1996 88 SPL won't idle

[Darrell W.]

Comes out of hole and top end okay but if you pull it back to idle, feels like it's running on 3 cylinders and wants to die. Will eventually stall out if you don't give it more gas. Replaced spark plugs and fuelhose/primer bulb, rebuilt fuel pump, and de-carbed engine. The carbs were rebuilt about 2 years ago and they look like they are brand new. I took the idle cover off the top carb and it was perfect - no stoppage at all. I used compressed air to clean out lower carb idle air passages and they seem to be okay also. It ran and idled great one minute and then suddenly it developed this problem. Quick question - if the idle air passages are clear, would another carb rebuild make any difference on idle performance?

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: 1996 88 SPL won't idle

it sounds like you have a contaminated carb, the fuel pickups are in the bottom of the bowl for all the jets, sounds like you are not getting fuel to one, or weak fuel flow. have you check your spark and compression? it will run on 3 cylinders. have you pulled plug wires one at a time, at idle, and listened for the rpms to drop? if one does not drop the rpms. it is not running. you either have fuel, spark or compression problem on that one.

 

[The_Kid]

Re: 1996 88 SPL won't idle

When you took the idle cover off did the gasket have an "L" shaped cutout on each side? If it didn't it's an old style gasket that gets soft and will drop down and plug one of the holes. The newer gaskets have cutouts that match the "L" shaped channel on the carb body.

I had the the same problem on my 1990 88 SPL and that was what caused it.

 

[Darrell W.]

Re: 1996 88 SPL won't idle

Thanks for the replys! Unfortunately, I did compression check and found bad cylinder. 3 cylinders had 120 psi and one had 20 psi. Looking at rebuild I guess...

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: 1996 88 SPL won't idle

pull that cylinder head and investigate. it has to come off any way.

 

[aclmvh]

Re: 1996 88 SPL won't idle

The head has to come off anyway, but what did the plugs look like when you pulled them? Were they milky-wet with a water/gas/oil mixture in the bad cylinder? My '98 115 SPL was running great and suddenly stopped idling well, followed soon thereafter by no acceleration- and the feeling that there was no spark and the engine was running one cylinder short. My problem was water in one cylinder, which lead me to pull the head, revealing a breached head gasket in one cylinder.

mvh
Jax/Fl