2 questions. Clicking/tapping sound when key is turned, and engine dying suddenly

[matt1]

Hi. I'm a new owner of an Alberg 30. I have never owned a boat with an A-4, so I am certain to be bombarding you all with questions. The only experience that I have had running the engine under load was the delivery trip 3 weeks ago. After about an hour or so of running, the engine began to act like it wanted to die but kept running. About 15 minutes later, it suddenly died. Attempting to restart, the key was turned and there was an audible clicking noise. Pressing the ignition button, the starter turned over but the engine would not start. After sailing about an hour and a half, the engine cranked right up (The clicking noise was still there). After another hour, the engine did the same thing, acting as if it was trying to die so we shut it down and sailed as far as we could before needing to use the engine to come into the marina. When I turned the key this time, there was no clicking but the engine ran fine for the 30 minutes that it took to reach the dock. I have been back to the boat weekly to crank the engine and it cranks fine with no clicking until today, when the clicking was heard, but the engine cranked after 5 or 6 attempts. What gives? Thanks

[Don Moyer]

The clicking sound is most likely your electric fuel pump, although I'm not sure how it relates to your problem of shutting down since your engine seems to run (or not) whether or not the clicking sound is heard.

I can't identify with certainty from your report whether your shutdowns are fuel or ignition related, so I'm attaching our abbreviated dog-eared checklist for non starting engines to use the next time the engine shuts down and won't immediately restart.

In the meantime, on the instinct that your problem is more likely to be fuel related, I suggest removing the drain plug in the bottom of your float chamber and then turning the ignition switch on to pump some fuel through the system and out through the carburetor; catching the fuel in a clean glass jar. Pump up to a quart of fuel to check the pump's ability to supply adequate fuel and to evaluate the clarity of the fuel. Hopefully, in this process you'll learn more about the clicking sound and its relationship to the fuel system.

Don

[matt1]

Thanks Don. I am going to do these things this weekend. I also ordered from you a new distributor cap, coil, electronic ignition kit, and new impeller. While most of these things probably have little to do with our problem, we figured it made sense to go ahead and do them. After ordering these, we decided to take a cruise this past weekend. We were only about 1000 yards from the slip when the engine began to lose power and ultimately died. The loss of power was new, as the problem before was a hesitation then shutoff of the engine. When we pulled the engine cover, there was water everywhere. Upon removing the insulation on the hard pipe going to the back of the block, the pipe fell apart at an elbow that was badly rusted. That would explain why I was pumping a gallon or so of water from the bilge every time I came down to run the engine. So... we have that to fix too before we know whether any/all of these things were our problem.

[matt1]

The beast lives! After a frustrating repair on the wet exhaust, and repeatedly flooding the engine, it cranked up and runs fine. I think that this engine is a prime candidate for an overhaul, but we are going to try and get a year out of it before doing so. There are some signs that the boat sunk to at least half way up the engine, which is badly rusted. You would all cringe if I sent in a pic of the thing. However, it runs, so we will hold our breath. Plan to take it out and actually run it a while this weekend. Thanks for the help.

[Kelly]

Matt1,

Go here to see a photo of a rusty engine and tell us if we'll cringe even more.

http://www.moyermarine.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1888

If your engine is running now, you'll be able to clean, tune and get it into good shape during the off-season.

Good luck,
Kelly

[matt1]

Good god Kelly! This gives me hope that we may be able to get it to look respectable. How long did this operation take? The nuts on the top of my block are almost completely rusted away. I will try to get a pic up this weekend to see if I can outdo the cringe factor, but it looks like we are close on that. It seems to run fine, but none of the gauges are hooked up. Knowing almost nothing about these engines, I would be happy if anyone could direct me as to where to hook up the water temp. and oil pressure gauges. I found the wiring schematic in the archives, so where to put this or that wire should not be a problem, but where to actually put a sender for each. My dad thinks that the water temp should be hooked in at or near the thermostat (the engine has one, but I suspect it is bypassed since the boat pumps water as soon as you crank the engine.) Thanks for the encouragement, I thought it would need an overhaul for sure.

[Kurt]

I believe the water temp sending unit should be located on the block, right under the thermostat housing area -- above the flywheel area. By the way, that's good your boat is pumping water out the back right when it's started up -- that has nothing to do with your thermostat function. In fact, if your boat wasn't pumping water, that would spell death to your motor, so that should be the first thing you check for right upon start up -- I always look over my stern railing to make sure I'm pumping water right after firing the motor up. Best way to tell if your thermostat is working is to take it out, put it in a pot of water, heat the water up, and use a cooking thermometer to monitor when/if it starts to open up. It will be obvious as you start to see it opening.