1990 88 SPL Carb Question

Hello everyone...

My father in law has a medium sized but older houseboat that is powered by the 2 stroke 88 SPL and we have had some difficulties lately. I am mechanically inclined with zero boat motor experience and feel the need to step in because the mechanic he has hired has been out 3x and we are still having issues. Its expensive and I do not feel he is getting good value.

I have learned a TON already reading through everything but we only get to go out so often so I am trying to be as prepared as possible for my next visit.

It has always been temperamental starting, but then again we have NEVER used the correct start procedure I found on this forum. In fact I never knew it was a none choke motor, I assumed the switch marked choke was in fact choke. Go figure.

Is it safe to assume that starting it while activating the choke (momentary switch in this case) and full throttle can cause flooding? That seems to have been an issue with starting it in the past.

Anyway, the main question I have, is does this thing have 1 carb or 2? I have watched videos that refer to carb's, I only took the cover of the damn thing for the first time 2 weekends ago and it was not to inspect how many carbs there were.

Also is removing the carb(s) difficult, keep in mind, I will be on the water attempting this.

Now that I have read what I have read I plan to do 3 things. Should I add/remove anything from this list?

1 Start it the correct way
2 Clean out the carb or carbs, he has never winterized and it sits for a solid 8 months every year
3 Decarbonize the engine

Thanks for the great forum and all the info so far.

Re: 1990 88 SPL Carb Question

You have two carbs on that engine.
I would also check the spark and compression to see what the basic health of the engine is.
Removing the carbs while in the water is doable, just make sure you don't drop anything overboard.
Make sure you remove all the orifices and core plugs and clean all the passages really good.

Re: 1990 88 SPL Carb Question

Daviet said:

You have two carbs on that engine.
I would also check the spark and compression to see what the basic health of the engine is.
Removing the carbs while in the water is doable, just make sure you don't drop anything overboard.
Make sure you remove all the orifices and core plugs and clean all the passages really good.

Click to expand...

Will do, have the tools for that, same as a car? No gas and one plug at a time?

I have a Chemdip bucket, but read it's bad for those carbs??? Should I avoid it?

Re: 1990 88 SPL Carb Question

Remove all the plugs at the same time and check the compression on each cylinder, use the same compression tester that you use on a car.
I don't normanally dip my carbs, just use brake cleaner and compressed air. If the carbs are in really bad shape, you may have to dip them, just make sure and remove all plastic parts.

Re: 1990 88 SPL Carb Question

Daviet said:

Remove all the plugs at the same time and check the compression on each cylinder, use the same compression tester that you use on a car.
I don't normanally dip my carbs, just use brake cleaner and compressed air. If the carbs are in really bad shape, you may have to dip them, just make sure and remove all plastic parts.

Click to expand...

Thanks, I wont have compressed air, at least no much of it.