1987 Mercruiser 200HP V8 floods and stalls after coming off plane

MarkDB

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Jun 4, 2017
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Hello all, hoping you can help me. I have a 1987 Celebrity 190 VBR, 5.0 V8, 2 bbl Rochester Carb, Alpha One, with about 1300 hours on it. I am the second owner, meticulously maintained by me and first owner. It starts up easy, runs great at idle and on plane. No bogging, no hesitation, no stalling. The problem that just started out this season is this. Once the engine is warm and I have been running on plane for a period of time, say 10 minutes, when I throttle back to come off plane, it will slowly bog down and die. It happens whether I leave in gear or shift into neutral. Then I smell gas. I assume it's flooding. About 3 years ago, I rebuilt the carb, replaced the distributor cap, ignition sensor, etc. I replace the plugs every season after the first start up and fog oil is burned out. Any thoughts? A secondary problem that I have seen posted a couple times is it occasionally dies when shifting into reverse, and it only happens after the engine is warm. I have tried adjusting the shift cable but that has not worked, it ends up not shifting properly in forward or reverse and still dies in reverse. I assume I need a new shift cable? If folks could let me know thoughts on both issues I would greatly appreciate it!
 

alldodge

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Mar 8, 2009
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Hello all, hoping you can help me. I have a 1987 Celebrity 190 VBR, 5.0 V8, 2 bbl Rochester Carb, Alpha One, with about 1300 hours on it. I am the second owner, meticulously maintained by me and first owner. It starts up easy, runs great at idle and on plane. No bogging, no hesitation, no stalling. The problem that just started out this season is this. Once the engine is warm and I have been running on plane for a period of time, say 10 minutes, when I throttle back to come off plane, it will slowly bog down and die. It happens whether I leave in gear or shift into neutral. Then I smell gas. I assume it's flooding. About 3 years ago, I rebuilt the carb, replaced the distributor cap, ignition sensor, etc. I replace the plugs every season after the first start up and fog oil is burned out. Any thoughts? A secondary problem that I have seen posted a couple times is it occasionally dies when shifting into reverse, and it only happens after the engine is warm. I have tried adjusting the shift cable but that has not worked, it ends up not shifting properly in forward or reverse and still dies in reverse. I assume I need a new shift cable? If folks could let me know thoughts on both issues I would greatly appreciate it!

Howdy

Suggest checking the float level for correct adjustment

Yep, I think you need a new lower shift cable
 

MarkDB

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Jun 4, 2017
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Ok, thanks for the feedback, I will check that. When I rebuilt the carb a couple years ago I spent a lot of time making sure the float adjustment was correct, it has run fine since then. Is it normal that the float would go out of adjustment suddenly? It seems to have happened over the winter, as it didn't happen at all last season and it acted up on the first trip out this season. Let me know your thoughts, appreciate it.
 

alldodge

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43,889
Is it normal that the float would go out of adjustment suddenly?

No not normal and I'm just trying to diagnose from what your saying. Could be float level, needle seat and valve not closing off, a spec of crud. The issue is if it was a needle seat and valve or a spec of crud it would start flooding and stay that way. Normal things that you see and hear your probably disregarding as not the issue, and they may not be, but all I have to work with is what you tell me
 
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