Salutations fellow A4 owners

[marthur]

Actually, some of the late model carbs were produced with a main jet with a tube. The new jets in the rebuild kit are not the same, but those older jets can work.

Sounds like you had lots of other stuff to correct though. Good work on that!

[sastanley]

25yl. Nice work...Baby steps...especially when deciphering P.O. decisions.

[25yearslater]

Thanks for the tips and advise fellas. Still kicking myself in the butt for not considering contamination/damage in the carb considering I replaced everything back of it. A big DUH for me on that. Hey Jonny. I don't have freshwater cooling on mine. Lake Ontario where the boat has been takes care of that. If I were to operate in Saltwater you can be assured I would install freshwater cooling. Gotta be way cheaper than replacing castings.

[marthur]

I don't have freshwater cooling on mine.

I beg to differ! As a fellow Great Lakes sailor, I submit that you have BOTH RWC and FWC : )

[Administrator]

Mike's comment prompts a thought:

Is there a benefit to FWC in fresh water? Would you rather have Great Lakes water coursing through your engine or an antifreeze/"city water" mix?

Bill

[romantic comedy]

FWC allows the engine to operate at a better temperature. Better warm ups. Longer engine life.

With some fooling around with the cooling system, I guess fresh water RWC could get close to FWC.

[marthur]

Is there a benefit to FWC in fresh water? Would you rather have Great Lakes water coursing through your engine or an antifreeze/"city water" mix?

Along Lakes Michigan, Huron and Superior, the vast majority of cities along the coast use the lake water for their municipal supply. Lake water will put calcium carbonate deposits on the inside of your motor, but nothing like the deposits from salt water. In fact, many cities with older houses and pipes adjust their water additives to increase deposits of calcium carbonate--that coats the inside of lead pipes and covers lead based solder joints making the water out of those pipes safer to drink. A vinegar flush once a decade would probably take care of the deposits from great lakes water. Other lakes and rivers can deposits LOTS of organic material--but those things will get deposited into both heat exchangers and engines. Upshot, on the Great Lakes we can run our RWC engines at 180 degrees for efficiency and not worry about deposits. All and all, a draw on this concern.

A benefit of FWC system is the anti-freeze, which helps inhibit corrosion. The rate of corrosion for raw lake water is pretty low and we have a short season in the great lakes, so that is not an overwhelming benefit.

Where I sail on the great lakes the water stays pretty cool throughout the season. Surface temps on the open waters reach the 60's with only a few sheltered places getting into the 70's. All that cool water increases the cooling efficiency of the engine.

On the other hand, RWC requires only one water pump, no heat exchanger and fewer rubber hose connections to worry about.

[marthur]

With some fooling around with the cooling system, I guess fresh water RWC could get close to FWC.

That is the reason to run with a thermostat. My RWC motor routinely runs at temperatures similar to a FWC motor. I see relatively little carbon build up and great fuel economy, so I like the hotter temps.

[sastanley]

marthur, that sounds like a good argument to me.

The one time I sailed on Lake Ontario (trailered a J/29 up there for Intergalactics) I was amazed that I could just open my mouth and re-hydrate on the upwind legs..Usually, we are passing water bottles around the boat after every corner...Just a weird phenomenon a salt water sailor was not used to. Very sweet tasting too.

[ndutton]

Intergalactics?

This is a reflection on the organizers rather than the participants but oh my, racers can be quite taken with themselves sometimes, no? Intergalactics, a 7 MPH race on a big lake. Zowie

[hanleyclifford]

I think that means they allow Canadians.

[sastanley]

That was a joke..i don't take myself to seriously..It was officially the J/29 North American Championship. That was probably 8 years ago.

We were 2nd or 3rd that year, although the last year they held the NA's 2 or 3 years later, we did win them.

Any regatta can be called the "Intergalactics"

[Mo]

Sounds like it was organized by a bunch of space cadets...just saying LOL. Racing around here has diminished quite a bit....allot of BS and, as far as I'm concerned corruption on the scale of an Olympic figure skater judge attitude...allowing a few people to change boat performance ratings despite 30 yrs of proven results from those boats. So, the racing regattas have a fraction of the boats entered that they once had. Of course, the tools making the rules still race and wonder why no comes anymore. F'n idiots.

I will say this here now...give me 25 kts of wind and I'll turn them inside out single handed...its been done. Anyway...rant over.

[25yearslater]

Anyway the problems persist. Motoring into the harbor at slightly above idle, I hate this folding prop, the last 2 times the engine mysteriously stops. Press the start button and away we go again. Add choke and the restart is less than reliable. So my thoughts are, the ignition pull switch falling apart internally, coil, points, condenser or cap. Am I missing anything else. Alternator registers 35 amps on the gauge and batteries are dual purpose 930 CCA with 210 minutes reserve capacity. Fuel clean and water free.

[ndutton]

You said one thing that caught my eye:

Alternator registers 35 amps on the gauge

If the gauge can be believed (and why not?) it indicates your battery is VERY low. Running at slightly above idle the alternator is not spinning fast enough to produce a charge so you're running completely off the battery and if it's way low you may not have enough voltage to maintain reliable coil operation.

If the RPM is higher upon restart, like 1000 RPM, the alt is working and the engine is receiving the voltage it needs.

Just a guess but if correct the bigger question is why is the battery so low? The contradiction though is if the battery is so low I'd expect difficulty in restarting which was not mentioned.