1988 ski nautique 2001 stalling after long idle...

My beloved 1988 ski nautique 2001 has recently started acting up. I guess i should say its the holley carb as i believe thats what it is. After running for a while, when the boat is hot, i have problems keeping it going unless im running it at a high speed. If i begin to idle around the lake or in the marina where its a no wake zone the boat begins to stall out which i believe is from the carb flooding. When idleing around or driving real slow just one click past neutral for about ten minutes or more the boat begins to stall put and i sometimes need to wait ten minutes or so before starting it up and going again. Also ive recently figured out how to fix my idle speed and had it tuned to 650rmp at one click past neutral but noticed that it has been jumping up throughout taking the boat out, has anyone experienced this problem. Id realllly like to know how to get the carb to stop flooding while im idleing and at very low speeds and also want to know why the idle is jumping up after i set it to where it should be. Pleaseeeee help


1988 ski nautique 2001.

Ive heard it could be the needle and the seat. Can these be bought at an automotive store or can i adjusmy current ones. Im not very knowledgaboe with carbs but understand the basics. Also does ajyone know which holley carb is on a 1988 nautiue 2001. How hard is it to adjust the float? How hard is it to adjust/change the needle and seat. Where is the best place to go get a rebuild kit for my holley wituout ordering one and lastly is there any site with pictures or person who can walk me through this.

89martinique, im going to check the butterflys tomorow about the idle prohlem but mine only jumps up to abput 1000 or 1100 rmp

Needle and seat should come in the kit. Just replace them, they do go bad and often catch small particles.

careful adjusting the float, the directions you get, if you do, will most likely be for an auto carb. The marine carb sits at an angle and needs to be adjusted accordingly.

Google 4160, grab a coffee and get acquainted with your carb before you start.


Change your fuel filter too.

I have found it best not to assume anything-start with the fuel filters,how long have they been in the boat?Take the carb off and check the needle seat-the ethanol fuel has eaten two sets on me in two summers.Get a rebuild kit from ski-dim-Take your time- rebuilding a holley carb is not rocket science,clean out the bowls blow out the orifices in the metering block-set the floats,and reassemble-good luck

Below

Pete-Just found out about the Dayton kits after my last install-Thanks for the heads up

i doubt octane would have anything to do with this. but ethanol is an enemy. that stuff is evil to any engine. new or old. get a good ethanol treatment but DO NOT USE SEAFOAM! any thing but evil stuff. its worse than ethanol to an engine.

oh boy looks like a nice storm is rolling through. better unplug the computer. :/

Im pretty sure its not the ignition. Its got a brand new coil and fires up no problem everytime hot or cold except for after idleing/trolling around when it stalls. At this point i think im going to get a new fuel filter first and if that doesnt solve it im going to try ro replace the needle and seat in the carb.

nautiquelover1988 wrote: Would the use of regular gasoline as opposed to premium have anything to do with this? If so could i add octane booster to improve?

Braedon,
No and no again! Octane has nothing to do with an engine idling properly or stalling. Higher grades of fuel prevent pre ignition. I suggest you do some on line reading before you waste money especially on an octane booster.

nautiquelover1988 wrote: if it is an ignition problem, what kind of ignition problem could it be.

I was thinking coil overheating, but it sounds like you may have addressed that?   if you got an oil filled coil, then it could still be a problem, since the coil position is horizontal on our boats.   several guys have gone to an epoxy filled to cure the problem.

Its funny you say that, my coil although is brand new, gets extrenelyyyyy hot. Cld that really have something to do with it stalling out while im ideling/ going back and forth from neutral to a slow troll.. everytime it happens i look in the carb and there is no dripping or excess gas. I replaced the needles and seats in the primary and secondary yesterday and still had lots of trouble today where it wld stall out and i wld have to wait 10-15 minutes before it wld start back up. But sometimes when it starts back up its all good and goes again and other times it bogs down.

Hey nautiquelover1988, looks like I"m long overdue to chime in on this, but I found this thread when searching for some answers to this exact same problem that I'm having. I have a 1980 17' Nautique with a Ford 351, Holley carb and it's doing the exact same thing yours was, stalling at low revs/slow speeds, very problematic when docking and it tight quarters. Were you able to get it fixed?