Need Help! 1996 Honda BF30A not idling, only seems to be idling on one cylinder

[joesaa]

Hi All new to this forum, and after reading a few threads, it seems I have found a great forum!

I live in Pearland, south of houston, and recently bought a 1996 14 ft southern skimmer with a BF30 on the back.

I bought the boat last month, it started and ran fair right off the bat, however I was not happy with the speed it was getting after taking it out fishing a few times, and the guy I bought it from did suggest that it had some carb issues. So naturally I took apart the carbs, sprayed them, cleaned them in simple green in a couple cycles in my US, I did not take the pilot screw out, as for some reason I did not see it. I also did not get in anything with wire to see if it was gunked up, it all looked fairly clean though. I replaced the intake manifold gasket, and main gasket, but not the carb gaskets, as they looked to be in good condition.

The boat will start, but not very easily, will not idle, and seems to be running on one cylinder (top cylinder) at low RPMS. When at higher RPM when we engage the choke the motor revs up and seems to run a bit better. My father who has been a mechanic all his life thinks we have a vaccuum leak somewhere, but we can not find one. The boat has good compression on all cylinders (measured 150 on all cylinders after only a few cranks, so I am sure it will hit 180 or so), we checked that all the cylinders have spark, which they do (not sure if they have sufficient spark or not, but they all have some type of spark). Fuel pump is pumping fuel, and the primer bulb does remain to be solid after priming the engine.

I figured I would post this here to get some insight from some of the pros on this forum, before we start replacing too many things, or drive ourselves crazy.

Please ask questions, or offer advice if you can, thank you!

Joey
832244354two (if needed call or text)

 

[hondam]

First check the timing belt, make sure all the timing marks line up. Its probably the carbs but that's an easy visual test that only takes a minute.

Unfortunately you need some special tools to properly set those carbs (I use a vacummatre but you could also use a set of carb balancing gauges), if someone has been in there trying to "tune" it without the proper tools then im sure its all screwed up. Unfortunately there is no way around this.

The pilot screws should all be set to 3 turns out +/- about an 1/8th turn.

Idle on that engine should be about 950 +/- 50 rpm in neutral.

 

[joesaa]

Thank you!
It was the carbs still, I did not get into the main jet good enough, and it had some blockage... Got her running and idling, gonna get her on the vaccum gauge, ,and do some fine tuning today!
I will also look at the timing belt and marks, appreciate the tips on the idle rpms also!

 

[joesaa]

So I guess we did not do something, because it ran for a little bit on all three cylinders, but it is now back to running on one cylinder. We thought it was just the plugs, but it appears that the cylinders are not getting fuel. Should I go ahead and clean the carbs again? I just replaced all the fuel, so that I can take that out of the equation. I am thinking something is still wrong with the carbs, since the spark plugs appear to be very dry in the cylinders that arent working. Any tests, or procedures yall recommend I do ? I do not mind starting all over, and just going down a list. Is there a test I can do to test that I have a "Strong enough" spark?
I know the cylinders are getting spark, but not sure how strong it is... I beleive it is fine, and that it is still a carb problem, anyone have any input on what I can look for on the carbs? Is it possible that my timing could be off? My dad adjusted the valves, and said they were way out of spec, so maybe the timng could be? Does anyone know where the timing marks for my motor are? I know that on the main gear there are 1 2 3 with arrows, but on the flywheel there is only a 1 T or something like that, how do I make sure the engine is correctly timed? Also is it possible that maybe the carbs are so out of sync only one is sending fuel to the cylinder? I just want to finish this our selves instead of having to spend extra money (have already spent a good bit) to take it to the shop to fix something simple we may be overlooking... PLEASE HELP!