I have a new 2010 36 FPR Prodrive and are having problems with the engine flooding. It will idle for a while and then start surging, and belching black smoke. It will stumble when throttling up the rpms and sometimes backfire with a flame coming out of the pipe. Any ideas before I have to haul it back to the dealer?

check ur plugs

is it one of the marine phs?

my marine PD has been a good engine...that sucker will idle all day long if you let it...my old PD would choke up and die after idleing for just a little while.

Yes it is one of the new Marine engines.

I have a 2010 PD that was doing the same thing. I would idle around picking up decoys and it would load up and cut off. I removed the EPA safety caps from the mixture screws so I could adjust the idle mixture. Found out they were about 1 turn to rich, adjusted the idle after the engine was hot and now it runs great. Idles at 1100 without any load and about 900 in gear. This also helped the high speed performance and off idle engine response I beleive because the engine pulls some fuel through the idle circuit at WOT. One note on the EPA safety caps, They are very hard to get off and the mixture screw is undercut so they will break of if pryed on. They do make a tool to remove these caps but I took a sharp pair of side cutters and cut the cap down so I could remove the screws. Once I had the screws out I used the side cutters to remove the rest of the plastic cap. I then took the screws to work and machined a screwdriver slot in each screw head so I could adjust. One replacement screw is about $22.00 so becareful when removing the EPA cap. I hope this helps.

Thank you Willy, That is the kind of response I was looking for, but I really do not understand enough about this to attempt what you were referring to. I do not even know where to look for these screws and I thought that the settings were preset at the factory and were not adjustable. What are the EPA safety caps?

The EPA safety caps are the black triangle looking caps that cover the idle mixture screws. These are installed on the mixture screws so you can't adjust the idle mixture some sort of government regulation for cleaner air I think. They are preset from the factory, however they use a generic setting that does not always work based on altitude, weather, humidity, etc. The mixture is real easy to adjust once you remove the EPA caps.

If you remove the top cover looking straight down on the engine from the top behind the air cleaner you will see the screws on the carburetor. The top cover is attached with 2 screws that you will only need to turn 1 turn, then remove the top cover (it will lift straight up) to expose the carburetor. You will see the idle mixture screws on each side of the carburetor they will be brass in color with a black EPA triangle cap.

BrookSD

Did you get your engine fixed?

I did, I'm sorry I should have posted the reply earlier.

I ended up taking the motor to a local Briggs Master Tech and he checked out everything. Ended up taking the carbuerator off and found that a carb vent line was plugged, blew it out and the problem went away. I did not actually get to speak to him, only read the repair ticket, so I do not know where this vent line is located. It would be nice to know for future reference. Thanks for your help.

What kind of speed are you seeing out of your boat?

I have only ran the motor in deep water, due to the fact that everything is flooded in my part of the world, but loaded for hunting, 2 men, 12 gal gas and decoys, I have been posting 23.5 to 25.5 mph. The very best it has every done was unloaded running with a very strong down river current and it posted 29.5 and 24.5 going against the current.

I am seeing about the same thing in a 18 x 52 Phowler with a 36 PD. 3 men, 2 dogs, 12 yo boy and gear I get about 20 mph. 2 men, 1 dog and gear I get about 23.5 according to my GPS all in deep water. I have not run it empty yet.