OK, I got the previous problem figured out, but now it cranks forever and
wont start. When I spray starter fluid in the carb, it acts like its gonna
start. I cant see any gas being sprayed into the carb when its cranking or
when I pump the throttle, so I figure it's probably the fuel pump or a
clogged fuel line. I think the fuel pump is on the outside of the tank so
it's not hard to get to. How do I check to see if its good?

--
Message posted via BoatKB.com
http://www.boatkb.com/Uwe/Forums.aspx/boats/200609/1

Most of them have a marinized version of the same mechanical fuel pump
that was on the auto version of the engine. What engine do you have?
Water is a common problem for boat fuel systems and usually results in
corrosion. Corrosion in the fuel pump keeps the little flapper valves
from closing completely and prevents the pump from working. The main
difference between marine and auto mechanical fuel pumps is that the
back side of the pump diaphram is not vented to the air on a boat
version. You could also have a stuck float valve in the carb. Boats
often have an extra larger fuel filter that doubles as a water
separator. It would be a spin on filter that looks like an oil filter.
Check it too. Do you know how old the gas is in the boat? If it's
been sitting for a long time before you got it you probably need to
drain the fuel tank. Sounds like you might have ignition. You can
pour a tablespoon or so of gas straight down the carb throat to see if
that causes it to fire up for a few seconds. Open the throttle a
little so it will get some air. Don't hold you head over the carb in
case it backfires.

Rand_man50 via BoatKB.com wrote:
OK, I got the previous problem figured out, but now it cranks forever and
wont start. When I spray starter fluid in the carb, it acts like its gonna
start. I cant see any gas being sprayed into the carb when its cranking or
when I pump the throttle, so I figure it's probably the fuel pump or a
clogged fuel line. I think the fuel pump is on the outside of the tank so
it's not hard to get to. How do I check to see if its good?

--
Message posted via BoatKB.com
http://www.boatkb.com/Uwe/Forums.aspx/boats/200609/1

"Rand_man50 via BoatKB.com" u26765@uwe wrote in message
news:667a6470dd012@uwe...
OK, I got the previous problem figured out, but now it cranks forever and
wont start. When I spray starter fluid in the carb, it acts like its gonna
start. I cant see any gas being sprayed into the carb when its cranking or
when I pump the throttle, so I figure it's probably the fuel pump or a
clogged fuel line. I think the fuel pump is on the outside of the tank so
it's not hard to get to. How do I check to see if its good?

--
Message posted via BoatKB.com
http://www.boatkb.com/Uwe/Forums.aspx/boats/200609/1

Would you share with us the fix for the slow cranking?

I suspect that you are at the beginning of a very long and expensive road.
Is there gas in the tank? How old is it? Could the tank be contaminated with
water, rust, scale, or who knows what? A very good way to assess the
situation is to remove the spin on water separating fuel filter and look at
its contents, if any. If the filter doesn't exist, then you should have one
installed between the fuel tank and fuel pump. Please see to it that only
C.G. approved fuel system components are used.
Jim

The gas that was in the tank was very old, about three years, so I drained it
out and put 5 gallons of new gas in it. The engine is a mercruiser 140. The
slow cranking was just because I had light duty jumper cables so it wasn't
getting enough power to the starter. When I connected the battery to the
terminals it cranked fine. It's possible that there is rust and other crap in
the tank. Is the fuel filter/water separator inside the tank or outside
somewhere?

--
Message posted via http://www.boatkb.com

"Rand_man50 via BoatKB.com" u26765@uwe wrote in message
news:667b19f268967@uwe...
The gas that was in the tank was very old, about three years, so I drained
it
out and put 5 gallons of new gas in it. The engine is a mercruiser 140.
The
slow cranking was just because I had light duty jumper cables so it wasn't
getting enough power to the starter. When I connected the battery to the
terminals it cranked fine. It's possible that there is rust and other crap
in
the tank. Is the fuel filter/water separator inside the tank or outside
somewhere?

--
Message posted via http://www.boatkb.com


Thanks.

The spin on filter looks just like your oil filter. If you have one, it is
probably mounted somewhere in your engine space. They are often mounted
directly on the engine with an appropriate bracket.
Jim

Ok, I pulled the fuel filter water seperator apart and it had gas coming to
it, and there was also gas getting to the carb, I guess it just took it a
while to get through the lines to the carb. For a while it would start for
about 2 seconds and die, so I tried it with the throttle up a little. It
started like that, so I figured it just wasn't getting enough gas at idle so
I turned up the idle on the carb. Now it runs! It makes a clattery noise that
sounds like its coming from somewhere between the engine and the propellor. I
don't think it's the engine but I dont want to leave it on too long because I
don't have one of those muff things. I also don't know where to look for that
lube plug thing you were talking about. Is that to lubricate the transmission
or something?

I checked out the floor and it seems pretty solid, not too much bounce. I
ripped out all the interior since it had been sitting in somebody's yard for
3 years, and I don't see any sagging spots. Also the hull looks pretty solid.


There seems to be a lot I don't know about boat engines that could get me in
trouble. I don't wan't to get it running and then blow it up. Is there any
web site or something I could check out to make sure I don't screw up too bad?
Thanks a lot for your help so far, I didn't even know where to start.

--
Message posted via http://www.boatkb.com

Sometimes there is a smaller filter in the carb where the fuel line
goes in. If it does not have a big fuel filter/water separator then
this smaller filter clogs easier. You can test the fuel pump by
disconnecting it from the carb and having someone hold the end of the
line in a small can or jar while you crank. I'd guess you have a fuel
pump problem. Some of the fuel pumps can be disassembled and cleaned.

You should also check the lube in the outdrive before you attempt to
use it. It should be full to the top plug on the side. Then you can
carefully loosen the lower plug and let a few drops of lube out. If it
has water in it you might have a problem. You probably should change
it in any case since you don't know how old it is. If it does not have
water in it then changing is not an emergency. If the outdrive has
water in it you really need to change it. And then check it again
after you have the boat in the water for a while to see if water is
getting in the outdrive. That is a common cause for failure.
Outdrives have to filled by pumping the lube in from the bottom plug.
Just to top one off that is a little low some can be added at the top
plug.

The other thing you will need to check is the raw water pump. These
drives have a rubber impeller style water pump in the middle of the
outdrive. It pumps water up into the engine cooling system. They wear
out fairly regularly from age, sand, etc.

Do you have a set of water muffs hooked to a garden hose? You do not
want to run the engine from more than a half minute or so without
cooling water. The exhaust has rubber parts in it and relys on the
water cooling the exhaust to prevent the rubber parts from gettng
melted.

Clymers has a pretty good manual for these that is not too much. I'd
recomend getting one if you can. Might have to shop ebay for one old
enough to cover 1975.

Before spending any money you also might want to look the hull over
pretty carefully. These boats were mostly built by encapsulating wood
for some of the structural parts like the floor, the stringers (the
boat equivilent of floor joists), and the transom. On older boats this
wood may have gotten wet and rotted. Usually you can tell because the
remaining fiberglass is too flexible or the floor feels soft.
Replacing the rotted wood is a difficult and unpleasant task. Rotten
stringers or transom is often the single thing that makes an older boat
not worth repairing. It would be good to get an idea what condition
they are in before you start spending on engine parts.

Rand_man50 via BoatKB.com wrote:
The gas that was in the tank was very old, about three years, so I drained it
out and put 5 gallons of new gas in it. The engine is a mercruiser 140. The
slow cranking was just because I had light duty jumper cables so it wasn't
getting enough power to the starter. When I connected the battery to the
terminals it cranked fine. It's possible that there is rust and other crap in
the tank. Is the fuel filter/water separator inside the tank or outside
somewhere?

--
Message posted via http://www.boatkb.com

Ok, I pulled the fuel filter water seperator apart and it had gas coming to
it, and there was also gas getting to the carb, I guess it just took it a
while to get through the lines to the carb. For a while it would start for
about 2 seconds and die, so I tried it with the throttle up a little. It
started like that, so I figured it just wasn't getting enough gas at idle so
I turned up the idle on the carb. Now it runs! It makes a clattery noise that
sounds like its coming from somewhere between the engine and the propellor. I
don't think it's the engine but I dont want to leave it on too long because I
don't have one of those muff things. I also don't know where to look for that
lube plug thing you were talking about. Is that to lubricate the transmission
or something?

I checked out the floor and it seems pretty solid, not too much bounce. I
ripped out all the interior since it had been sitting in somebody's yard for
3 years, and I don't see any sagging spots. Also the hull looks pretty solid.

There seems to be a lot I don't know about boat engines that could get me in
trouble. I don't wan't to get it running and then blow it up. Is there any
web site or something I could check out to make sure I don't screw up too bad?

Thanks a lot for your help so far, I didn't even know where to start.

--
Message posted via http://www.boatkb.com

I agree about getting water to it. Also that you can break things if
you don't understand how they work. These things are a bit of a rube
goldburg with basically the bottom half of an outboard attached to the
end of a car engine and how they are put together is sometimes not what
you would think it would be. For example it needs to be in gear
(forward I think) to remove the outdrive. You do not want to run it
for any time at all without water. The way they work is that the
outdrive gets power all the time and the actual gear
engagement/disengagement is in the bottom of the outdrive right behind
the prop. In the shaft in the ourdrive going down to that area is a
rubber impeller pump that should not be run dry. You should see some
water pickup ports on the sides of the outdrive. That is how they pump
lake water up to cool the engine and exhaust. After the water cools
the engine it gets dumped into the exhaust to cool it. The outdrive
has a lube plug on the side near the top and another down at the
bottom. It is filled with marine 90wt. You really need some muffs and
you can get them at a boat store pretty cheap. It is worrying that it
makes a noise between the engine and the prop. Did you get any
indication from the person that gave it to you that it should work? It
might have shifting problems and you are hearing the gears skipping.
It has no clutches, you just engage the gears when you shift it. Or
one of the gear sets could be shot. As is obvious it has to transfer
the engine spin from horzontal to vertical and then back to horizontal.
There is a rubber coupling on the flywheel where you would expect to
find a clutch in a car. These strip out sometimes and that's another
possibility. A service manual would really help you. The details have
changed a bit but even if you borrow a newer service manual for a merc
alpha from a friend it would give you a general idea of how the thing
works.


Rand_man50 via BoatKB.com wrote:
Ok, I pulled the fuel filter water seperator apart and it had gas coming to
it, and there was also gas getting to the carb, I guess it just took it a
while to get through the lines to the carb. For a while it would start for
about 2 seconds and die, so I tried it with the throttle up a little. It
started like that, so I figured it just wasn't getting enough gas at idle so
I turned up the idle on the carb. Now it runs! It makes a clattery noise that
sounds like its coming from somewhere between the engine and the propellor. I
don't think it's the engine but I dont want to leave it on too long because I
don't have one of those muff things. I also don't know where to look for that
lube plug thing you were talking about. Is that to lubricate the transmission
or something?

I checked out the floor and it seems pretty solid, not too much bounce. I
ripped out all the interior since it had been sitting in somebody's yard for
3 years, and I don't see any sagging spots. Also the hull looks pretty solid.

There seems to be a lot I don't know about boat engines that could get me in
trouble. I don't wan't to get it running and then blow it up. Is there any
web site or something I could check out to make sure I don't screw up too bad?

Thanks a lot for your help so far, I didn't even know where to start.

--
Message posted via http://www.boatkb.com

I have the 1975 formula thunderbird 19 footer mercruiser gm250 165 hp
that hasn't run well since the hurricane. i have been helped by the
group here also.

after all the cranking and plug changes, fuel supply change i know it
is the floats in the 1 bbl. mercruiser rochester carb. when the engine
runs the air/fuel adjustment screws do not work. the exhaust shows
signs of running rich by the black soot on the water.

the boat will run fine for a day and then not start for a few days. i
am searching now for a low cost 1 bbbl rochester carb for my boat.

anyone have a carb on the garage shelf ?

sonofadocker


Rand_man50 via BoatKB.com wrote:
OK, I got the previous problem figured out, but now it cranks forever and
wont start. When I spray starter fluid in the carb, it acts like its gonna
start. I cant see any gas being sprayed into the carb when its cranking or
when I pump the throttle, so I figure it's probably the fuel pump or a
clogged fuel line. I think the fuel pump is on the outside of the tank so
it's not hard to get to. How do I check to see if its good?

--
Message posted via BoatKB.com
http://www.boatkb.com/Uwe/Forums.aspx/boats/200609/1