WOT only 1100rpm, no power

Wow, well that didnt take long for me to be back on here with another problem that has me absokutly stumped...after finally getting the boat dialed in with new coil, resistor, cap, and rotor things seemed great, was starting like a charm, idleing wonderful and staying running through idleing as long as i would leave it idleing for. My speedos dont work but it seeemed to speed right up like it did when i bought it and was around 3700rpm at WOT. I know some will say this is slow for my sn2001 with 351 but its got a replacement prop w th a slightly bigger pitch and until today had the wrong plugs in it. I live in lake tahoe so dock space is extremely expensive so i found someone trustworthy that was willing to let me dock at their house in exchange for them being able to take out the boat when i was not useing it. While going through all my last problems they had a "marine mechanic" friend come look at it while i wasnt there. After all my troubles and finally getting it going good he showed up the day after i got it back to normal while i was at work and started fiddleing with it. Of course this *************** was a mastercrap owner and tried changeing ly firing order to what his mastercrap was even tho i had just got mine to what it should be and what was printed on the engine tag. He also messed with the carb and hooked up some "pump" on the throttle side of the carb towards the front of the boat, a black plastic piece that was previously below the metal "pump" lever. He also apparently played around with the timing. But long story short he got frustratdd with the firing order and just up and left. When i arrived at the boat the firing order had been changed and i instantly pulled up the picture that bri had sent me and put it back to how it should be and it fired right up. I than went to take it out and see if anything seemed different. The engine was shakeing quite a bit again which i had previously fixed and in idle seemed to throw out quite a bigger wake while i was idleing out of the channel into the lake, the volt meter was also bouncing around instead of staying steady as i had also had corrected before he came and messed it all up. I thN got out into the lake and went to open it up and nothing happened, i brought the trottle back and went to do it again and same thing, nothing, only the throttle went to far forward and got stuck in the 6oclock position almost completely upside down. I shut the boat down and pulled the cover up only to notice that he had left my throttle cable disconnected. I reconnected it and still the throttle lever was stuck. So i disconncected it again. The throttle wld continue going backwards counter clockwise until it was almost back in the straight up normal position. I finally was able to force it back clockwise into a few different spots at a time till it was back into its nornal upright position so i cld pull the safety plug out and start the boat. I reconnected the throttle to the carb shut the cover and went to take off and the boat would hardly go, i put it full throttle and it would not go faster than 1100rpm. I took it home and cLled the guy who fiddled with it and all he had to say was that i should get the right plugs ajd it woll run better. This morning i got 8 autolite 24's and went to the boat and put them in, got out to the lake and same thing, will not go faster than 1100rpm.....im stumped and have noooo idea what hppened or why the boat is doing this. as you have herd before, someone pleaseeeeeee help!

I'd say you have grounds for a lawsuit against that mechanic. When you changed the plug wires order, you checked them at both cap & plug ends, right? Please post pictures, maybe we can help. esp the 'black pc'!

I was assuming its not the morse cable because when i got the throttle arm stuck down the cable was not connected to the carb, but maybe im wrong and messed up the cable at the throttle arm end. I also tried to accelerate it manually by hand with the cable unhooked by pressing down the accelerator on the carb and still it would only go 1100rpm. How do i check the cable? At this point im about to give up and get rid of the boat and thats the last thing i want to do.

Braedon don't give up on the boat, this problem will likely be easy to solve and any number of guys here can help you with it. I know I'm the 3rd person to say it, but if you can get some pictures it would be a big help.

What Mark said above will prove out the throttle operation. When it maxed out at 1100 rpm was it running smoothly? Did it sputter at all as you advanced the throttle?

It sounded to me like the bad mechanic changed a number of things, so we've got to step through them one by one. If you've got the firing order correct, and new plugs, and spark to all plugs, then you'll have to see if he moved timing way out or not, since you start and run you can get base timing set correctly again.

Ok, so today i had a trusted mechanic come down and take a look at everything. He fixed timing and tuned carb and said my engine runs amazing and is as strong as can be. When inspecting the transmisson, he found pink foamy sludge on the dipstick and narrowed it down to water that got into the tranny from the time that the ppl messed up my prop amd strut and the boat took on water. He says he is almost positive that there is water in the torque converter that isnt allowing the boat to go over 1100-1300 rpm. Does this make sense to anyone. We pumped all the fluid out of the tranny and it defintly had water in it, but no metal pieces. he says what we need to do is to disconnect the transmission from the bell housing and drain the both of them...any imput??? The engine is minty and runs like a top, this is the only thing he can think that is not letting it reach high speed.

No,the cause of your issues is not because of water in the trans. But if you don't take care of the cause you will have more serious troubles.Was water left in the boat perhaps covering the trans? If not it is most likely the trans cooler leaking.You have to flush out the trans about 3 times to clear the water out,if the oil is still pink like a milk shake after that suspect the cooler. As to your mechanic,I'm sure he means well but he does not know inboards.

Today i learned through the mechanic that my ignition is not a points ignition as i thought it was when replaceing the coil, dizzy and rotor. the new coil i got, an msd blaster 8222 said that it required an external resistor for use on points style ignitions which i thought i had, so when i installed the coil i also installed the recomended resistor. I now learned today that it isnt a points style ignition and i have it resisted, cld i not be getting enough spark under load because of this and this be the problem??.

nautiquelover1988 wrote: Ok, so today i had a trusted mechanic come down and take a look at everything. He fixed timing and tuned carb and said my engine runs amazing and is as strong as can be.

You say that the engine won't rev. Is this only when engaged from the helm, while in gear or when manually operating the linkage? It could idle good and still run like crap at mid throttle. If you think it is carb related, download a sheet from Holley or whoever the carb manufacuter is.

No, it won't short out as long as they are insulated from ground.

Check you coil after 5 minutes to see if it is overheating.

You were questioning if the transmission could be binding - does the RPM drop more than 50 RPM when you put it in gear? Can you spin the prop by hand?   

You also mentioned putting on a slightly higher pitched prop. What prop did you put on? It wants a 13 inch pitch, no more.

And yes, i can spin the prop hy hand. and no the coil is not overheating anymore.

Ok so i took the boat out on the lake again today, still cant get it to go very fast. Engine sounds great, but it just wont go as fast as it should. I took the flame arrestor off of the carb and had my fiance drive with the boat at WOT while i was looking down the carb and the secondaries are not opening. Could this be my problem, and if so, what are the likely causes for them not opening. Can i try to stick a screw driver down and manually open the secondaries while someone is driving the boat with the trottle wide open and see of it makes a difference? Any help is appreciated.

Gary, thank you soo much, i will head over to the boat in thr morning to try that out. do i need to remove those 4 screws to get to the rod or will i be able to manually move it as is? Thanks so much i reallly appreciate the help and pictures!

I went to the boat today and took her out to try manually operating the secondaries. When i would gently open them manually it gave the boat more power, however when i continued to open them all the way the boat would begin to bogg down and almost sound as if it were going to die out until i let up on them again. Any idea about this? Also, since the begining of these troubles when the people who used the boat broke the prop and strut and the boat took on a little bit of water the starter has sounded as if it were going bad... Well today after i manually opened the secondaries up i turned the boat off out in the lake to take a look inside the are that sits about the rod used to operate the secondaries to inspect what it looked like inside. After putting it back on and going to start it back up the im pretty sure the starter finally went bad on me. It would just make a loud whine'ing noise when trying to start it and none of the belts would even move. Does this sound like the starter to you? If so, i read a few posts where people replaced their starters with one found on amizon.com when searching ford 351 marine starter that is only 60$...does this sound rite to you?

starter thread about 5 down from yours shows this link courtesy of TRBenj... http://www.marinepartssource.com/newdetails.asp?pnumber=AR70201&mfg=Arco%20Auto%20%26%20Marine&mcat1=2&mcat2=7&mcat3=0&category=Pleasurecraft%20Marine&mfgcategory=Inboard%20Starters&mfgno=70201&desc=Ford%20Small%20Block%20Inboard%20Starter

ok, so the struggle continues. I took the starter off so I could take a look at it, and have found a stater/alternator specialist in town that im going to try taking it to tomorow before buying a new one. when I took it off I found there were about 3 teeth missing off of the large gear inside the bell housing where it sits (pics attached) could this have something to do with it not starting and just making i whining noise? if so or if not, how big of a deal is this? I also noticed on the front of the engine some numbers with the letters BTC and ATC at each end and some markings on them but none of the two markings are lined up with the pin that looks like they should be lined up to, what is this and does it look wrong in the picture below, could this be a possible reason but my engine not reaching full potential under load. lastly, the last time i took the boat out before the starter went, i took about the secondary to check and see what it looked like (pic also attached) is this what the inside of this piece should look like?