hard to start, rough idle, no power in gear - solved

[mattlamb]

Hope this helps someone else :

So I had an engine that had been giving so much trouble the PO left the boat at my dock and stoped sailing.. now 3 years later, "shelter at home" gives me time to get bored..hmm that sailboat

Starting from clean fuel & fuel filter.
I tried to start, but no luck. (skip to #8 if your desperate)

1/ no spark- replaced-coil, distributor cap, condenser, rotor, points , leads and spark plugs(set @ 0.35)- Great 1" long blue spark from coil lead - no start.

2/ cleaned out sediment bowel, checked fuel pump by manually pumping, good flow-/
2a/pulled carb- cleaned all jets, checked throttle and choke operation. - re installed-better, It starts just, idles really rough and dies.

3/ adjusted timing while running, better - still sounded like it was miss firing but rpms increased ok in neutral with throttle.
Put it in forward gear- it stalled out, also would not go into reverse..

4/ Checked prop turns easily in Neutral -good. - opened tranny panel, adjusted reverse gear as per Dons video in tips section on website - now goes into reverse and runs ok, still very rough, 1st gear rpms will not increase with throttle and engine easily stalls out.

5/ adding squirt of fuel to air intake slows engine - not a fuel issue.

6/ removed rubber exhaust pipes looked through them , all good- ran engine with pipes off (water goes to sump), no real change in 1st gear performance or rpms.

7/ hmmm ok fuels good, exhaust pressure good, idle on carb adjusted, timing good. whats left..
.
8/ back to distributor - removed cap, rotor then top metal plate with points attached - springs and weights which are below the metal plate, all moved ok, bit slow on return? squirted with penetrating oil.

9/ Engine now stars perfectly 1st turn of key, idles smoothly, rpms immediate response, forward gear, lots power no hesitation.
10/ really enjoyed learning about "my" engine

11/ when pandemic cools off will explore gulf islands around east side of Vancouver Island..

I should add thanks to all in these forums, I read all I could and learned a lot!

[Al Schober]

Good for you!
Fuel issues are common, and we get good at addressing them.
Compression issues are also easy to identify. Fixing them is more work.
Spark issues are usually yes/no - not so bad to fix. But spark at the wrong time? Glad you found it issue.

[AFisch]

Hope this helps someone else :

So I had an engine that had been giving so much trouble the PO left the boat at my dock and stoped sailing.. now 3 years later, "shelter at home" gives me time to get bored..hmm that sailboat

Starting from clean fuel & fuel filter.
I tried to start, but no luck. (skip to #8 if your desperate)

1/ no spark- replaced-coil, distributor cap, condenser, rotor, points , leads and spark plugs(set @ 0.35)- Great 1" long blue spark from coil lead - no start.

2/ cleaned out sediment bowel, checked fuel pump by manually pumping, good flow-/
2a/pulled carb- cleaned all jets, checked throttle and choke operation. - re installed-better, It starts just, idles really rough and dies.

3/ adjusted timing while running, better - still sounded like it was miss firing but rpms increased ok in neutral with throttle.
Put it in forward gear- it stalled out, also would not go into reverse..

4/ Checked prop turns easily in Neutral -good. - opened tranny panel, adjusted reverse gear as per Dons video in tips section on website - now goes into reverse and runs ok, still very rough, 1st gear rpms will not increase with throttle and engine easily stalls out.

5/ adding squirt of fuel to air intake slows engine - not a fuel issue.

6/ removed rubber exhaust pipes looked through them , all good- ran engine with pipes off (water goes to sump), no real change in 1st gear performance or rpms.

7/ hmmm ok fuels good, exhaust pressure good, idle on carb adjusted, timing good. whats left..
.
8/ back to distributor - removed cap, rotor then top metal plate with points attached - springs and weights all moved ok, bit slow on return? squirted with penetrating oil.

9/ Engine now stars perfectly 1st turn of key, idles smoothly, rpms immediate response, forward gear, lots power no hesitation.
10/ really enjoyed learning about "my" engine

11/ when pandemic cools off will explore gulf islands around east side of Vancouver Island..

I should add thanks to all in these forums, I read all I could and learned a lot!

Squirted Penetrating oil in the distributor??

Thanks for the run down on your issue...makes me think of some more things I can do with my engine.

[mattlamb]

oil

only on the springs and weights underneath the metal plate below the electrical bits..

[JOHN COOKSON]

Been Done This.......

Hope this helps someone else :


8/ back to distributor - removed cap, rotor then top metal plate with points attached - springs and weights which are below the metal plate, all moved ok, bit slow on return? squirted with penetrating oil.

The fly weights need to move with as little friction as possible to work correctly. "Testing" the advance by turning the rotor and seeing it it snapback back doesn't work. When doing this you are stretching the springs and they will cause the rotor snap back. Unless the springs are shot or the flyweights are jammed this tells you nothing about how much friction there is in the fly weights. As Matt noted the only way to tell if the fly weight are moving correctly is by inspection.

ex TRUE GRIT

Edit: S\B Been There Done This......