Cobalt Stalling/Not starting

[biebs53]

We're out on a trip at Lake Mohave and having boat problems. Dont know much about it cuz its my dads but its an early 90's Cobalt 21 or 22 foot. It has a chevy 350, holley 4 bbl, mercruiser alpha 1 outdrive. Nice boat when its running. Today it kept stalling when going from in gear to N or N to reverse or any combo of those. It usually fired right up but once it didnt. We think it got flooded. Turned it over and then let it sit for 20 mins and it fired up and then died going in gear. Couldnt get it to fire so I got a ride back to our cove and brought the jet ski and towed it back. It sat for about an hour and tried it for ****s and gigs and it fired right up and ran great thru the rest of the day until the end. Came to the dock to drop the rest of the people off and put it in N and died. Its been 4 houra and no start. He's pulling it out now. Any good boat guys know whats going on? And sorry for the spelling but I have to do all this from my phone. Thanks.

 

[CobiaXL]

Re: Cobalt Stalling/Not starting

Next time it wont start,move throttle back and forth,just maybe the neutral safety switch is sticking.Just a thought and prolly not it but ya gotta start somewhere.

 

[biebs53]

Re: Cobalt Stalling/Not starting

Ya I gotcha. We've bee. Trying everything. It seems flooded every time but gas or no gas it wont fire. Any ideas why it keeps dying?

 

[QC]

Re: Cobalt Stalling/Not starting

If it cranks but won't start it's not the neutral safety switch. Take a look here: http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?p=1930449#post1930449 not everything is consistent with your description, but close.

 

[biebs53]

Re: Cobalt Stalling/Not starting

If it cranks but won't start it's not the neutral safety switch. Take a look here: http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?p=1930449#post1930449 not everything is consistent with your description, but close.

So what would we have to do? I kinda get that but its hectic around here

 

[Bondo]

Re: Cobalt Stalling/Not starting

Ayuh,... Ya need to replace the lower shift cable....

It's dragging, causing the shift interupt switch to stall the motor...

 

[bds85466]

Re: Cobalt Stalling/Not starting

Yeah sounds like your switch is good...but it's being triggered when you don't want it to or longer than you want it to.

I share Bond-o's opinion regarding the shift cable. Stalling during those gear changes (n-f, f-n, n-r, r-n) is almost a dead give away.

 

[Don S]

Re: Cobalt Stalling/Not starting

A stiff shift cable will cause your engine to die, but it should restart once the cable moves back to neutral. Look at the Y shaped plate on the engine and see if the shift interrupt switch is in the center of the Y bracket or up on a high spot. If the switches are in the low part of the Y as in the picture, you should have power to the ignition. If on a high point, the ignition will be shorted to ground.