baffled beyond words

cyclone53

cyclone53

New Member
Jun 27, 2008
5
arlington, texas
Boat Info
1987 sea ray sorrento 19'
Engines
4.3l mercruiser
ive got a 87 sea ray sorrento 210. ive had the boat in and out of the shop getting the shifting smooth (i guess its now what youd call smooth) and im now faced with another problem. she keeps dieing on me when i take her out of gear...either direction. i thought it was due to the incorrect shift adjustment but now that its better im beginning to think its electrical somewhere. heres why, when i run the boat hard and bring it back to idle it sits at idle at around 1200 for a minute. during that time i can shift to neutral but it stumbles every time. after the idle goes back to 1000 where it should be it will die when i try to put it in neutral. also when im going across the water under power and i hit the trim either way, it falls on its face for a minute then picks back up. but when it falls, it falls hard, like the engine is loosing fire. i just found out tonight that also it seems robbed of power when the lights are on. i need help people... is this a bad ground maybe or what.....
 
Cyclone please add your boat and engine info to your signature, the guys in this forum are more likely to respond when they have all the info. FWIW I would look at your alternator first, just because it doesnt take alot of juice to run sparkplugs, but the moment you throw something esle into the mix the engine dies. Hope that helps.
 
Sounds like a bad ground to me.

Your idle is also too high, should be around 650 to 700.
 
sorry, its a 87 sea ray sorrento with a 4.3 v6 mercruiser with a omc cobra stern drive. it is the 205 horse model. also, i had the card rebuilt last year but if i drop the idle down that low it seems too rough and dies even easier.
 
ive had the switches replaced...it feels like its running poorly enough that by killing the ignition a little bit it dies. not sure if its related but when i take off under full throttle sometimes it stumbles quite a bit then finnally takes off..
 
87 Sea Ray...needs Help

Does Anyone Know Where I Can Get A Wiring Schematic For This Boat. A Good Factory One, I Want To Look At All The Ground Points.
 
cyclone53 said:
ive had the switches replaced...it feels like its running poorly enough that by killing the ignition a little bit it dies. not sure if its related but when i take off under full throttle sometimes it stumbles quite a bit then finnally takes off..
Click to expand...

Carburetor is not setup correctly. Find a mechanic who really knows these things to have it rebuilt. It's not hard to do, but it must be done precisely. Some guys think 5/8 of an inch is as good as 1/2. Often times, it's not.

When I do a carb, I try to get all of measurements to +/- 1/32. Never had a problem with any rebuilds. Too bad many pros don't measure precisely.

Best regards,
Frank C
 
fc3 said:
Carburetor is not setup correctly. Find a mechanic who really knows these things to have it rebuilt. It's not hard to do, but it must be done precisely. Some guys think 5/8 of an inch is as good as 1/2. Often times, it's not.

When I do a carb, I try to get all of measurements to +/- 1/32. Never had a problem with any rebuilds. Too bad many pros don't measure precisely.

Best regards,
Frank C
Click to expand...

Or try the carb adjustment prior to a rebuild, but Frank is more than likely correct. At that age it's more than likely due anyway.

At that high of an idle, when the interupt kicks in it's dropping all the way out it sounds like.

Best of luck....and as requested above. Please put your boat's info in your Signature.
 
cyclone53 said:
... also, i had the card rebuilt last year ...
Click to expand...

Assuming you meant Carb.... as Frank C intimated, the quality of the rebuild is paramount. If it was a quality rebuild, then you might get away with proper adjustment as Todd suggested.


As with any troubleshooting, it is complicated by multiple contributing sources. Now that you have the shifting smooth, time to move on to the next :)

Dont worry, once you get the Carb right... another thing will pop up :thumbsup:
 
I agree with Frank and the interupter switch. Failing that, you may want to consider replacing the plug wires, one bad wire can cause havoc and this can lead you in a whole bunch of differant directions when it may be as simple as 1 bad wire.
 
In addition to your carb, your timing may be set incorrectly. Double check that along with your ESA switches. If they check out, indeed look to a carb rebuild like Frank suggested.

If your ESA switches don't cause the engine to stumble when actuated by hand, your ESA module may be bad. Check out ebasicpower.com for decent pricing. You may also have a misadjusted shift cable. Read here for more than you ever needed to know about your OMC drive.

http://www.hastings.org/~stuart/cobra/

Doug
 
yeah, i bought this boat last year and have been going by what the guy (a friend of mine) told me he had done to it. he said all the cap and wires were new, but he also said he had the carb rebuilt, and that obviously didnt work out too well. when i first got it it wouldnt even run at full throttle. then i had it rebuilt and it seemed great at full throttle. does anyone know anything about the carbs offered on ebay. they have some i was looking at the other day, seemed priced decently but im not sure if going new would really help
 
Do you have fresh fuel? Eliminate all possibilities....Also make sure ALL your electrical connections are TIGHT and clean.
 
Sorry about getting into this post so late but it seems odd to me that you have a Mercrusier powerplant and an OMC outdrive.

I've had an OMC system (engine and outdrive) on a Sea Ray before and they are good system but they seem to require more maintenance than a Mercruiser. Setting up the shift mechanism and throttle to exact tolerances is important. OMC uses a shift mechanism with two switches that come into play during shifting. One is an over-stroke switch, the other is an engine interrupter switch. I believe that Mercruiser only uses one switch. Since the shift mechansim is mounted on the engine and you apparently have a Mercuriser / OMC combination you should make sure you have the OMC shift mechansim or I think you'll have ongoing problems.

Here is site that explains how to adjust the OMC shift system and as you can see the throttle linkage is part of the equation for a good setup. Proper idle speed is vital to get everything working correctly.
http://www.hastings.org/~stuart/cobra/

I'm also attaching a link to a thread from another site that has a picture of the OMC shift assembly (post #7). This is what you should have.
http://www.baylinerownersclub.org/forum/showthread.php?t=16707

I made it a habit to adjust my shift assembly at the start of every boating season. It always worked all season long without any problem.
 
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