GreyhoundGuy

This should be my final update in this thread. Both problems have been solved. For the steering, I followed @Timr71's suggestions and contacted Ron to get a new steering cable. Because there was also a bit of vertical play in the tilt steering assembly, I ended up replacing that, too. The new setup is solid as a rock, and it steers on a dime. For the loss of throttle, I followed @InfinitySurf's suggestions and followed the fuel. The carb looks okay. The water separating fuel filter was good. The culprit was the fuel pump. After putting the new fuel pump on and replacing the fuel filter with a new one, we took the boat out for a test. We were slowly driving along for a good bit at a slow speed. We turned back towards the ramp (so we'd at least be facing the right direction) and gave it some throttle. The boat responded and didn't let up. It was great! I kept waiting for the engine to die out on me, but it never did... it ran beautifully! MANY thanks to both Timr71 and InfinitySurf for your help! (InfinitySurf, checking the impeller is still on my list).

Hi again, all. Thought I'd post a quick update. We took the boat out about a week ago for a test run. Prior to heading out, I poured in two bottles of HEET to help absorb any water or bad gas. At the lake, we had the same problems with acceleration. It idles fine, goes okay at low speed, but dies out when going for higher speeds. We ended up getting it started and were able to drive slowly back and load it on the trailer. A couple nights later, I took off the old water separating fuel filter and poured the contents into a glass jar to see if there was water choking out the fuel system. There was no sign of water, sediment, particles, or anything. So as far as I can tell, there's no water in the fuel. (Glad to know that the filter is working well, tho.) When I went to O'reilly Auto this morning to pick up another Sierra Water Separating Fuel Filter (they can order them and have them in about a day for about $2 more than Amazon), I talked to one of the guys there. His brother used to have a Ski Nautique and Moomba, so he knows the engines and layout a bit. He said that since there's no problem with the actual fuel (from what I could see), the problem has to be in fuel delivery - most likely the fuel pump. He said that if the fuel pump diaphragm is cracked, it could have enough pressure to delivery the fuel at lower speeds. It wouldn't sputter or anything, but appear to be fine at lower speeds. But upon acceleration, when the diaphragm is working harder to deliver fuel to the engine, it won't be able to keep up, and the engine would end up stalling out. He said on trucks with the Chevy 350 small block engine, if there's a problem with the fuel pump (cracked diaphragm or whatever), the excess fuel gets squirted out of the pump as you drive, and it ends up on the ground or somewhere else on the pump housing where it can evaporate. But you can't do that on a lake, so the gas ends up being sent to the crankcase and mixes with the oil. So he said to pull the dipstick, wipe it on a clean paper towel, dip again, wipe again, and then smell. If it smells of gas, then it's probably a bad fuel pump. So I came home, followed the steps and..... It smells a heck of a lot like there's gas mixed in with my oil! I had just changed the oil in our 4Runner (full synthetic, but should have a similar smell to regular used oil), and I smelled both of them separately. The oil from the boat DEFINITELY smells of gas. So the next step is going to be to put on a new fuel pump, new water separating fuel filter, change the oil... and then at some point, I'll get the steering cable (got it from Ron today) and the bilge pump done, too. Thanks for helping out, @Timr71 and @InfinitySurf. I'll keep everyone in the loop as I move forward. I feel like I'm finally on the right path!

Rereading the above posts, I'll also definitely take InfinitySurf's advice and take a better look at the carb. This'll be my first carb I've ever worked on, so definitely a bit apprehensive... but willing to give it a shot. Again, thanks to everyone with your ideas.

Hi again, all. I wanted to post a quick update with the specs of the boat, and the minimal work I've done so far. (Being a teacher and changing over to Online Learning has had quite a learning curve, for sure!) According to the manual that Timr71 sent (THANK YOU again for the manual and brochures, BTW), I have the 350 Magnum Tournament Ski engine (350 cubic inch, 265 horsepower, velvet drive transmission). So far, I've replaced the flexible hose that runs from the bilge fan to the rear of the boat and out the port. (The hose was in BAD shape, so it's good to have a new one on.) I've also cleaned the spark arrestor. While working on the spark arrestor, I took a look at the carb, and it looks to be in pretty good shape (from the parts I could see). I didn't see any buildup or anything like that. I'm going to leave the carb for now and focus on three other projects. (Small projects first so I can learn as I go.) First, I'm looking at the Water Separating Fuel Filter and wondering, is that the only fuel filter on the boat, or is there another somewhere that I haven't found? If there's another filter (leading into the carb?), where exactly is it? Anyway, I don't know when the Water Separating Fuel Filter was last replaced, and they're cheap enough, so I'm going to go ahead and swap that out. I'm curious to find out how much water it's holding. Second, I was going to look at the fuel pump and flexible hose that runs to the carb, but the hose has been replaced. Instead of a hose like this one (which is transparent so you can see if there's any particles in the fuel line like the manual tells you to do), the hose that's on it right now is a standard black rubber hose. I'll be swapping that out soon... wondering if I should just replace the fuel pump while I'm at it. Lastly, the bilge pump isn't working. The one on there now is an Attwood Sahara s500 automatic pump. I can't get it to activate. Not sure if it's not getting power, or if it's locked up. I tried the small dial on the rear of the pump (like mentioned in this YouTube video from Attwood), but I can't get it to turn at all. Feels completely locked in place. Also, and this is a bit frustrating, it's currently held on with zip ties. There are four mounting bolts for a bilge pump, but this one is basically held on to the rear two bolts by small zip ties over the bolts because it doesn't have any mounting points. I'm wondering what the original bilge pump was for this boat. Anyone have ideas? So that's the update. These are the three projects I'm hoping to knock out fairly quickly. First though, I need to go change the oil in our 4Runner. It's overdue... gotta get it today!! Thanks in advance to all with the ideas and suggestions. I appreciate your help!!

Thanks for the help, Timr71. It's going to be a good project, for sure, and I can't wait to get it running back at 100%. I'll be sure to keep posting pictures and updates as I go along. -Joel

Timr71, I just sent you a PM. Yesterday, I got the spark arrestor nice and clean and got that reinstalled today. I also replaced the flexible hose that runs from the exhaust bilge pump (is that what it's called) inside the engine cover and ran it to the back exhaust port (under the Ski Centurion metal plate). Next up will be figuring out how to examine and work on the carburetor, finding and examining/cleaning fuel filters, and calling Ron about the steering cable. In looking at the steering cable, there's the red line that runs to the rear of the boat and connects to the rudder system. There's also another tube that is mounted higher on the backside of the steering wheel. It looks like it is supposed to have grease inside of it, but it looks like it's bare. Wondering what that hose is for. Any ideas? In other steering fun, I also have to work on the steering wheel tilt system. When locked into position, it still has quite a bit of flex upwards and downwards, so there's something in there that needs to be worked on. I can't wait until I get this boat running well. It's going to be so much fun on the water! Thanks again, everyone.

Yes, it does have a Chevy "stamp" on it, and the spark arrestor cover says Mercruiser. So it's a Chevy Mercruiser 350ci, 265 engine. I just didn't know if I'd be able to get a more specific model number so that I can look up diagrams and such online to help guide me a bit more. Thanks for the response, Timr71. Much appreciated!

Thank you both. I was planning on calling today, but we had some health stuff come up (not Covid-19, but pet health) come up, so it'll have to wait a bit. Random question... I can't find a stamp for the model engine anywhere on my engine. Does anyone know what the engine is in the 1995 Falcon Sport. It says it's 350ci, 265hp. Not sure if that helps. Last... and again, forgive the rookie question... any suggestions on videos that would properly help me to clean out or rebuild the carburetor that is in this engine? Thanks in advance, all.

Hi all. Let me start by saying I'm so glad to have found this forum! We just picked up a 1995 Falcon Sport with just 401 hours. The previous owner gave us a great deal, and included wakeboards, skis, lifejackets, and more. This is our first boat and I grew up with stern drives, so this is my first direct drive, so there's bound to be a large learning curve. With all that said, on to the questions. #1 - We took the boat out for the test drive, and there didn't seem to be any power issues. But when we took it out later that same week, we ended up stalling out twice. We would go slow and easy without a problem, increase throttle, and after a minute or two, we'd start losing power. Eventually the motor would just stop. The first time, we gave it a couple minutes and eventually got it going again. We tried the same thing, slow and easy at first, then increased the throttle. After a minute or two, we lost power, and the motor cut out again. (No backfires or anything... just died out.) This second time, we couldn't get it started right away. The engine wanted to turn over but just wouldn't kick in, so we dropped anchor and had lunch. After about 10-15 minutes, we got the engine started and slowly eased our way back to the ramp to load it back up. I'm really not sure what's going on here. The only thing that was different between the test drive and our ride was that we topped off the gas. However, we also topped off our 4Runner at the same time, so most likely not bad gas. My plan is to start small and work top down. I'm going to clean the spark/backfire arrestor. While I'm working on the arrestor, I'm going to take a look at the carb. (I'm also patching the flexible hose that pulls air out of the engine area so that I can ensure it's got good air... it's got a lot of holes in in right now.) As I said, this is my first boat and really first time working with engines (I do oil changes on ours and such on our trucks, but that's about it). Any advice and/or ideas you can give would be a great help! #2 - The steering is really stiff. REALLY stiff. Regardless of being on the trailer or in the water, the steering just isn't responsive. I really need to crank on the steering to get the boat to turn, and continue cranking in order to take it to full lock, regardless of turning to the left or the right. Wondering where I should start looking to try to make it a bit easier. Let's start with just those two questions. Again, any help y'all can provide will be a big help! Thanks in advance!! -Joel