1988 XR4...Won't get out of it's own way...

[Josh256v]

SERIAL: 0B289062

Picked up an '88 Tracker glass boat from a buddy's back yard. He says it ran like a top back in Nov. and has been sitting ever since. Took it out 3 weeks ago and it planed out to 39mph and then it quit peeing so I shut it down and got towed in. I've since changed the water pump and replaced the spark plugs. I ran it again yesterday evening. it fired right up, idled out of the no wake, took longer than I feel like to plane but eventually got it to 47mph. It ran this way for about 5 minutes and lost just about all power. I did noticed a "sneezing" sound and what felt like a hiccup for the short time I was at W.O.T. I checked my primer bulb, flat as a flitter, so I put a new one on by buddy had in his boat that was with me. Final result...Motor fires up fine, but will only idle, bulb stays primed but any throttle beyond idle it dies.

I haven't done a couple of the simple things, just as a result of a total lapse of thinking. I have not replaced the fuel filter, and I have not had the carbs cleaned. I did add 6 gal of new fuel and a bottle of sea foam.

Today I noticed one of the bleed tubes from the head had split so I cut off that section of tube and reconnected.

I'm hoping a nice carb cleaning will fix me up, but honestly, reading about stators, and switch boxes, coils, etc has me wondering if this is turning into a bigger project.

Any thoughts? And yes I searched, hence the mention of the electrical stuff.

Thanks!

[EuropeanAM]

Sticky: REMINDER- SERIAL NUMBERS REQUIRED WHEN POSTING

[Josh256v]

Sticky: REMINDER- SERIAL NUMBERS REQUIRED WHEN POSTING

Added the SN. Thanks!

[DrewFlu33]

New fuel lines from gas tank to the motor. Sounds like fuel lines with a liner that's separating and collapsing to close off the fuel lines. Then rebuild fuel pump, replace fuel filter as those are normal maintenance items and they've probably sucked up little chunks of liner anyhow. The flat primer bulb, short of the bulb itself going bad, almost assuredly means there's an upstream restriction of some sort. Think of sucking air through a straw then sticking your finger on the end of it. The straw will go flat, and you're sucking no more air. That primer bulb going flat is the equivalent of that straw going flat, the motor is equivalent to you, and instead of (not) sucking air it's (not) sucking fuel.

It doesn't happen at idle because there's not enough pressure to collapse the liner, then when running WOT it puts enough pressure on the liner to collapse it and shut off the flow.

If it's not lines, could be an airflow restriction on the fuel tank vent, or a restriction in the sending unit at the fuel tank. Seeing if removing the gas cap fixes it would be a way to rule out a problem with the vent, at least, though I think you'd have problems idling as well if it was something like that.

[Josh256v]

Thank You! I'll replace all of that next!

[JOE54]

check spark on all 6, and compression

[Josh256v]

check spark on all 6, and compression

Getting spark on all cylinders if getting spark means that I can visually see a spark in a spark plug tester. Compression is right at 90 in all cylinders using a cheap AutoZone guage.

[JOE54]

proceed to fuel system inspection and repair

[SilverFox579]

Helpful information from the FAQ at top of forum - FUEL LINES AND PERFORMANCE PROBLEMS