ISurvivedNMU

It seems every year the no wake zone in the river I run gets larger and larger.... It is about a 45 minute run from the dock to the bay, and a hour to an hour and a half from the bay to the bars. SUCKS...

I just bought a 2000 fountain with the 500HP carb and it seems to idle quite well. Should I be concerned about idling this motor for long periods of time at 850-1000 rpm's....

Will there be any long term effects.... Or should I do something since i know there will be so much idling on this engine...

My 350's and 454 seemed unaffected by this... but they were stock black merc's....

Raylar

ISurvievedNMU
If the engines are running fine the long idle will work ok, but with carbs, tuning is more critical, make sure when the boat is in the water sitting at an idle attitude that the fuel bowl level is right at the bottom of the sight screw on the side of the bowls. If it is high it can dump to much fuel at idle and cause overfueling at idle. This tends to wash the rings with fuel and shorten ring life.
Also offshore boats tend to pound and slam more and this tends to knock the fuel float levels out of adjustment sooner. If you are idling this much every time you use your boat I would recommend changing your oil twice as often as recommended. Oil is cheaper than engine overhaul.
Raylar

p4-33

This solution is a simple one... your dock needs to be closer to the bars, and your idle time will be reduced considerably.

Cheers,
Brian