I am having issues with my motor getting into gear and at idol. It is starting up normal, idol at the ramp then through a mile or two of no wake zones and a half hour run at almost wot. I usually drop it down and cruise slow by my usual flat before shutting down and poling. This weekend when I dropped her in neutral it immediately died. Thought that was weird so I started it back up kinda shakes in neutral and would die instantly when I put it in gear. Took about 15 tries before I could get it in gear. Then it ran fine we stopped by some buddies on the way back to ramp and as I was decelerating it died again. Took another 10+ tries to get her in gear. She then proceeded to run strong to the ramp and I had to set it in neutral to wait at the ramp for about 10 minutes with no issue then hooked it up at home and went into gear ran at low rpms fine and high. Figured I would try to take it out Sunday to see maybe it was bad gas or something in the fuel pump but had a similar experience. After it had trouble getting into gear it ran pretty good for the rest of the day. Any ideas?
Idle speed must be set with the boat in the water, in gear, engine warm so as to avoid the symptoms you are describing. I normally do it while tied solidly, fore and aft, to the dock for convenience and safety. Setting idle while on flush muffs or in a bucket won't work properly due to the difference in back pressure, caused by the water level in the mid section, when afloat.
