Engine Stall

Hey guys,

I am in need of some help, my 85 ski nautique would stall at idle. Worked great in the morning till we went in t to drop someone off. Then we went out again and did a slow stroll near one of the marina's then the engine stalled. We could start the engine by pulling the neutral pin out and putting the lever in the reverse position and rev it acouple of time then try to bring it back to neutral position and it would stall out. Got it into gear by basically dropping it into the neutral and putting the pin in gear and bring the RPM up above to run. Got it back to the boat launch 5 mph zone and once we were close enough we brought it to idle and it stalled out had to swim it to the launch and take it out of the water. I need info on what you guys think is going on. It was alittle rough running first thing in the morning filled her up at the gas station before launch. I need to know what I am doing wrong.

1985 ski nautique 2001 ford 351 velvet 1:1. All oils were fine, pressure was fine and temp was fine.

rebuild the carb

And don't d*ck with the distributor you don't have miss you have an idle issue so the distributor isn't going to cause any of that.

I havent tampered with it at all which is weird that the idle settings would have moved. I picked up the boat from the dealer last saturday and took it out on the 5th and it ran fine from what I could tell. But would the dealer have made sure everything would have been set? Should I change to electronic ignition, my father is new to this and doesnt want to put too much money into the boat, but i told him electronic ignition is one of the major upgrades. I made a fake a lake from a toilet plunger hopefully that works so i can run the boat out of the water to test idle speeds and such.
From what it looks like everything is original on the engine except the starter solenoid which was replaced when we were on vacation in the middle of July renting it from the dealer. It ran great during that week.

Also any particular gas octane I should work with that will make this not happen?

Thanks again for more info.

lfs,
Had a similar problem 2 years ago when I first got my boat. Start at the fuel filter. I had some sediment in mine and the first run just stirred it up, replaced it and has run fine since. I change the fuel filter annually as part of regular maint. BTW, elc. ignition is one of the best things I've ever done, would highly recommend!..Joe

Just to let you guys know, it was the slice in the fuel line that made the engine stall. I made a rig to the transmission cooler to hook up to the water from the house. Started her up and she idled perfect 500 RPM didnt want to play with the idle setting so i left it. Tested by turning it off and back on and she started perfect aswell.