsed injector in the TB, you have an ECU.
 
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