Well knew it was just a matter of time before I was going to have to post, I have been busy reading and getting intimate with our new to us Atomic and Sailboat.
I will try and be brief and give you some history and give my current situation.
We purchased a older 1976 Late Model Northern 29 at the end of Aug last year ( raw water cooled and always been on Lake Ont )and it was basically a 2 day motor trip home with it on Lake Ont. Coming home we had a leaky water pump ( no big deal and it was replaced with a new Moyer MMI 502, will rebuild the old one so I always have a spare ) as well as engine smell down below so I installed the Indiglo Crankcase Ventilation kit this spring and the last issue was it was a bit hard to start and smelt like it was running rich ( as well as you could tell the carb had been apart by the way it was sealed ) and again no big deal as I ordered the rebuild kit the same time as the water pump and rebuilt it over the winter.
Well on spring Launch because I got a little rammy I fired it up before I installed a polishing filter before the Carb and got it running but never really well. The carb was the older 4 bolt style so that explains all the sealing that was on it before. So long story short I ordered a new Carb from Moyer ( again will re clean the old rebuilt one to again have as a spare ) and installed a polishing filter before the carb.
Well life was going well, installed new rotor, cab , wires, and plugs and we even took our first trip of the year to another club for a few days. Next on my list was to tackle a leaky window, bee's building a nest in our sliding hatch and the eng running a bit warmer than I like.
The other day we went to go for a sail and when we decided to fire up the motor she wouldn't start. We shut off the raw water before we would cause any problems ( this is good ) and its like what the heck, gas was on, key is on still nothing ( guess this is when that fuel pressure gauge would be handy ) so I pulled the coil wire off and held it away from the block and verified I had spark which I did. I pulled plug 4 and looked ok maybe a bit wet and the same with plug 3, then I pulled plug 2 and 1 and they were really black and sooty ( like a chimney sweep would look like ).
So lucky for me (at least I guess, I like to have some spares) I had a new set of RJ12's onboard ( wish I would have pre gapped them before hand, ADMIRAL had the helm tacking in the bay while I was down below ) so we put them in and we got her running but was running a bit rough and I leaned out the mix screw 1/2 turn to help with the black sooty pulgs as well as for some reason she didn't want to idle properly so had to give that a tweak ( hmm ?? ).
We got her back in the slip but she is not running right (almost like its gasping for air , flooding its self , lazy throttle if this makes sense ) . So we had a beer and the Admiral and I critiqued our day.
I went back down Sat morning and pulled the 4 plugs ( again maybe 15 mins running on them, from the Bay back in to the club ) and they were all black and sooty. I had brought a compression gauge but it was one of those hold on the hole styles and I struggled getting readings so went looking for a screw in type.
So back down Sunday with the screw in type and this is what I measured cold with all 4 plugs out- 1= 40, 2= 30 , 3= 25, 4= 25 . So then I fired the motor up and ran it till it was running about 150-160 then I shut it down a remeasured and got 1= 40 , 2= 30 , 3= 35, 4=35 as well as I took my laser temp gun and took some readings on the head at each plug as well as at the exhaust flange to the mixing elbow. As soon as I figure out how I will attach a pic of the temp mapping I did ( as well as we have about 6 other Atomic's in our club so I am going to map their temps to mine as comparisons ).
So I guess my first question would be the Low compression ( sorry this is the first time I have checked this on the boat ) , looking in the plug holes the valves appear to be seated - but very sooty / carbony as well. Thoughts ???
My initial issue of not starting and 2 sooty plugs ???
Lastly once I did get her running it was running rough ???
I plan on:
- Temperature mapping some temps of the other atomic's in the club to compare to mine as I am thinking possible exhaust blockage
- Spend some time on a good working atomic to compare acceleration and carb performance and have those owners listen and get a feel for how mine works
- Pull my sentiment bowl and see if there is any dirt ?? ( I have all ready verified I have no water in my fuel tank as well as this is the same tank of fuel I was using on our recent 4 day cruise with no issues )
- Pull carb off and give it a good cleaning ( hate to have to do this to a brand new carb )
So here is my current situation ( knew it wouldn't be short and sweet - sorry folk's). I have access to the Moyer Manual and will have it in my hand hopefully later today .
So looking for thoughts and suggestions
thanks, Chapster5
I will try and be brief and give you some history and give my current situation.
We purchased a older 1976 Late Model Northern 29 at the end of Aug last year ( raw water cooled and always been on Lake Ont )and it was basically a 2 day motor trip home with it on Lake Ont. Coming home we had a leaky water pump ( no big deal and it was replaced with a new Moyer MMI 502, will rebuild the old one so I always have a spare ) as well as engine smell down below so I installed the Indiglo Crankcase Ventilation kit this spring and the last issue was it was a bit hard to start and smelt like it was running rich ( as well as you could tell the carb had been apart by the way it was sealed ) and again no big deal as I ordered the rebuild kit the same time as the water pump and rebuilt it over the winter.
Well on spring Launch because I got a little rammy I fired it up before I installed a polishing filter before the Carb and got it running but never really well. The carb was the older 4 bolt style so that explains all the sealing that was on it before. So long story short I ordered a new Carb from Moyer ( again will re clean the old rebuilt one to again have as a spare ) and installed a polishing filter before the carb.
Well life was going well, installed new rotor, cab , wires, and plugs and we even took our first trip of the year to another club for a few days. Next on my list was to tackle a leaky window, bee's building a nest in our sliding hatch and the eng running a bit warmer than I like.
The other day we went to go for a sail and when we decided to fire up the motor she wouldn't start. We shut off the raw water before we would cause any problems ( this is good ) and its like what the heck, gas was on, key is on still nothing ( guess this is when that fuel pressure gauge would be handy ) so I pulled the coil wire off and held it away from the block and verified I had spark which I did. I pulled plug 4 and looked ok maybe a bit wet and the same with plug 3, then I pulled plug 2 and 1 and they were really black and sooty ( like a chimney sweep would look like ).
So lucky for me (at least I guess, I like to have some spares) I had a new set of RJ12's onboard ( wish I would have pre gapped them before hand, ADMIRAL had the helm tacking in the bay while I was down below ) so we put them in and we got her running but was running a bit rough and I leaned out the mix screw 1/2 turn to help with the black sooty pulgs as well as for some reason she didn't want to idle properly so had to give that a tweak ( hmm ?? ).
We got her back in the slip but she is not running right (almost like its gasping for air , flooding its self , lazy throttle if this makes sense ) . So we had a beer and the Admiral and I critiqued our day.
I went back down Sat morning and pulled the 4 plugs ( again maybe 15 mins running on them, from the Bay back in to the club ) and they were all black and sooty. I had brought a compression gauge but it was one of those hold on the hole styles and I struggled getting readings so went looking for a screw in type.
So back down Sunday with the screw in type and this is what I measured cold with all 4 plugs out- 1= 40, 2= 30 , 3= 25, 4= 25 . So then I fired the motor up and ran it till it was running about 150-160 then I shut it down a remeasured and got 1= 40 , 2= 30 , 3= 35, 4=35 as well as I took my laser temp gun and took some readings on the head at each plug as well as at the exhaust flange to the mixing elbow. As soon as I figure out how I will attach a pic of the temp mapping I did ( as well as we have about 6 other Atomic's in our club so I am going to map their temps to mine as comparisons ).
So I guess my first question would be the Low compression ( sorry this is the first time I have checked this on the boat ) , looking in the plug holes the valves appear to be seated - but very sooty / carbony as well. Thoughts ???
My initial issue of not starting and 2 sooty plugs ???
Lastly once I did get her running it was running rough ???
I plan on:
- Temperature mapping some temps of the other atomic's in the club to compare to mine as I am thinking possible exhaust blockage
- Spend some time on a good working atomic to compare acceleration and carb performance and have those owners listen and get a feel for how mine works
- Pull my sentiment bowl and see if there is any dirt ?? ( I have all ready verified I have no water in my fuel tank as well as this is the same tank of fuel I was using on our recent 4 day cruise with no issues )
- Pull carb off and give it a good cleaning ( hate to have to do this to a brand new carb )
So here is my current situation ( knew it wouldn't be short and sweet - sorry folk's). I have access to the Moyer Manual and will have it in my hand hopefully later today .
So looking for thoughts and suggestions
thanks, Chapster5
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