I have a 1987 Carver Mariner 3297. Twin GM 350ci/5.7l (Crusader 270's) . Port side engine will stall out after starting and running fine for hours. This has happened to me times now. The last time was this past Wednesday. Boat started fine, and runs great. Crossed Lake Erie (about a two hour run). When I got to Put-In-Bay and received docking instructions from the dockmaster, I was making a port-side turn into the marina, and the port side engine sputters out and quits. The other times this happened, when attempting to restart, it will usually not restart right away. I have to crank the engine for a few seconds (4-5 secons), thens wait about 30 seconds or more, the it will fire up. However, this last time it happened, it did start right back up. When is does start back up after this happens, it starts kinda wierd, like sputters into a start (hard to describe). On two ocassions, just after the port side died, the startboard also died, The starboard side always strarts right back up with no problem. My engines share a starting battery (1,2,all selectable) but have independant fuel tanks. Gas has been cycled since this first happened (2x100 gallon tanks) so I lean to ruling out bad fuel. I get fuel at my boat club mostly, and no body else has any problems with it. On the other occasions only the port side stalls out.
The port engine just had a head gasket replaced, and carb replaced. However, this problem first happened before the carb was replaced and still happens with the new carb. As I said, the boat runs fine, great acutally.. with the exception of this stalling issue.
Another note.. all but one time when this happened, I was making a port-side turn but in calm water.
After replacing the head gasket, the engine was not running right, and the air/fuel pins had to be pulled out in order to get the engine to run good, this is why I replaced the carb (rebuilt Rochester Quadrajet). When I bought the new carb, guy said it was bench tested and calibrated, so I just had to install and go (again, the problem happened before the new carb was installed)
When it stalls, I looked at the gauges, and everything looks fine, Oil Pressure, temp, Volts all look good.
Before replacing the carb, I tested the fuel pump, and was getting good pressure (cant remember if it was 5.5psi or 6.5 but I recall it was at whatever the book called for),
I also tested the coil, have new plugs (not wires, just plugs), new points & condensor, cap, rotor, fuel filter and Group 31 AGM Marine Deep Cycle Battery. Oil looks good, clean, no water. No signs of any think leaking outside the eingine. Also checked for parasite leak, and all voltage seems to be good.
Before the head gasket blew, I had a little fuel leak at the fuel inlet at the carb. It was impossible to remove the fuel line, so I had to "cut" the fuel line. I replaced it with the Crusader recommended "Flex" fuel line, and removed the filter at the carb (also as recommended by Crusader). This is the only thing that I keep going back to as a possible source of the problem. Thinking maybe with the carb fuel filter removed, maybe the normal PSI from the fuel pump is too much, and perhaps flooding the carb. Seems a far stretch since that is what the manufacturer suggests to do, but thats the only other thing that has recently changed.
My other though was maybe the choke pull-off, maybe not opening enough enough and when I RPM back to idle from 3200rpm maybe its choking .. not really sure which is why I'm asking for opinons, suggestions and advice.
I have not tried swapping coils yet, just dont think thats the problem.
Thanks for any suggestions!
The port engine just had a head gasket replaced, and carb replaced. However, this problem first happened before the carb was replaced and still happens with the new carb. As I said, the boat runs fine, great acutally.. with the exception of this stalling issue.
Another note.. all but one time when this happened, I was making a port-side turn but in calm water.
After replacing the head gasket, the engine was not running right, and the air/fuel pins had to be pulled out in order to get the engine to run good, this is why I replaced the carb (rebuilt Rochester Quadrajet). When I bought the new carb, guy said it was bench tested and calibrated, so I just had to install and go (again, the problem happened before the new carb was installed)
When it stalls, I looked at the gauges, and everything looks fine, Oil Pressure, temp, Volts all look good.
Before replacing the carb, I tested the fuel pump, and was getting good pressure (cant remember if it was 5.5psi or 6.5 but I recall it was at whatever the book called for),
I also tested the coil, have new plugs (not wires, just plugs), new points & condensor, cap, rotor, fuel filter and Group 31 AGM Marine Deep Cycle Battery. Oil looks good, clean, no water. No signs of any think leaking outside the eingine. Also checked for parasite leak, and all voltage seems to be good.
Before the head gasket blew, I had a little fuel leak at the fuel inlet at the carb. It was impossible to remove the fuel line, so I had to "cut" the fuel line. I replaced it with the Crusader recommended "Flex" fuel line, and removed the filter at the carb (also as recommended by Crusader). This is the only thing that I keep going back to as a possible source of the problem. Thinking maybe with the carb fuel filter removed, maybe the normal PSI from the fuel pump is too much, and perhaps flooding the carb. Seems a far stretch since that is what the manufacturer suggests to do, but thats the only other thing that has recently changed.
My other though was maybe the choke pull-off, maybe not opening enough enough and when I RPM back to idle from 3200rpm maybe its choking .. not really sure which is why I'm asking for opinons, suggestions and advice.
I have not tried swapping coils yet, just dont think thats the problem.
Thanks for any suggestions!