Long story long...
I can take anything apart and put it back together, but I cannot diagnose anything and I have a limited sense of parts ID and vocabulary...
I bought an old Starcraft runabout recently with a 40hp Johnson (1965). It ran "ok" the first time out, but would only go about 20 mph. The next time out, I could only get up to about 12 mph. I brought it back, rebuilt the carb and cranked it in the driveway...I did have water in a barrel so no overheating. It soulded a little better, but still not like I though it should. I pulled the top spark plug and the engine kept running exactly the same. I pulled the bottom plug and the engine died. Repeated the sequence and figured I had a bad coil. I removed the flywheel, cleaned everything very well, sanded the magneto, replaced the coils, plugs, points, wires and condensers. Put it all back together and it immediately cranked, ran for about a minute and I tried to cut the key off and it just kept running and then died on its own about 30 seconds later. I disassembled everything again and reassembled and it will not start. I am getting good fuel to the carb, but there appears to be no fire. It is turning over well. I rechecked my gaps and used a spark tester and no spark. What am I missing?
I can take anything apart and put it back together, but I cannot diagnose anything and I have a limited sense of parts ID and vocabulary...
I bought an old Starcraft runabout recently with a 40hp Johnson (1965). It ran "ok" the first time out, but would only go about 20 mph. The next time out, I could only get up to about 12 mph. I brought it back, rebuilt the carb and cranked it in the driveway...I did have water in a barrel so no overheating. It soulded a little better, but still not like I though it should. I pulled the top spark plug and the engine kept running exactly the same. I pulled the bottom plug and the engine died. Repeated the sequence and figured I had a bad coil. I removed the flywheel, cleaned everything very well, sanded the magneto, replaced the coils, plugs, points, wires and condensers. Put it all back together and it immediately cranked, ran for about a minute and I tried to cut the key off and it just kept running and then died on its own about 30 seconds later. I disassembled everything again and reassembled and it will not start. I am getting good fuel to the carb, but there appears to be no fire. It is turning over well. I rechecked my gaps and used a spark tester and no spark. What am I missing?
