Looking for inspiration to troubleshoot the latest challenge.
History:
I've had my A4 for about a year and a half. When I bought the boat, the A4 looked to have been rebuilt and, from the outside, looked to be otherwise fairly well maintained. When I bought it in October 2009, we motored it for the better part of two days without an issue. Worked fine until early last summer, when I discovered the hard way that the cooling system had a few problems - blockage from crud internally, the underside of the thermostat housing had corroded badly, and the mufler leaked, which all led to an brief overheating incident. That taught me the difference between steam and smoke from burning oil.
Maintenance:
Cleared the cooling system blockage, replaced the thermostat housing, installed a new MM SS water lift muffler, and replaced all the water hoses.
Good times/Bad Times:
The engine worked well for a few more trips but one day in September/October, it stalled when I put it in gear and woud only run in neutral. Next time, it was worse, hard starting. Eventually, I got it running by using starting spray into the carb intake.
My belief at the time was that it was a carb issue so I bought and used the carb rebuild kit from Moyer (and also changed the fuel filter). The engine's behavior changed dramatically. It roared to life when started like never before - but would only run at high throttle and stalled in idle. Unfortunately, the winter set in before I could do any more and I had to winterize it and wait until now.
I'm heading off to spend another day on it and still thinking its a fuel delivery issue. I've got a few hunches based on other threads I've read here and a suggestion: (1) idle screw adjust - try counter clockwise adjustment; (2) blocked idle ject - try carb cleaner; and (3) water in the fuel and likely worse now that the fuel sat for five months - replace all the fuel.
I would really appreciate any thoughts or suggestions, particularly as to which I should try first, or not try at all, or if there is another diagnostic think I can do to sort it out.
Thanks much,
Mike
History:
I've had my A4 for about a year and a half. When I bought the boat, the A4 looked to have been rebuilt and, from the outside, looked to be otherwise fairly well maintained. When I bought it in October 2009, we motored it for the better part of two days without an issue. Worked fine until early last summer, when I discovered the hard way that the cooling system had a few problems - blockage from crud internally, the underside of the thermostat housing had corroded badly, and the mufler leaked, which all led to an brief overheating incident. That taught me the difference between steam and smoke from burning oil.
Maintenance:
Cleared the cooling system blockage, replaced the thermostat housing, installed a new MM SS water lift muffler, and replaced all the water hoses.
Good times/Bad Times:
The engine worked well for a few more trips but one day in September/October, it stalled when I put it in gear and woud only run in neutral. Next time, it was worse, hard starting. Eventually, I got it running by using starting spray into the carb intake.
My belief at the time was that it was a carb issue so I bought and used the carb rebuild kit from Moyer (and also changed the fuel filter). The engine's behavior changed dramatically. It roared to life when started like never before - but would only run at high throttle and stalled in idle. Unfortunately, the winter set in before I could do any more and I had to winterize it and wait until now.
I'm heading off to spend another day on it and still thinking its a fuel delivery issue. I've got a few hunches based on other threads I've read here and a suggestion: (1) idle screw adjust - try counter clockwise adjustment; (2) blocked idle ject - try carb cleaner; and (3) water in the fuel and likely worse now that the fuel sat for five months - replace all the fuel.
I would really appreciate any thoughts or suggestions, particularly as to which I should try first, or not try at all, or if there is another diagnostic think I can do to sort it out.
Thanks much,
Mike
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