could it be the plugs. i had i smiliar problem with my first boat and it was doing the samething and i had a bad plug.

The carb sawap was the first thing I did. what is the distributor "pick up" never heard that term before. let me know I will swap it in a minute.

What year engine and what is the serial number. I had to replace an ecu on one that was under warranty. It would cut out at high rpms and it was caused by the interupt switch. Unplugging the switch made it go away but the ecu had to be replaced to correct the problem. There is a service bulletin on this. Probably an 02 or 03 engine.

its an 85 engine no ecu. old fashioned coil ignition. i should also ad it was repowered in 2001 with all stock components it only has roughly 45 hours on it.

85 was thunder bolt ign and did have a module

yup thats it I didn't realize the ignition box was concidered an ECU, i guess i am stuck in the cra frame of mind. does that change anything as far as what else to check for. I went out and purchased plug wires today they will go on in the morning. I just wish I could figure whether it was fuel related or ignition. Prior to this post I was convinced it was ignition, but after hearing what everyone has said I have no clue now.

back then they are concidered moduales, late model are ecm, ECM s are a efi computer for reading the inputs from sensors and controling outputs


moduales for the most part control coil signal, spark advance/ total timing,rev limit

hmmm could I have a bad module or is that rare?

it does happen, not often

GOODT Thanks for all the help i truly appreciate it.