Help Sea Ray 220 with Merc 5.0 MPI stalls at idle.

jayelwin

Member
May 24, 2015
66
Shrewsbury River
Boat Info
2004 Sea Ray 220 Bowrider
Engines
Mercury 5.0 250hp
SO my 2003 220 with the 305 ci (5.0L MPI) motor all of a sudden wont idle. SO I've been using it all summer no problem at all. Starts and runs fine. Then I'm in the water at the end of a tow rope skis on after a few miles back and forth yesterday tubing and skiing (nothing harsh at all). And I hear my friend say "the boat just stalled". HE can get it started but only with extra throttle and then putting back in idle it stalls. Ugh. I climb on board and we get it started again. I manage to get it into gear after a few tries and we motor back to the dock. At that point it planed and ran at speed fine but as soon as I got close to the slips and put putted in at idle we stall again. Inertia got us close enough to get thrown a line and we are able to pull ourselves in.

So in the slip I played with it for a while. It will start with extra throttle but as soon as you put it in idle it stalls.

And the whole trip back to the dock it was doing two beeps. Temp good at 130-140. Good volts. Good oil pressure around 40 I think I recall.

Could this be something simple? I'm headed to the boat with a few hours tuesday I was wondering what I could try to do to fix it before I talk to the marina guys ($$$$). Something electric I could check? Fuel filter? (not even sure where that is).

The one clue I have is when we finally got it into gear that last time it was sputtering and sounded bad and I had the rear hatch open and I wiggled the thing that the 8 spark wires come out of and that suddenly made it run better so we could plane. Still stalled after that though.

So what could suddenly have gone wrong?

I've rebuilt several vintage Japanese motorcycles as a gauge of my mechanical ability. So feel free to recommend something fairly advanced that I can try with motor in boat.

Thanks.

-Josh
 
SO my 2003 220 with the 305 ci (5.0L MPI) motor all of a sudden wont idle. SO I've been using it all summer no problem at all. Starts and runs fine. Then I'm in the water at the end of a tow rope skis on after a few miles back and forth yesterday tubing and skiing (nothing harsh at all). And I hear my friend say "the boat just stalled". HE can get it started but only with extra throttle and then putting back in idle it stalls. Ugh. I climb on board and we get it started again. I manage to get it into gear after a few tries and we motor back to the dock. At that point it planed and ran at speed fine but as soon as I got close to the slips and put putted in at idle we stall again. Inertia got us close enough to get thrown a line and we are able to pull ourselves in.

So in the slip I played with it for a while. It will start with extra throttle but as soon as you put it in idle it stalls.

And the whole trip back to the dock it was doing two beeps. Temp good at 130-140. Good volts. Good oil pressure around 40 I think I recall.

Could this be something simple? I'm headed to the boat with a few hours tuesday I was wondering what I could try to do to fix it before I talk to the marina guys ($$$$). Something electric I could check? Fuel filter? (not even sure where that is).

The one clue I have is when we finally got it into gear that last time it was sputtering and sounded bad and I had the rear hatch open and I wiggled the thing that the 8 spark wires come out of and that suddenly made it run better so we could plane. Still stalled after that though.

So what could suddenly have gone wrong?

I've rebuilt several vintage Japanese motorcycles as a gauge of my mechanical ability. So feel free to recommend something fairly advanced that I can try with motor in boat.

Thanks.

-Josh

classic symptom of a failing IAC (Idle Air Control) valve...easy and cheap repair.....

cliff
 
I will say that the boat this whole year has always needed a little extra middle button pushed throttle to start up, but then it would idle.
 
dude, do you read any threads here? As stated this is classic IAC symptom.

There was thread last week that listed a part number at NAPA auto that would work for fraction of the price.

Check Amazon. Many parts can be delivered next day.
 
Anyone know where near the north Jersey Shore I could find a part today?

It's pretty widely accepted that the marine and auto IAC valve are the exact same part. I just ordered a Hitachi part from Amazon, part number ABV0006 (my engine is a 2010 5.0 MPI EC, so you might need to double-check to make sure it's the same as yours).

You should be able to pickup this part locally at just about any auto parts store.
 
So I fixed it. It was way easier than I expected. Literally did it one handed in 10 minutes. I shot a video to add to the collective knowledge of the world as that one video we found wasn't that informative.

https://youtu.be/ROOlvjx38BU


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Did you replace the IAC muffler? it is that piece of foam inside the throttle body in your video at the 2:00 mark. they can get dirty and cause issues.

I think my IAC failed because of heat (poor ventilation of a really hot day). I had tube hanging off the back of the boat which kept air from circulating back there.
 
Video should help some folks.


I did a search of "mercruiser stall idle" and your video didn't come up. Maybe it takes time to get in the search feature. If not are there words to add that could help people find it?
 
I didn't replace the muffler because I didn't buy one. I'll order that on line and install it soon.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

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