At my wits' end with this 96 SN - motor too rough to ski

[Spyfunkr]

After getting the prop refinished from a premature laucnh from the lift not being low enough, we find this nice new problem. The engine runs consistently rough thru the rpm range, in gear and neutral. Almost impossible to pull our heavier skiers up before they die of exhuastion. This is our third lost season trying to get it right, and i think im joining my co-owners frustration to the point of dumping the boat.

Heres what we've done.

Last year, changed the distributor, wires, plugs, water pump, fuel filter, belts. Boat ran rough. Paid a mechanic (who lives a state away) to rebuild the carb "twice". He also completely flushed out the fuel system, including the tank and vents.

This year, motor sounded smooth and sweet for about 2 minutes, before landing the prop on the lift. After getting the prop back, the motor runs rough. We ran about 20 gallons of high octane fuel thru. Then, yesterday, we pulled the plugs. They didnt look evenly gapped, but only one plug looked only slightly dark. Distributor contacts and rotor looked good. Have not looked at points.

Im going to try to post a link to 2 videos i made of the motor. One is of the axle packing, which i know needs to be adjusted, but that one has good audio.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lTD6OIhhfs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_IP1GLZiIk

Please give me some things to try next time we go down. I fear that if we dont get the boat rolling by the end of this month, its curtains on the ski boat.

Thanks, Chris

[Nautiquehunter]

You didn't look at the points? That would be the first step. Check them for burnt contacts if they are more than a season old just replace them. Don't forget about the condenser. Three weeks ago a member was having all kind of cyl missing problems turned out to be the condenser. Set the point dwell at 30 or point gap at .019 make sure you lube the rubbing block with the dist cam lube that comes in the little capsule.

[Spyfunkr]

Thanks, will try tomorrow. Buddy says it got new points last october...

[Jono]

That sounds like my old boat problems. I scrapped the points and converted to electronic ignition. Cheap, easy, and never worry about points ever again.