www.iFourWinns.com

I have the 8.1 Volvo Penta gasoline engine package on my 2005 378 Vista. Recently, my port engine has been dying at idle when I have been backing into my slip. This has happened even while the engine is well warmed up after we've been our on the lake for a few hours.

A few weeks ago, both engines died at the same time at idle, although that seems to have been an isolated incident (it was when I was leaving the dock and probably didn't have the engines up to temperature).

I purchased the boat used and its had the same gas since last season in the tanks. Would some fuel injector cleaner and a fresh tank of gas help? I just had an oil change/new filters done a few weeks back.

The engines run perfect otherwise, its just when I'm at idle trying to get in and out of the slip. As you can imagine, it has caused some stress while docking.

Any suggestions are welcome. Thanks.

If the gas is that old, I'd work on getting some fresh gas first.

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Jvalich
http://www.badcock.com

'04 FW 288 Vista "Mental Floss"

Surely you've changed the water seperator(s)? I'd get the old fuel out as much as possible and get fresh fuel then also do new plugs gapped correctly and see what you have after that.

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V475
Chris Craft Catalina 23 w/ 300 G2
Previously-V338, 248 Vista, H210

I'll second the gas contamination question. Your 378 probably doesn't have water separators. I don't have them on my 2005 348. I've been considering adding them. There is one for the genset. The fuel filters on mine are in-line up at the engines. It may be a good idea to change yours. That and run out the gas that's already in the tanks. Get it near empty before adding new fuel. Top it off and see if the idling problem goes away. You may end up replacing the in-line filters more than once. Thus going with some new filters that have a separator feature might be worth considering. Then if there is a water problem in the fuel it'd be easier to deal with than the in-line filters.

If it doesn't go away then I'd start to wonder about how well the engine computer and throttles are adjusted. Is it dropping the idle too low or something? I've got 6.0L Crusaders that are fuel injected. I've only had an engine cut out once (while leaving the slip). No idea why, but it's not repeated it.

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-Bill Kearney, 2005 348 Vista

Bill, the Volvo fuel filter at the fuel pump is a water separating filter. The genset, like mine has a Sierra one installed in-line because there is none on the genset itself.

The reason there a raycor inline separators on diesels is the hydrophilic nature of diesel compared to the of gasoline, plus, diesels and water don't mix! They are not nearly as critical on a gasoline engine.

I would suggest that a change of filter/separator and some new fuel is likely to solve the problem.

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Jvalich
http://www.badcock.com

'04 FW 288 Vista "Mental Floss"

Given he posted them as being 8.1 Volvo GASOLINE engines I didn't think about diesel and water separation issues. So if they're actually diesels then you're absolutely right. Water and avoiding bacterial growth are two issues with diesel. Water's less of an issue with gasoline but given the increased use of ethanol it's something to watch out for. Especially if a boat's been sitting unused for an extended period of time without full tanks. Of course then there's also the age of the gas if it's been sitting for too long. Although in my many year of owning old cars I never really ran into trouble with old gas. I can't say for sure, but anecdotal evidence seems to show modern fuel blends are a lot less susceptible (at least in this area) to the issue.

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-Bill Kearney, 2005 348 Vista

Thank you for all of the suggestions - I'll replace the filters, run with new gas and hopefully alleviate the issue.