2004 Optimax 135, Water in my gas?

[jgd2305]

I bought a boat with a 2004 Optimax 135 this past December in Minnesota (it was being stored in a heated shop), hooked it up at the dealership, ran it for awhile on muffs, hooked it up to the diagnostic computer, all was good. Motor has 119 hours of run time on it, all but about 20 hours was at idle.

It was stored all winter long with an empty gas tank with quickleen treatment in my garage which stays about 40 degrees, but does get pretty damp, as it's a tuck under garage. I filled the tank last weekend and took it out, it ran great at idle and even on plane at lower rpm's, but after running for 3-4 minutes at WOT the motor would cut out for a split second, then keep going, then cut out again for a split second, etc. IT would run perfectly smooth again at lower RPM's, but when I'd get back up to WOT it would do the same thing.

Is it possible that I have water in my gas from sitting with an empty tank all winter? Any suggestions on other things I should check?

[jgd2305]

I went out and pulled 3 of the 6 plugs this evening, they all looked like this.



I'm no mechanic, but they look a little dark and sooty, and there was some oil around the threads, time for new plugs?

[EuropeanAM]

Probably so on the plugs.....

I'd recommend you look through the following post, and ensure that ALL recommended items have been addressed (AT THE SAME TIME):

http://www.bbcboards.net/zerot...first

Additionally, see the following post on recommended maintenance for Optimax Engines:

http://www.bbcboards.net/zerot...gines

Simple to determine if you have water: Remove filter, dump contents into a glass jar, and OBSERVE for water separating.

[jgd2305]

OK, I thought I'd update this thread, it suddenly hit me when I was removing my lower cowling to prepare for my plug replacement (who the *&^! decided it was a good idea to put the bolts on the inside of the cowling instead of the outside!) when I realized that when we ran the boat at the dealership before I bought it, we had it hooked up to an external gas tank as the boats onboard gas tank was dry. After running the motor the tech reconnected the gas line to the on board tank, which I then forgot about as I parked it in my shed for the next 3 months. I then realized that I filled the tank when I took the boat out for the first time, and that I may not have primed the bulb enough since it was a completely dry tank and lines, so I checked the bulb as I was standing there thinking about all of this. It turns out that the bulb wasn't completely hard, and it probably took 10 pumps to get solid and stay solid, so I'm guessing I may have just not primed the system enough the first time.

I'm going to replace the plugs anyway since the motor has 120 hours on it and 100 of them are at or near idle, and I would guess they're original anyway. I'll take it out this weekend with new plugs and see if the new plugs/proper bulb priming fixes the WOT cutting out issue.