1985 OMC 350 dies when shifting in a 25' Rinker

[Sattech200]

Boat worked great last year. Now it dies when shifting.

Bought last year with a valve seat that let go and trashed pistons/cracked block. New block, pistons and everything else. Also changed lower end oil and both water pumps. Took out for one good run last fall. Worked PERFECT! Lots of fun.

Filled with Shell Premium from a high volume station along with the Quicksilver fuel treatments and cleaners. Quadrajet carb visually spears to be in great shape, suspect it was replaced with previous engine 4 years ago.

Last fall I Winterized boat and topped of fuel for a full tank.

Pulled boat from storage and drove 10 mins upriver to the slip. Left the boat launch fine but when we got close to slip it started to die out whenever trying to shift gears. If I rev it high then put in gear I can sometimes get it to catch and go.

When it dies out it's almost like it does it right before trying to shift gears. Dosnt this kill the engine for a split second right before switching gears? Is there an adjustment in that circuit I should look at maybe?

Want to make a list of things to check but I'm drawing a blank on this one. Nothing was changed recently.

So far I have:
1. Check timing with timing light.
2. Pull boat and change lower end oil? (Only has maybe an hour on it.)
3. Hook up external fuel tank with fresh fuel to rule that out?
4. Engine kill when shifting gears?

Any other ideas?

Also, is it safe for me to try and put in gear while still on dock lines? Never tried that before so I wanted to ask. Not looking to rev it up but just to see if it would engage without dieing.

Ittillstarts, runs and idles fine. Once I get it in gear then it seems to do fine also.

 

[kenny nunez]

Maybe you should put it back on the trailer to check it out a little more.
If the problem persists then you can safely start to diagnose the problem.

 

[Sattech200]

that would be #2 on list above but I'm not sure I can even drive it the 10 mins down river to the dock to get it on the trailer at this point and I certainly don't see there being a safety issue performing repairs while it's at the slip. but thank you anyways.

 

[kenny nunez]

It is beginning to appear to be a carburetor problem. If you have a Quadrajet style there is a possibility that some varnish from dried up gasoline is causing the problem In the bottom of the float bowl.

 

[Sattech200]

It is the quadrajunk, ohhh how I despise them! But I don't think so, I played around a lot with it tonight and noticed that it doesn't always do it! sometimes it works like it supposed to, maybe 25% of the time. both forward and reverse. I can also get it right at the point where the idle drops and it will hold there. I also noticed at certain times it will die out when coming out of gear, also noticed the shifting is far from smooth. I'm suspecting I have a shift/throttle cable issue.

I found another post a few threads down on a similar omc that i'm following.

 

[kenny nunez]

Can you post a picture of the shift converter box with the electrical components?

 

[Sattech200]

Whats causing the ESA to activate when shifting INTO gear? I've done a lot of work on this boat, new lower shift cable, rebuilt carb, narrowed the issue down to the esa firing when going into gear. Isn't it only supposed to activate coming out of gear? If I unhook the esa module it works great. Plug it back in and it's activating 80% of the time which kills the engine. It works fine coming out of gear, no issue there. What do I look at from here? I have a video of it if that helps any I can post it if allowed.

I'll look for pictures. I found its been replaced with a 123-xxxxP unit. (I forget the numbers at the moment.)