06 wakesetter VLX stalling and not wanting to restart

[03ReponseLxi]

I have an 06 Wakesetter VLX and recently after riding for about an hour it stalled out in the middle of the lake after I throttled back to neutral. I tried starting it back up and it cranked a few times and started. It then shut back off after a few minutes. I tried starting it again and it would crank but not turn over. I tried a few times then called a buddy to pull me in. I took to my local boat mechanic and they said they believed it to be a timing issue and wouldn't be able to get to it for a week or so. It was a couple days before memorial day weekend. I brought the boat back to my house and had my neighbor who is a car mechanic take a look at it. He determined that I had fouled plugs and the distributor cap was corroded. He recommended that I replace the plugs and the cap and the ignition coil. I did all but the ignition coil and it started up just fine. It would still take two cranks to get it to fire up when it was cold. I still need to swap out the ignition coil but I was wondering if anyone had any thoughts to whether it might be a timing thing, or a fuel thing, or something entirely different. This past weekend it started stalling again as throttled back to neutral and I would have to prime the engine with the throttle handle to get it to crank.

Thanks in advance.

Jeremy

[tvano]

an '06 should be fuel injected so "prime the engine w the throttle" doesn't do anything except, perhaps, mechanically stress/tickle the components near the throttle (neutral lockout switch and safety lanyard switch) which could have an impact related to your problem.  i'd bypass that safety lanyard switch for a test and see if the problem persists.

i'm assuming that your "get it to crank" phrase really means "get it to start" and not actually refer to spinning the starter/engine (as i believe crank would indicate).

[justgary]

I'm a big fan of cleaning the throttle body when this sort of thing pops up.  It's not the easiest thing to accomplish on the newer engines since it is in the back and slanted down, but you can get a spray can into the throat to hit the butterfly and idle bypass chamber.  You can do it with the engine running if you want, which will keep the cleaner from pouring back out. 

If cleaning works, then great, you are done.  If you don't clean first and just start throwing parts at it, you may never find the problem if it is just gunk in a passage. 

Get catalyst compatible carb cleaner if you have cats.