Well, I certainly had heard a lot of stories about bad gas but this is the first time I got burned. I had to bring my dinghy down to the club, as after Labor Day you have to rely on your own transportation. I threw a quick coat of bottom paint on then decided I better test my reliable and neglected 4hp Suzuki outboard. Four hours later it was running like a top.
Yes I did say four hours! When it wouldn't start I drained about a cup of water out of the built in 1 gallon fuel tank. I couldn't believe there was so much water in it and I'm a chemist. Furthermore, there was flock in the fuel, like something had grown in it. After a number of rinses I still was getting cloudiness when I shook the tank, so I finally pulled it off to shake fuel around in it and dump it out. It still wouldn't start. Finally after we had the carb on and off a number of times we cleared a bunch of crap out of the bowl but eventually figured out that the float was stuck in place with corrosion (motor is used in salt water and is never flushed ). After we got it cleaned up we also replaced a connection on the kill switch that looked corroded.
Runs like a top now! Then of course we hit a ridiculous amount of traffic so we never did end up going sailing yesterday. We did go for a brief sail this morning though. We were busting to get the outboard running because the plan was to sail, then to watch the Pats/Giants game, crash on the boat overnight, grab breakfast at a nearby diner and come home.
Yes I did say four hours! When it wouldn't start I drained about a cup of water out of the built in 1 gallon fuel tank. I couldn't believe there was so much water in it and I'm a chemist. Furthermore, there was flock in the fuel, like something had grown in it. After a number of rinses I still was getting cloudiness when I shook the tank, so I finally pulled it off to shake fuel around in it and dump it out. It still wouldn't start. Finally after we had the carb on and off a number of times we cleared a bunch of crap out of the bowl but eventually figured out that the float was stuck in place with corrosion (motor is used in salt water and is never flushed ). After we got it cleaned up we also replaced a connection on the kill switch that looked corroded.
Runs like a top now! Then of course we hit a ridiculous amount of traffic so we never did end up going sailing yesterday. We did go for a brief sail this morning though. We were busting to get the outboard running because the plan was to sail, then to watch the Pats/Giants game, crash on the boat overnight, grab breakfast at a nearby diner and come home.