Spring startup problem. Fuel pump?

[Al Schober]

Wes,
Any crud in the fuel system ends up in the carb. I lost half a sailing season chasing corrosion products that were coming from the polishing filter between the pump and the carb! Yep, the metal of the filter body was corroding & sending c..p into the carb.
My recommendations are to a) change your filters often - two years is plenty, and b) carry a spare, clean carb.
Ethanol fuels are NOT your friend. Protect yourself.

[sastanley]

Another welcome. I am reaching here a bit but this happened to me just today.

I pulled the distributor this winter to lube up the distributor advance weights. Before I did that I set the motor to TDC..I reinstalled the distributor and tried to fire the motor up today, but she would not fire until I rotated the dizzy quite a bit (15° or so) to get the motor to fire. I might be off a tooth on the distributor which I can easily fix by another yank and reinstall..but I did get it to run when I rotated the dizzy enough to match up with the coil firing.

[tenders]

Moyer should offer a proper 5psi fuel gauge kit if these really exist. I looked around for one several years ago, and I think discussed it here, but was unable to find anything that was clearly rated for gasoline. I don't doubt tac's word on this but I do doubt my own ability and motivation to assemble the right parts when I already have a cheapie in place (that runs to 15psi but that does tell me when the fuel pump is working).

[Oldlaxer1]

I had an issue earlier this year where mine would start but not run without the choke on. Apparently in winterizing the MMO or the process of adding it to the cylinders partially clogged the main jet. I had been meaning to put in the adjustable main jet anyway and once I did it ran fine.
I too would highly recommend both a polishing filter and a pressure gauge just before the carb. The gauge helped me identify an intermittent problem connection to the electric fuel pump at the fuse panel.

[WesHeald]

Success! At least partially. I took off the flame arrestor and sprayed Gumout carb/choke and parts cleaner (lots of it) down the throat of the carb with the choke fully open and the throttle closed. I was hoping that a bit would fly into the main discharge nozzle. She fired right oup, fully choked after 2 cranks. I opened the seawater valve and water is flowing.

But now, every time I open the choke fully, it stalls out. Is this an adjustment? Or more cleaning? Or waiting for it to fully warm up?

Wes

[JOHN COOKSON]

Success! But now, every time I open the choke fully, it stalls out. Is this an adjustment? Or more cleaning? Or waiting for it to fully warm up?
Wes

Are you opening the choke fully before the engine is warmed up and it stalls? It is normal to have to use progressively less choke as the A4 engine warms up to avoid stalling. In fact this indicates that the air fuel mixture is not to rich and is somewhere near correct.
Dave N. are you logged on? Perhaps you can fine tune this.
However, if you need to use partial choke to keep the engine running or power up when it is fully warmed you are running to lean. Naturally all of the above assumes the choke is correctly adjusted.

TRUE GRIT

[BunnyPlanet169]

Full choke means the engine is a bit starved for fuel. I think you're only partway there to resolution.

Here's a thread with a great cutaway diagram of the carb from Bill.

https://www.moyermarine.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3169

You can see the internal passages that just aren't going to get clean without some disassembly. Taking the carb off and splitting the halves for simple cleaning is really easy - I think it's worth doing.

[WesHeald]

I just want to say thanks to everyone for their contributions. I finally did remove the carburetor, separated the halves and cleaned everything out. Now she starts up right away and runs smoothly.

I guess I was spoiled by my Honda 9.9 four stroke on my MacGregor 26. My winterization procedure was to run the fuel out of the carburetor until it stalled and leave it locked upright on the transom of the boat. In the spring, I changed the oil, primed it and started it.

I plan on taking the boat south to the Caribbean where it's cheap to store so my question is this. What should I do to the engine if I'm not going to run the engine for a number of months?

Wes

[CalebD]

Good work Wes.

Your Atomic 4 will make a mechanic out of you yet. Mine has taught me quite a bit as has this forum.

I'm not sure that cheap and Caribbean are normally used in the same sentence but that is your lookout. As for storing your boat for several months unused in a warm climate I think the brain trust here could stand behind the following:
-top up fuel tank, add stabilizer. preferably non ethanol fuel.
-change oil. Oil changes with (most of) our engines without filters is recommended at around 100 hours. If you get to the Caribbean you will likely have surpassed that. I thnk that in warm climates 30W oil would be fine as well as 15-40W oil. I always use Rotella-T oil but there are other oils that have similar good characteristics. Check the API label to confirm (American Petroleum Institute - API).
-propbably couldn't hurt to fog the upper cyliners with Marvel Myster oil or SeaFoam or 2 cyl engine oil. It will smoke a bit more on startup but will protect parts from internal rusting.
-couldn't hurt to run fresh water through your cooling circuits. For extra protection run some anti-freeze (RV pink stuff) in there as a rust inhibitor.
-charge up and disconnect batteries from cables while not in use. Check water levels in battery cells and top up with distilled water as necessary. If you must, only leave automatic bilge pump attached to batteries. Would be nice to have a solar panel trickly charging the batteries in a sunny place like that.

Enjoy the trip.

[JOHN COOKSON]

Leave the engine box or compartment as open as possible to enhance air circulation so rusting is held to a minimum.

TRUE GRIT

[Nanook]

Good work Wes.


-top up fuel tank, add stabilizer. preferably non ethanol fuel.

The only thing I would add is to swap these around. Always put in the stabilizer THEN fill the tank. Unless you jump up and down on a rail or otherwise agitate the fuel in the tank for a while, it won't mix in and the Sta-bil will evaporate off out the vent hole.

[sastanley]

Wes, if you know you'll have the boat laid up for a while, spray some fogging oil (like spray Seafoam!) into the carb until it chokes and then drain the carb bowl just as if you were winterizing. I've found that leaving any trace of ethanol laced fuel in the carb for more than a couple of months results in yellow jello like deposits that gum up the works..literally.

[tenders]

Is Seafoam really equivalent to fogging oil? It seems more like naptha, a solvent, to me. Fogging oil is more like 2-cycle engine oil in a spray can.

[sastanley]

tenders, i don't know but I've been using it for years and it seems to work OK for me.