My brother just gave me his 1979 Grady White 183 Adventurer with a Johnson 200HP outboard. He had the engine totally rebuilt like 5 years ago and never ran it because he had a lot of work to do on the boat first...sadly for him it was not to be. 
About three weeks ago I finished the boat and ran it for the first time. First I hooked up the ear-muffs and put about 5 gallons of 50:1 in the NEW tank. After some prodding, I got it going. I next took it to the local river and again it took a little prodding to start, then run, but after some aggravation and finessing I got it up and going. I just took it to Maine on vacation and had a lot of trouble starting it and getting it to get up on plane. Once I did get it on plane it ran fine and kept running (fast boat, 50 mph). Shut it off and let it go cold, go through the aggravation of starting it and finessing it up on plane (a bump of the choke just before throttling it helps most times). What a pain. The plugs are fouling out and I had to clean them like four times in one week. Interesting that the one side of the engine was more fouled than the other. I went to the local marina and the guy told me the carbs are fixed jets and there is no adjusting them, "sounds like an ignition problem". He thought maybe it was running on 3 cylinders, but when I told him once I get it going it goes like 50mph he said "well you got to have all 6 to do that, no question". He told me he could re-power the Grady for a mere 13K...yeah right.
Some basic information on my situation:
The fuel lines and fuel pumps are new, the tank is new, the primer bulb is new, the plugs are new (weird center fire plugs), I have taken apart all the fuel lines etc to check for obstructions, there are none. The system is squeaky clean. The fuel lines are tight, the carbs look clean from the intake side with the plenum cover off. The bulb does suck in a little when I run it fast, but it doesn't seem to starve it at all. Most of the wiring looks to be in good condition, I unhooked all the connections, cleaned them and put dielectric grease in them. No better. I am buying a manual and plan on chipping away at it until I find the problem but any help with this from someone with more experience than me would be great. One thing I thought of was maybe the oil was too old...I got it with the boat so it's at least 5 years old. Does 2-stroke oil go bad? Maybe I am just too cheap and should have used new. That would be a simple fix... It looked fine and ran great in my kicker. Also, is it worth using 93 octane instead of 87?
Mike M.
About three weeks ago I finished the boat and ran it for the first time. First I hooked up the ear-muffs and put about 5 gallons of 50:1 in the NEW tank. After some prodding, I got it going. I next took it to the local river and again it took a little prodding to start, then run, but after some aggravation and finessing I got it up and going. I just took it to Maine on vacation and had a lot of trouble starting it and getting it to get up on plane. Once I did get it on plane it ran fine and kept running (fast boat, 50 mph). Shut it off and let it go cold, go through the aggravation of starting it and finessing it up on plane (a bump of the choke just before throttling it helps most times). What a pain. The plugs are fouling out and I had to clean them like four times in one week. Interesting that the one side of the engine was more fouled than the other. I went to the local marina and the guy told me the carbs are fixed jets and there is no adjusting them, "sounds like an ignition problem". He thought maybe it was running on 3 cylinders, but when I told him once I get it going it goes like 50mph he said "well you got to have all 6 to do that, no question". He told me he could re-power the Grady for a mere 13K...yeah right.
Some basic information on my situation:
The fuel lines and fuel pumps are new, the tank is new, the primer bulb is new, the plugs are new (weird center fire plugs), I have taken apart all the fuel lines etc to check for obstructions, there are none. The system is squeaky clean. The fuel lines are tight, the carbs look clean from the intake side with the plenum cover off. The bulb does suck in a little when I run it fast, but it doesn't seem to starve it at all. Most of the wiring looks to be in good condition, I unhooked all the connections, cleaned them and put dielectric grease in them. No better. I am buying a manual and plan on chipping away at it until I find the problem but any help with this from someone with more experience than me would be great. One thing I thought of was maybe the oil was too old...I got it with the boat so it's at least 5 years old. Does 2-stroke oil go bad? Maybe I am just too cheap and should have used new. That would be a simple fix... It looked fine and ran great in my kicker. Also, is it worth using 93 octane instead of 87?
Mike M.
