Sweet 16 Stalling .. help!

[Al]

Hi Folks,
I have an '89 Sweet 16 with 4.3 Merc H/O with pointless ignition. (does this mean having this kind of ignition is pointless :-) )
It stalls after warm up at the dock or while running. It will start back up (most times) but sometimes I have to paddle back to shore.
I suspect the ignition amplifier module mounted on the exhaust riser. Since the problem is intermittent I am having trouble being sure. any good test ideas or expeience?
Thanks
Al

[Looped]

Al,
Before jumping to the electrical parts have you changed out the fuel filter & checked the fuel lines to make sure that they are free flowing? Another thing (hopefully not) you could have something in the fuel tank that keeps clogging the fuel pickup.

Welcome aboard!
Craig

[Sam]

Craig is right, I have had many issues resolved by changing/cleaning my fuel filters. You would not believe the crap I have cleaned out of my 38' filters. When they build the boats they are not real careful to keep the gas tanks free from contaminants.

Sam

[Al]

Great ideas!

I will check and post the result.
Thanks
Al

[Stix Magill]

Al,

Check your battery connections. I was having the same stalling problems. My Donzi would start back up only to stall again within a few seconds. The battery terminals were finger tight, but I tightened them with a wrench anyway. No problems after that! I hope your problem is so easily solved.

Scott

[MOP]

The fuel issue is what most stalling is all about, but one quick thing to try is to immediatly check for good spark as soon a it stalls. I've seen a few that had a coil that would give you grief on the Merc's CD ignitions. Good luck it can be apain at times.

Phil / Long Island

[GEOO]

Al,
Two things come to mind.
First do you have a coil? Some times coils over heat and stop working. Second the fuel system, pick-up, filters etc.
Your best bet is to plug it into a Merc computor.
Hey, don't worry about the paddle thing. It's my only way to dock. GEooooooooo.

[Al]

Hi Folks,

OK I got the solution from a Donzi expert in Bradenton Florida. You guys were right about the fuel issue. Guys name is Andy and he restores old Donzi's for folks all over the US. He ownes 5 Sweet 16's. He told me there is a ball valve in the gas tank pick up that is required by the Coast Guard to stop fuel flow in the event the boat overturns. It is in the elbow screwed into the top of the tank. It easily clogs and causes the boat to run at idle and power up for a few minutes before stalling. Took me 15 minutes to remove it. Saved alot of money.

Email me if you need Andy's number. He really is a Donzi expert.
Al

[SundanceKid]

Never hurts to have another Donzi expert, so send him here! :D

[BigGrizzly]

WBatman had this same problem traced it down and got rid of the origional and put on a real distributor and no more problems. Ask bill he will give you the scoop. He did have the omc distributerless ignition.

Randy