hi, might recognize me from previous posts. still stalling but i think i'm getting really close now.<br /><br />recap: my '79 OMC stringer (4 cylinder) unfortunately has a worn or broken ring in number #4 cylinder. it sure sounds good running, has good fire, and very very little blow-by, so i'm trying to get her running as best as can be to finish up the season. may have it rebuilt this winter.<br /><br />After about an hour out on the bay (SF Bay), kept losing rpms until she stalled. would crank right back up and crawl a little further before doing it again. Thanks to many helpful replies and other posts i read, it sounded like it could be a failing coil. it looked original anyway, so i replaced it. next time out it was as if it was starving for fuel, wouldn't start unless throttle was full on, sounded good when on, then would stall after a while, and very hard to restart. I figured now there was a fuel system problem, so i bypassed the built-in gas tank and fuel line by hooking up an auxiliary tank, with pump bulp straight to fuel pump. filled up with new 89 octane fuel and took her out today.<br /><br />she cranked up just fine, absolutely purred with a little throttle, but idle was a little rough. did well through 5mph no-wake zone, but shortly after opening up WOT, she stalled. I warmed up at the dock about 15 minutes before pulling out to test at WOT. <br /><br />I'm thinking next step would be the fuel pump. Boat's paperwork shows "pump kit" back in 2001, i'm guessing that *might* be fuel pump kit with gaskets or something. Might be time to just put a new fuel pump on. That's the direction i'm thinking, however I would really love any feedback to something else i could be overlooking.<br /><br />Thanks so much, i really love this forum.<br /><br />-brad
