Starboard Engine Stalling Without Warning.

[canuckkb]

Thank you for the responses.
I do not doubt that I have more than one problem. It is an old boat and I do not know any of the history. The boat is out of the water and wrapped now so there is not much I can do until spring. I do have access, so this winter I was planning on replacing the filters because it is good practice. Also, I was planning on replacing all of the ignition on at least one of the motors for no other reason than to have a complete set of spare parts. I will also carefully crawl all over it and trace the wiring diagram and clean up all of the connectors and grounds. Hopefully that solves things for spring startup.
Once again – Thank you for the help.
Kevin.

[mikeandanne]

Kevin ,one more thing comes to mind, there are 6 volt and 12 volt coils , so I guess that info might be important to the trouble shoot--next spring all being well I will check all my voltages and post----- Mike

[Christian]

Hi Kevin,

I thought I would chime in on this one and give my 2 cents.

I would really look at the basics first. we all know engines need 3 things to work.

-Air/Compression
-fuel
-Spark

first thing is that you probably have air so I would not check that unless your filter is so clogged up that no air is going in. I doubt this is the problem.

For the spark. Go to Princess Auto and get yourself a Spark Gap Tester ( SKU: 2990221) . it is a very simple device that you put in-line with any spark plug and will let you see if you do have a good spark or not. the minute you have a stall, put that bad boy in and crank her up. It will tell you if you have a good spark or not. It is about $12. well worth it. it will help you determine if you need to look at fuel at all.

Now for fuel, that is an interesting possibility. Bear with me on this one... When I was younger, I use to go camping all the time. I had a nice portable naphtha stove. you know? the kind you have to pump. Anyhow, once in a while, it would stop for no apparent reason. If I let is alone for half an hour it would start up again no problem. Can you believe it took me 2 years to find the problem? I dismantled the thing like 20 times (there is about 5 parts to it! What could go wrong?) and cleaned it as well but still the problem would come back. Finally for some reason, I emptied the tank. would you believe there was a little piece of paper in the tank that would block the inlet tube when running for some time. the pressure would keep it there but when i would turn the stove off and let it sit, the piece of paper would get dislodged and everything would be good. For a while... All this to say, sometimes we overlook basic things that are so obvious in hindsight. Make sure you have fuel pressure and no clogs in the carbs. if you are thinking of changing the filters, I would flush the lines as well. Maybe get a fuel pressure gauge, connect it as close as possible to the carb and check the pressure. It would not hurt to check the pressure when the engine is working fine versus when it is not working...

Here, i have a question. I don't know since I don't have my boat yet but is the fuel pump mechanical or electrical? If it is electrical check both pressures before the engine is running and while it is running to have a baseline, then do the same when the engine is not starting properly.

Again this is basic stuff but before you go out and spend hundreds on new parts, spend 10 buck on a simple test. IMHO.

Hope this helps.

Christian

[canuckkb]

Christian,
Sadly, the boat is wrapped up for the winter. At this point I have little access to it so all I can do is make a plan of attack for when I release it from it's cocoon in the spring.
These engines have mechanical fuel pumps. I recently bought a small electrical fuel pump which I may try out. The pump only cost $58 so I plan on keeping it as a backup incase one of the fuel pumps quits while on a long trip.
Funny you should suggest that spark gap tester. I just bought one a few weeks ago when at Princess Auto (my $300 store). I have not had a chance to play with it.
The other thing that I have done is take pictures of all the components. We have a very good performance shop close by. I plan on sitting down with these guys in the new year and double checking all of the part numbers.
I did have a similar fuel experience with my old searay. I was crossing Georgian bay and the engine suddenly dropped rpm then stalled within about 1 minute. I went to check the fuel/water separator and the vacuum on it was so strong that I could not get it to unthread. I ended up pulling the fuel line off, and blowing the gas back. The boat would then run for about 20 minutes then stall again. It made for a long crossing. In that case, the engine lost power, then stalled. In this case, there was no power loss. It is an instant stall. Anyways, this spring I plan on pulling the fuel pickup tube out of the tank and looking into it. There is an access to it through the bench seat.
Thank you for your input. I wish that I had posted my problems earlier in the summer so that I could have chased down some of these suggestions. Sometimes it is hard to work on a boat when it is in the water and everybody else is having fun.

Kevin