92 Force 150 idles rough and stalls

New to iboats...thanks in advance for the help.

Friend of mine finally got the time to put his 92 bayliner in the water a coupleof weeks ago. It had been sitting for a little while (1 year) before that. He was having a problem with the engine not starting so he replaced the starter, batteries and lastly the stator. Had to take out the converter box as the new stator had it integrated in it. Got the engine started and it ran a little rough. Figure since the gas was way old, that would be the reason. Took the boat out for a little while to burn some of the old gas and make sure things were flowing like they should have been. Everything seemed to be running good...took the boat out in the ocean and it ran well. As we approached the ramp to load the boat it stalled when he put it in neutral. It would start until you put the throttle up about 2/3 of the way and as soon as you brought it back to idle, it would die. Got the boat loaded and back to the house and hooked up to fresh water to flush the seawater out, hosed the boat down, etc. Went last saturday to drop it in the water and it wouldnt stay started unless it was 2/3 throttle. Also, the engine seemed to be running very rough and was up and down with the RPM's. Questions:

1. Add seafoam to the tank as well as octane boost to make the gas usable enough to burn it as well as deep creep the carbs and cylinders?

2. Mechanic said that the #1 cylinder wasnt firing...would the motor even start with that issue?

3. Mechanic said that the switch box was bad...with that, would the motor even start?

4. What plugs are the best for using in this motor? Dont want to use crappy Autolite plugs but looking for ones that perform the best in the motor.

Any other suggestions?

JD

Re: 92 Force 150 idles rough and stalls

...hiya John,

if it was me:

Option 1 - good idea, skip the the boost. clean the carbs and reset to factory specs

Option 2 - skip for now

Option 3 - skip for now

Option 4 - yup fouling plugs is the most common. how'd they look when you pulled them? i think ur needing gapless plugs, dont use the traditional gapping plugs. a manual should give you the exact plug to use.

Re: 92 Force 150 idles rough and stalls

If you are having problems. why bother to try and salvage the gas? That is poor decision making. Start with fresh and there is one less variable.

Multi-cylinder engines will start and run (though poorly) with one or more cylinders not firing.

As stated above, the most common problem with Force engines is fouled surface gap plugs. Clean 'em or replace. Then see how it runs.

Mechanics say a lot of things! Some know what they are talking about, some don't. I generally (unless I know the mechanic) don't pay much attention to what they say. I find that many times, the sound is coming out the wrong end of their bodies.

So, for now, let's forget about the "switch box." Did he mean ignition switch, trigger, or CD box? Lets forget about them too, until plugs are replaced, gas is replaced and a compression check is performed on all cylinders.