Replace or Rebuild Carburetor?

BigDog9721

Member
Jun 25, 2020
45
Brentwood, TN
Boat Info
'92 Sea Ray BR 200
Engines
MerCruiser 4.3L V6 262ci
92 SeaRay rebuilding... engine running but won’t hold idle... replace or repair? Cost?
 
I would say rebuild. Boat carbs don’t generally wear out, but seals and floats deteriorate. Normally a good rebuild and adjustment brings them back to like new performance.
 
Used to rebuild carbs with a 6-pack and would resolve ambiguities with a flip of coin. Extra parts would remain but it ran OK. In retrospect, carb rebuild is a job for experts.
In researching marinized engines, authorities explained how much the carb has to differ and be compromised to work in a boat where continuous high flow is the norm, not just for passing. New or rebuilt boat carb would be my thought and there is one that is the best-all I remember is that I am lucky to have injection. Also, carbs are where vapors, leaks, fires, and explosions originate.
 
Factor in the possibility of the carb not being setup or adjusted perfectly for your application. Who will adjust idle, etc? The trial and error of installing a carb sent out for rebuild could offset the purchase price of a brand new carb.
 
I had both carbs rebuilt when I bought the boat 3 years ago. The guy was a carb rebuilder, thats all he does and is pretty well known in these parts.He said there was corrosion in the carbs but he cleaned that all up
The boat ran OK, but would always cut out at idle (just when approaching a dock with 50 people watching!) Cost was $125 each.
I then bought 2 rebuilt carbs from Guaranteed Carburetor, what a difference. Easier starting, better idling, no more stalls and more fuel efficient.
Cost was $250 each ( I think).
For me, well worth the cost. You can go new with electric choke, but cot will go way up!
My $.02
 
https://flyingfishcarburetors.com/

My go-to guys for carbs...
Swap out with a flow tested and set to go rebuilt unit, you bolt on and go.
Thanks for that link. Our boat had sat for 3 years with ethanol fuel in it and we had some trouble with it. Had to drain all the fuel but still had issues so I rebuilt the carb myself (have alot of experience building race engines and tweaking carbs). But I don't have all the best cleaning tools to get it spotless. I used carb cleaner and compressed air to blow out all the ports. Boat runs much better but occasionally I have an idle issue so was wondering if there still might be something in the idle port. Looked at buying a new carb but they were about $1300. Only $258 on this site. Might order one this week.
 
92 SeaRay rebuilding... engine running but won’t hold idle... replace or repair? Cost?

I just replaced an engine in my 1995 290 with 4.3's. I lucked out and bought a pair of NOS carbs for this motor for a song from a dealer clearing old inventory. Bolted them on, adjusted a bit, and the engines start with a flick of the key and never ran better.

Prior to this I was originally going to send mine out for rebuild but then I learned that the Edlebrock 1409 is the EXACT marine carb as the original Carter/Weber 9600S 4 barrel. The rebuild parts are the same, too. Apparently Edlebrock bought the rights Tom this carb and produces them. I found that they're not far off in pricing new as a good rebuild might cost.

As an aside, I have a new 9770 4 barrel carb which is a square bore for a 5.7 liter engine. It's the same carb with a square bore vs a spread bore and slightly different jets...which are interchangeable. I don't have a use for this carb and will probably list it soon.
 
My 280 has Mercarbs. They’re really not much more complex than the mower, outboard and golf cart carbs that suffer so often from ethanolitis. In some ways, they’re easier because everything is bigger. (I could never get the idle jet on my 6HP clean. Fortunately the kits included them)

I bought a 3rd rebuilt carb so at the first hint of trouble I can just swap it out.

I already have electric chokes though. When everything is clean, they start almost like FI. If they didn’t start easily, I’d definitely buy “modern” carbs.
 
+1 on Flying Fish down in Largo.

I had buggy Holleys on my last boat, got sick of fiddling with them and sent mine down there. He didn’t have suitable cores.

Bolted then on, fired up immediately and with minor idle mixture tweaks was all set.

Current boat had tired PITA Q Jets. I hate working on Q Jets so I replaced them with Edelbrocks and have had 4 trouble free years so far.
 
Yeah, unless you feel comfortable trying to rebuild yourself, a rebuilt one from a place like Flying Fish is probably the way to go. I chose to rebuild mine because 1. I had done it before and 2. I had plenty of time to fiddle with it. I figured worst case I was out the cost of the rebuild kit and I could buy a rebuilt one to get me out of the hole!

A few tips if you choose to rebuild it yourself:
Don't try to do it on the kitchen table while your wife is away.
The dishwasher should not be used as a parts washer.

just saying.
 
lol. Bowling balls in the oven don't go over too well either. Yes, I have done that.

I love Q-jets. I have rebuilt and modded several. They are typically more responsive and more fuel efficient than Holleys or Edelbrocks becaues of the spreadbore but the Holleys and Edelbrocks are easier to work on. I rebuilt the Q-Jet on our 1986 250DA and it ran perfect but this carb was pretty polluted up from old ethanol and I'm not certain I got it all out of the fuel passages.

Our Crownline has a Mercarb 2bbl with TKS. $258 with exchange at Flying Fish. Pretty good deal.
 
I think that half the battle with rebuilding is the inability to really clean them thoroughly.

The carb shops boil them in some magic acid and I’ve never been able to get them that spiffy.

Quadrajets seem to be in a territory of their own and anyone who really understands them and is successful with them gets a tip of the hat from me.
 
The key in determining rebuildability is the play in the throttle plate shafts. If you can move the shafts laterally (ie the shaft bore in the baseplate is large enough to allow the shafts to rattle) then new carb. The reason is the idle air calibration cannot be accomplished due to the air leaks around the shafts. Other than that and making sure the metering jets and passages are clean a $40 rebuild kit is all that's needed.
 
Just ordered it. Should have it on by next weekend. Our current issue is intermittent so won't be sure right away if it is better or not but based on how bad the float bowl looked I'm not confident I got all the fuel passages clean just using carb cleaner and compressed air so this should eliminate that.



 
You've got a lot more cleaning to do beyond that. And, the entire Carb needs to be disassembled. The only thing that doesn't get taken apart is the throttle shafts and butterflies. Soak the pieces in Carb cleaner (get the gallon can with a basket in it from NAPA) at least over night.... All of that gasket material must be removed to metal. It needs to be surgically clean and laid out on a white towel for assembly. My OCD talking....
 

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