Motor running badly

[novice 1]

I've recently purchased a Cruse Craft Reef Ranger. The boat and trailer are great but the motor fails to reach full power. some times I'm luck to get 4 knots out of it. Yesterday I was on lake Jindabine and the motor showed me a glimps of what its potental was when it surged, both the boat speed and the souund were what I would expect. I have had a mechanic look at it when I bought it and he gave it the all clear, (all indications including compression tests at his work shop showed it was good). In my oppinion there seems to be a fuel problem. Could a fuel flow problem cause one or more cylinders to miss fire?:-/

[Roughasguts]

Mate this pain in the ar$e fuel problem happened to me last week.
I started me motor it ran for 2 mins then stopped hissed and farted and that was it.

I then pumped the fuel bulb, Hmmm tight that ain't right so drained the carby's 2 where empty.
So if that s your problem you may have stuck needle and seats in one or more carbs.

Anyway made some gasketts emery papered the corrosion off the seats and lubed up with silicone spray. So far so good.

Oh yeah made the gaskets and used grease to put them back on just in case I need to do another strip soon. Hate scraping gasketts.

[FNQCairns]

Guts did you get some ethanol fuel? sort of sounds like it.

Novice I agree with gut's although electrical can cause big problems also but less often overall.

Don't run it any more on the water (easy to blow up) get some professional help look toward the carb/efi side of things, it could be a filter blockage or any blockage, real old fuel, fuel pump not keeping up, get it all checked/repaired will save you money in the future.

cheers fnq

[Roughasguts]

Hi FNQ, mate I don't think it was ethanol even thought this same servo had a add in the paper 3 years ago saying there fuel was wrongly labeled and had ethanol mixed in with ULP.

But I have never seen this before with a needle and seat and 2 out of the 3 has me worried. It had green powdery gunge build up on both needle and seats, stopping them from moving, once it was removed there was pitting on the brass seats. So thats why the emery paper to smooth them up a bit.

But absolutely no gunge in the fuel filter or float bowls, Hmmmmm.

Just seems strange cause I never let the float bowls dry out, always prime the fuel tight every 3-4 days.

So from now on I might drain the carbs once a month, just to make sure the needles dont gum up again.

Cheers.

[FNQCairns]

Does sound like water Gut's, I have a couple of brass fittings in my offshore tool box, got drenched last trip and rain water got in + it would have had residual salt inside from just being in the boat, sent them black till the waterline and green where the fittings contacted other fittings.

A contaminate like ethanol or the salt in my case makes for a very corrosive environment as you know.

I dunno for sure but I would be very suspicious!!

cheers fnq

[Roughasguts]

Thanks FNQ, hadn't considered Ethanol but yep fits the bill, cause there was only a few ml of water in me Racor water filter.
So Yep going to find me another servo on the way to the ramp.

[dnej]

Same thing happened to me on my old motor.Was a plug problem.
No Backfire,just no power,for obvious reasons. Ran well on one actually
New plug,no problems.
Say what type of fuel rank do you have? Did you loosen the air vent?
David

[BM]

What make of engine is it please and what hp? Without that info at a minimum we are pissing into the wind......

[WHALEOIL]

From what I saw at Jindabyne last time I was there, your prop is having trouble cutting it's way through all of the submerged houses and trees.

[novice 1]

BM. its a 140HP johnson. V4. 2 stroke. 1994.

[BM]

OK.......

They are a good engine..

Please tell me more about the problems you are having and go into as much detail as you feel necessary.

You wrote:

"I've recently purchased a Cruse Craft Reef Ranger. The boat and trailer are great but the motor fails to reach full power. some times I'm luck to get 4 knots out of it. Yesterday I was on lake Jindabine and the motor showed me a glimps of what its potental was when it surged, both the boat speed and the souund were what I would expect. I have had a mechanic look at it when I bought it and he gave it the all clear, (all indications including compression tests at his work shop showed it was good). In my oppinion there seems to be a fuel problem. Could a fuel flow problem cause one or more cylinders to miss fire?

Lets start there and tell me everything you can tell me.

Cheers

[novice 1]

BM
I'd just finishe writting a discription that would have riveled war And peace in length, then my computer crashed. i'l trry to give tha abridged version.

Here goes.

"Motor fail to reach full power". Thats my impression, it just doesn't sound right. though the mechanic said it seems fine. I can't help but think its only running on 3 cylinders.

"Lucky to get 4 Knots" Some times and it doesn't matter whether or not the motor is hot or cold is seem to run at a really low speed. its like is only running on 2 cylinders with the very odd occasion an extra one firing. it will behave like that for what seems like 2 or three minutes.

"Showed me glimpses of what its potential was when it surged" On the wayback to the ramp on Sunday the motor gave me a glimps of how it perhaps should behave. I had goten it up to the plane at around 21 knots when suddenly the motor sounded smoother, had less vibration and there was a sudden burst of speed. This lasted for around 30 seconds. (pure bliss)

The privious owner had installed a fuel flow meter. I wonder if this could be blocking the fuel??

There is two fuel hand pump things (Sorry I don't know what their called). 1 from the filter to the motor This one after 2 or 3 pumps gets solid, the other is from the tank to the filter, it doesn't get solid infact it seems to be blowing air into the tank.

[BM]

Get rid of one of your primer bulbs.

Probably keep the one between the tank and the filter. Make sure the arrow on the bulb faces the filter.

[Roughasguts]

Think I would renew all the fuel hoses, (that plastic braided stuff) cause they get hard and leak on the brass conections. It's not that they leak fuel it's the fuel pump sucks air and can't maintain fuel pressure through the fuel pump and up to the carbs.

Can you get hold of a small plastic fuel tank and fitting, hook that straight up to your motor and see how she runs.

[novice 1]

Great input guys.

I'll remove one of the bulbs (aka squeezy pump thingys) and borrow a spare tank. I'm going to turross lake this weekend, I'll let you know how it goes.

The mechanic also asked me to look at the spark plugs, he said it might be a sign that one of the coils is playing up.

[Roughasguts]

Great input guys.

I'll remove one of the bulbs (aka squeezy pump thingys) and borrow a spare tank. I'm going to turross lake this weekend, I'll let you know how it goes.

The mechanic also asked me to look at the spark plugs, he said it might be a sign that one of the coils is playing up.

It sure can John'os seem to be good at losing a coil and running on less cylinders seem to be alright on start up but under load lose the coil.

[novice 1]

It sure can John'os seem to be good at losing a coil and running on less cylinders seem to be alright on start up but under load lose the coil.

Thanks, I had very little sucess with the fuel line changes, however I came across a boat mechanic at the boat shed on Tuross lake. He was happy to look at the motor but made it very clear the the problem I was having was going to be fixed by trial and error. he changed the spark plugs (although ned they were not the correct ones) he changed the little rubber boot in top of one of the spark plugs and took it for a spin. WOW what a differance. it actually gets up to 5000rpm now, though it is miss firing and on decelleration it crackles a bit (back firing apparently) he didn,t have time to do anymore s he sold me the kits for the carburators and wants them done before I look at he power pack. Still it was a massive improvement. If you on Tuross lake I highly recomend a visit to his establishment. hey have a warf that you can pull up to and have a coffee or enjoy some delitful fish and chips.

I post the outcomes of the carby refit