Hunter 23 UPDATE...Need help.

[bananaboat]

Check profile picture album for the photos please!
This is an update with the woodrot pictures. So please feel free to comment.

NEED HELP with getting motor running!!!
I rebuilt the carb and tinkered all day on the motor. She will fire up for about five seconds and die out. My hand is blistered from pulling the string so much haha. I cannot tell if there is an idle screw that I need to adjust or maybe the plugs are gapped incorrectly. So please help with advice. I am sleeping on the boat til I get it going.
I checked for compression and spark and they are both good. I notice that there is some black sludge in the cylinders but don't know if that's the problem.
It's like she is either starving for fuel or has an incorrect air/fuel ratio to keep going.
I'm sunburned and my back hurts so please help if you know how to fix it. Thanks!

 

[C Jones]

What moter do you have? HP, year, make, model #
Then we can help you, Charles

 

[bananaboat]

Check profile picture album for the photos please!
This is an update with the woodrot pictures. So please feel free to comment.

NEED HELP with getting motor running!!!
I rebuilt the carb and tinkered all day on the motor. She will fire up for about five seconds and die out. My hand is blistered from pulling the string so much haha. I cannot tell if there is an idle screw that I need to adjust or maybe the plugs are gapped incorrectly. So please help with advice. I am sleeping on the boat til I get it going.
I checked for compression and spark and they are both good. I notice that there is some black sludge in the cylinders but don't know if that's the problem.
It's like she is either starving for fuel or has an incorrect air/fuel ratio to keep going.
I'm sunburned and my back hurts so please help if you know how to fix it. Thanks!

UPDATE: I can get the motor to run if I have it at full choke and hold the open the fuel spring by hand. So it definately seems to be a fuel issue or my the setup where fuel goes into the carb needs to be adjusted but i dont see any adjustments. poop.

 

[bananaboat]

What moter do you have? HP, year, make, model #
Then we can help you, Charles

199? tohatsu 9.9 two stroke. I can get it to run now if i play with tthrottle part on the carb but as soon as i let go it shuts down. it just needs tuned but i don't know what to adjust. any ideas?

 

[peptobysmol]

Fuel pump? I've had to replace mine. Seems to have a similar problem as mine did. Would run fine then cut out. I could keep the fuel supply above the level of the engine or compress the priming bulb and keep the motor running. After I replaced the fuel pump... problem solved. However, mine was on an old Johnson 6 hp 2 stroke.

 

[bananaboat]

Fuel pump? I've had to replace mine. Seems to have a similar problem as mine did. Would run fine then cut out. I could keep the fuel supply above the level of the engine or compress the priming bulb and keep the motor running. After I replaced the fuel pump... problem solved. However, mine was on an old Johnson 6 hp 2 stroke.

My motor is carburated and as far as I know it doesn't have a fuel pump. It just runs off a vacuum I think. Thanks for the suggestion.

 

[owner23.5]

I have the same motor "tohatsu 9.9" and have never had an issue with it. brother owns a tohastu dealership here so will pick his brain for ya today when I see him. it cant be anything major as they do build a reliable motor. mines always started first pull no matter how long its sat. As for the wood rot....no clue here Ive seen worse on past boats of mine .Look at the good side when your in the cabin looking at the rot you dont see daylight coming in from the holes so I would assume it could all be either removed /replaced or braced and sistered back into shape. goodluck keep us posted ,true value did have a mixture that I used in similiar situation where as you mixed the parts together and injected it into the rotted wood. it worked pretty good for me I coulded remove a certain piece of rot so injected this and sistered around it , held fine for me .

 

[C Jones]

Bananaboat, repost your engine problem on this site
http://forums.iboats.com/forumdisplay.php?f=29
They helped me fast with a engine problem I had, Good luck, Charles

 

[BrianW]

Fuel filter? Is vent open on fuel tank? BrianW

 

[Sethic]

Check your fuel filters (start with the one at the base of the line which comes from the gas tank). They should be free of debris. If you haven't yet, put fresh gas in the tank.

Before you go spending $100 on a new fuel pump, troubleshoot yours (assuming your Tohatsu has one. My 4-stroke 9.9 Honda does. It should be on the gas tank, or upstream, side of the carb). Take the cables off the spark plugs, disconnect the fuel line from the pump to the carb, and route it to a bottle. Then pull the pullcord. This should actuate the pump, and you should see fuel squirt into the bottle.

 

[RichB]

It's never good to find black sludge in the cylinder heads. Could be a temporary condition from pulling the string too long as the oil in the mixture will collect a little. But that will burn off as long as the plug can fire. How long did the engine sit prior to not starting. If the filter just ahead of the carb is new or clean then my bet is that there is still varnish clogging a jet in the carb. Soak it in cleaner overnight.

One more thought. Look see that the fuel pick-up line hasn't fallen to the bottom of the gas tank. Smell the gas while you are nosing around in there. It never hurts to use fresh gas.

 

[Sethic]

I had a similar issue on my 4-stroke Honda 9.9. Below is what I did. (My methodology was to go from fuel tank to cylinder once I had identified the fuel system as the issue by replacing the spark plugs. I assumed this was starting at the cheapest/easist parts to replace and going forward. Didn't quite work out):

I began troubleshooting my fuel system at the fuel pickup line in the tank - the little filter-sleeve at the end of the line was crammed down against the bottom of the tank and bent in half, inhibiting up-take of fuel. Not quite sure how the P.O. managed to screw that up! I took off the pickup line and cut off about a half inch, so the filter just fit on the end of the pickup line at the bottom of the tank and the whole filter was exposed.

After replacing my fuel line from the tank (including the bulb, Walmart $18) I moved on to the other fuel filter. Replaced that and the fuel pump ($100), which didn't actuate very well, and then moved on to the carb.

At the carb I had noticed previously that the little rubber boot on the accelerator rod which actuates the accelerator piston in the bowl was basically gone (looked to have deteriorated from dry rot?). I hadn't thought too much about that until I rebuilt the carb and realized that the boot being gone meant there was no control of air entering the bowl from the area around the rod (!). Not only that but my accelerator piston was stuck open from the debris (!) etc.

I counter-sunk a bolt into the cavity at the top of the piston which the accelerator rod fits into, and pulled it out of the bowl with a pair of pliers. Cleaned the whole thing up with a can of carb cleaner and re-assembled, with new boot and gaskets ($30). Runs like a top after that.

The boot being gone off the top of the bowl of the carb should have been a red flag (part of the boot was still there; it was clear something had deteriorated), but it wasn't because I didn't understand well enough how a carb worked when I began troubleshooting. Starting at the carb would have saved time and money, but the replacements I made can only help down the road.

You can already figure this - but I cannot describe how much greater my confidence is as a new sailor in maneuvering a 20+ ft boat around other boats in my marina under power when I know I can leave it in gear with the throttle at the lowest speed and fully expect the engine not to stall. It's simply invaluable.