Volvo 125 AQ idles fine, dies when put in gear, any suggestions?

PastorChad

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I have a 1985 Bayliner Capri with Volvo Penta 125 AQ 270 I/O. I can start the engine fine. It idles in neutral fine. I can manually give it gas while in neutral and engine revs fine. When I put it in gear, engine dies. Any suggestions?
Thanks
Pastor Chad
 

sutor623

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Re: Volvo 125 AQ idles fine, dies when put in gear, any suggestions?

I have a 1985 Bayliner Capri with Volvo Penta 125 AQ 270 I/O. I can start the engine fine. It idles in neutral fine. I can manually give it gas while in neutral and engine revs fine. When I put it in gear, engine dies. Any suggestions?
Thanks
Pastor Chad

I have NO experience on inboards, but with an outboard when it does this the idle (low speed jet) needs to be richened up. If you have a low speed idle screw back it out 1/2 turn and then try it. When the load gets placed on the motor it alters the fuel requirements. When adjusting the carbs on any motor I have worked on, you need to do it while the motor is in forward gear at idle, in the water (or a test tank/bucket.)
 

zoeygrace

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Re: Volvo 125 AQ idles fine, dies when put in gear, any suggestions?

If you have a fuel cell with two stage pumps it could be the low stage pump. When you rev up the high stage pump kicks in and it is fine.
 

sutor623

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Re: Volvo 125 AQ idles fine, dies when put in gear, any suggestions?

If you have a fuel cell with two stage pumps it could be the low stage pump. When you rev up the high stage pump kicks in and it is fine.

Ok so these motors use stage fuel pumps vs. carb jets?
 

PastorChad

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Re: Volvo 125 AQ idles fine, dies when put in gear, any suggestions?

Ok so these motors use stage fuel pumps vs. carb jets?

Thanks for the advice. It has a fuel pump. I did try to make some adjustments to the fuel mixture but must admit I really dont know what I'm doing. I know which screws can be adjusted to have affect on it. I tried some different combos to no avail. but if yall think thats it I will certainly try again.

Keep the tips coming. I really appreciate it.
 

zoeygrace

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Re: Volvo 125 AQ idles fine, dies when put in gear, any suggestions?

Sorry I should of red your post more closely. The age would indicate a carburation fuel system. It sounds like a carburator problem. I would try rebuilding it if that hasn't been done yet.
 

sutor623

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Re: Volvo 125 AQ idles fine, dies when put in gear, any suggestions?

Thanks for the advice. It has a fuel pump. I did try to make some adjustments to the fuel mixture but must admit I really dont know what I'm doing. I know which screws can be adjusted to have affect on it. I tried some different combos to no avail. but if yall think thats it I will certainly try again.

Keep the tips coming. I really appreciate it.

Buddy, buddy. Dont start turning screws if you dont know what they do :eek: Did you at least put them to their former places?
 

PastorChad

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Re: Volvo 125 AQ idles fine, dies when put in gear, any suggestions?

Sorry I should of red your post more closely. The age would indicate a carburation fuel system. It sounds like a carburator problem. I would try rebuilding it if that hasn't been done yet.

I had the carburator rebuilt last year, new distributor cap, plugs the whole bit. It ran fine last year.
At the end of the year this problem first sprang up and boat has been stored for the winter since. So now I am trying to deal with the issue, but am totally at a loss. I took it to a mechanic today. He said something about probably being something with the drive system. He said it would cost me thousands to get it fixed and I should just buy a new boat and proceeded to show me what he had for sale. At this point I think I am trying to get a 2nd opinion from people not trying to sell me another boat.
 

PastorChad

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Re: Volvo 125 AQ idles fine, dies when put in gear, any suggestions?

Buddy, buddy. Dont start turning screws if you dont know what they do :eek: Did you at least put them to their former places?

yes i did ... I promise dad, I didnt mess with too much.
 

Mullin

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Re: Volvo 125 AQ idles fine, dies when put in gear, any suggestions?

I have an 85 with the aq125/270 as well, the one in my sig.
When it dies, is it just as you put it into forward? Without hitting the gas at all? Or is it when you put it in forward and then hit the gas that it dies on you, like everybody else with this motor/carb?

If the engine is running and it dies, it is missing something. It only needs air, fuel, and a spark to keep going, so which one is missing?

This particular solex single barrel carb seems to need the accelerator pump rod adjusted to cause the squirt of gas to happen faster than it is for a lot of people, me included. You simply back out or unscrew the nut on the rod that pushed on the accelerator pump on the carb. For me, I had to remove the set screw to adjust it far enough out.
 

PastorChad

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Re: Volvo 125 AQ idles fine, dies when put in gear, any suggestions?

I have an 85 with the aq125/270 as well, the one in my sig.
When it dies, is it just as you put it into forward? Without hitting the gas at all? Or is it when you put it in forward and then hit the gas that it dies on you, like everybody else with this motor/carb?

If the engine is running and it dies, it is missing something. It only needs air, fuel, and a spark to keep going, so which one is missing?

This particular solex single barrel carb seems to need the accelerator pump rod adjusted to cause the squirt of gas to happen faster than it is for a lot of people, me included. You simply back out or unscrew the nut on the rod that pushed on the accelerator pump on the carb. For me, I had to remove the set screw to adjust it far enough out.

Thanks...will try that.
 

PastorChad

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Re: Volvo 125 AQ idles fine, dies when put in gear, any suggestions?

I have an 85 with the aq125/270 as well, the one in my sig.
When it dies, is it just as you put it into forward? Without hitting the gas at all? Or is it when you put it in forward and then hit the gas that it dies on you, like everybody else with this motor/carb?

If the engine is running and it dies, it is missing something. It only needs air, fuel, and a spark to keep going, so which one is missing?

This particular solex single barrel carb seems to need the accelerator pump rod adjusted to cause the squirt of gas to happen faster than it is for a lot of people, me included. You simply back out or unscrew the nut on the rod that pushed on the accelerator pump on the carb. For me, I had to remove the set screw to adjust it far enough out.

And to answer your question, it dies when I put it into gear, it seems to want to try to run for a couple of seconds then sputters and dies. I have tried a few combinations such as trying to let it idle in drive, (might run a couple seconds before it dies when put in gear), I've tried giving it full throttle as soon as I shift in to drive, and it died right away. so I dont know if this information means anything. But I was just trying to answer your question as best I could. Thanks for your input.
 

sutor623

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Re: Volvo 125 AQ idles fine, dies when put in gear, any suggestions?

He said something about probably being something with the drive system. He said it would cost me thousands to get it fixed and I should just buy a new boat .

Yeah Chad I wouldnt buy that for one second.
 

Maclin

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Re: Volvo 125 AQ idles fine, dies when put in gear, any suggestions?

Chad,

What happens when the drive is in neutal and you spin the prop? What happens when the boat is in gear when you spin the prop? (Out of the water and with engine off of course!)

When you say it dies when going into gear, is this in the water? or on the trailer with muffs?

Does it start ok in the water?
 

Don S

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Re: Volvo 125 AQ idles fine, dies when put in gear, any suggestions?

Do you allow the engine to fully warm up before putting into gear? Those engines do not have chokes, if they aren't warmed up, the don't run well under load.
 

Mullin

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Re: Volvo 125 AQ idles fine, dies when put in gear, any suggestions?

Don is right of course.
My boat will die a couple of times until it warms up, and I don't even try to put it into gear. I start it and bump it to 2000rpms in neutral until it warms up, if I let off the throttle it will die, sometimes it dies just for fun even from 2000. Once it's warm, runs like a champ.
I'm hoping a full tune up will help reduce the rough cold idle and all the restarts for me too.
 

PastorChad

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Re: Volvo 125 AQ idles fine, dies when put in gear, any suggestions?

Yeah Chad I wouldnt buy that for one second.

Thanks for the encouragement and your suggestions. I will give an update this weekend when I work on it some more.
 

PastorChad

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Re: Volvo 125 AQ idles fine, dies when put in gear, any suggestions?

I've started both in the water, and on land with water muffs. propeller spins. I have not tried to spin the prop by hand. What are you suggesting?
 

PastorChad

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Re: Volvo 125 AQ idles fine, dies when put in gear, any suggestions?

Do you allow the engine to fully warm up before putting into gear? Those engines do not have chokes, if they aren't warmed up, the don't run well under load.

Hi Oracle,
yes i did allow the engine to run idle for a while and get good and warmed up and still had the issue. Any other suggestions? I'll be working on it again Saturday.
 

Maclin

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Re: Volvo 125 AQ idles fine, dies when put in gear, any suggestions?

I was just trying to help you figure out if the drive had a problem.
 
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