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Sunsetter vlx high idle, running rich


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Hi I’m going to apologize for the long post ahead of time I just want to provide as much info as possible for best help possible. I’ve been lurking for a while looking for info but didn’t have much luck so I joined the site hoping to find some help.

 Last year at the end of the season I purchased 1996 sunsetter vlx. I took it out one time before winterizing and the boat was smooth and buttery although at start up it felt a little loaded up and white smoked some at startup but cleaned up once I rolled into the throttle and opened it up. It was good the rest of the day. 

  This year when I got it out the first time Anxiously it was all good again. Took it home, replaced water impeller, changed the oil, v-drive oil, trans oil. 
 Third time out I made it about 1/2 mile from the ramp and the boat started losing speed drastically at 4500rpm. Looked back and see lots of white smoke coming from the hatch. The engine died out when I let off the throttle and came to a stop. Raised the hatch and let the smoke clear. Temp guage looked normal around 180. First thing I noticed was the fiberglass strings everywhere. Seen a large hole in the back of the muffler. I believe The exhaust was completely clogged and unable to breathe on the side of the muffler with the hole in it with the broken baffle and fiberglass. Sit for about 15 minutes, started it up to discover the large j-shaped water hose had a big hole in it and was pumping water into the bilge. Shut it off pretty quick. Had a buddy tow me back to the ramp.
 To try and shorten my story I took it home, checked the new water impeller it was fine. Replaced the old rusty exhaust manifolds, and turn down elbows with brand new because they looked bad rusty inside upon inspection . Threw the muffler in the trash, made some aluminum elbows at work and new exhaust hose from local marine shop and Replaced every water hose on the boat. Hooked it up on the hose at home and it started right up but was surging and idling high with quite a bit of gas smell and exhaust smoke. It actually made a big black spot on the grass under the exhaust where it was running and spitting the water out of the exhaust. So I replace iac sensor, tps sensor, and engine temp sensor. No more surge, not sure which one fixed it. But the boat still idles about 900-1000rpms. Still seems to spit a lot of gas out of the exhaust. Tried adjusting on throttle body linkage and checked butterfly to make sure it was all the way closed and it is. The air intake seems loud with the hatch up but I’m not real familiar with the boat or how it sounded the year before. Changed the plugs. They were black and gummy. New ones looked the same after 15min on the hose. Boat does seem to use a lot of fuel on the water but it’s my first v8 tow boat so I don’t know what is normal. I did a fuel pressure test on it and it’s 40psi at key up and running. Holds 40psi good at shutoff.
 The boat accelerates and runs out just fine, tops out about 45mph. But it smells rich and the back of the boat is pretty dirty and oily when I take it out of the water. And the high idle is pretty aggravating maneuvering the boat and loading it on the trailer. 
 Could my muffler delete have caused this higher idle and running rich? I would have thought it would make it run leaner if anything. I hope some one takes the time to read all of that so I can get some suggestions lol
  

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