engine fouls plugs

[Noelripley]

Hi, this is my first posting.

I have a 1971 Tartan 30 with an Atomic four; it ran well most of the summer, half way through our trip to Maine it developed a problem most notable when starting the engine. It was hard to start; when it did start it ran on two cylinders, when I pulled the plugs the first two plugs from the transmition side of the engine were loaded with fuel. It now does this every time I start it. So I checked to see if I am getting spark. Yes it has a nice blue spark. It is getting fuel because the plugs are wet with fuel. At this point if I dry out the plugs or swap them with new ones the engine runs reasonability well and will run like this all day, unless I shut it down and it cools off, then the problem returns.

I wounder if it could be the head gasket.

This spring I put the following new components on the engine: spark plugs, cap, rotor, wires, new carburetor, coil and rebuilt the fuel pump. A few years ago I put the indigo electronic ignition on the engine.

Does anyone have any ideas what is wrong?

Thanks, Noel.

[smosher]

Look inside the throat of the carb and see if there's fuel puddling
in the bottom. Could be the float is sticking open. You could remove the passage plug and pump some gas through the carb catching it in a container.
It might flush it out if there's debris thats causing the sticking. The sure fire way would be to open up the carb clean it out and polish the float seat.

I had an issue though in that I used the autolite 437 plugs and after a short time they became fouled and would misfire and the A4 didn't start right up.
Went back to the Champions and it now runs like a clock.

Steve

[Dave Neptune]

Fouled

Noel, first check the choke to be sure that it is opening and closing properly. If the choke is fine it's time to look at the carb. If the carb has not had the idle adjusted properly fouling can be a big problem. Check to see how many turns out the idle adjusting screw is off the seat. It should be somewhere around 1 1/2 turns out. If it is less than that try opening it a half of a turn and see how the engine responds. If the screw does not cause the engine to respond a bit you could have a needle and seat sticking a bit or a plugged air passage in the carb.
Check the choke and the screw then get back to us.

Dave Neptune

[Don Moyer]

Noel,

Hopefully, other Tartan owners will weigh in but if you have an original standpipe exhaust system, I'm wondering if your exhaust system might be failing and allowing a bit of engine cooling water to drip down into your hot section and manifold. One of the symptoms of this problem is the two rear cylinders (plugs) fouling from the moisture. Is the problem worse after sailing?

Don

[Noelripley]

Thanks to everyone for your reply. I will check out the carburator. I actually have a spare that I rebuilt. I could swap out the current one with the spare and see if the problem goes away. If it does, I'll pull the other one apart and see what is wrong with it.

I will also check for moisture comming from the stand pipe exaust.

These are all good places to start. I will check them out this weekend.

Thanks again, Noel.

[ArtJ]

I have a Tartan 34C which has the standpipe. On the 34C you can
remove a few screws from the vertical plywood plenium and inspect the
standpipe. On my boat the standpipe is bronze, followed by black iron
pipe down and over the the exhaust. It should be easy to inspect it
once the cover has been removed. My exhaust exits from the side
directly below and outboard of the standpipe. I replaced the
black iron a number of years ago and have never had a problem with
the exhaust. But check it out anyways.


Regards,

Art