no power

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richocki

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Sep 3, 2005
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18926
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Due to commitments my first boating day was today :(. I have a 2003 20ft Stingray with a Volvo 4.3GL-A.
I winterized it in September of 2016. I have been running the engine in the yard every week or so since June. The engine starts right up and idles about 600RPM. Put the boat in today, started it and moved away from the dock at about 4Kts for about 8 minutes. Increased speed to get up on plane and the snap was not there. The engine was running rough, skipping I guess, and then a popping sound. The boat never got up on plane so I idled back and ran slow for awhile then tried it again... same thing but this time it did not pop.
That ended the day on the water. Once home I changed the fuel/water separator filter. When I put the gas from the filter in a glass jar it was a deep yellow sort of orange color. Let it stand for a while but did not see
any water. Could this be stale gas and that is why the engine did not run good above idle?

I added Sta-Bil Storage to a nearly full tank of gas when I winterized it as I always have.
I thought the color of the gas was because of the Sta-Bil but when I checked the gas I have for my lawn mower that has the "add to each tank" Sta-Bil it was a clear color. Any ideas?
 
Appearance of the gas doesn't sound good. Does it smell like gas, or that pungent spoiled odor? Can you rig a portable outboard motor tank to it and try with fresh, known good, gas?

Carbureted, mechanical fuel pump, distributor, right?

What is the age/condition of Cap, Rotor, Spark plug cables, Spark plugs?

Look into the fuel, but also at least pull the Cap and inspect it and the Rotor. We had a 5.7 that did that, and changing Cap, Rotor and Cables corrected it. I don't think I even changed the plugs, but that's usually a good idea.
 
Could well be the gas if it no longer has the very fresh strong gassy smell, but let us know what the dist. cap and rotor look like ( how old are they?) if you replace them check initial timing and advance.

You can check combustion by pulling a plug wire one at a time to see if doing that at any cylinder(s) does NOT reduce rpm( by roughly 1/6 if all cylinders are firing otherwise.)
Check ignition pulse with an inductive pickup timing light clamped on each plug wire.

Was the choke fully opening?
Throttle cable jacket clamped tight at both ends so the engine throttle lever was moving as it should?( But that wouldn't cause popping /rough running if loose.)
 
Thanks all for replying. I do think it is the gas but I will pull the distributor cap and see how that looks. I'll most likely replace the cap and wires. I don't think they were ever changed. Bought new plugs today... boy are they expensive! I did drain out all but about 4 gallons of gas. I plan on filling this weekend but with the weather forecast probably won't be able to try it out until Monday.
 
My filter had quite a bad smell this spring when I changed it. I wonder if my gas was reaching it's end of life. It was only about 6 months old. Maybe that smell is from the stabil I had put in it? Anyway, it seems to burn fine and I'm almost through it.
 
It WAS bad gas. I am so happy that is all it was. The boat ran great today.
 
Glad for you! Seasons, weekends, etc are too short to not have the boat ready!

I wonder if the gas you stabilized was "turning" back then, and the stabilizer fluid couldn't reverse that.
 
I don't run well either when I have bad gas!
Glad it was an easy fix
 
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