- Joined
- Jul 23, 2011
- Messages
- 52,076
since you wont tell us what you do, let me tell you exactly how to start a boat with a carb. as others mentioned. cold start technique isnt correct.
this isnt a frigging EFI car that does everything for you, its an old-school marine motor. think 1975 pickup truck - one step above a lawn tractor with a manual choke
on a warm motor, you should not need to advance the throttle
if you have a TKS carb, the carb is supposed to take care of the choke. however I found its iffy at best and you still need to advance the throttle
the fact that you only crank the motor for a few seconds at a time indicates that you are thinking its like your modern car that the starting circuit is actually controlled by the BCM reading the key switch and the ECM fires the starter for the duration needed. it isnt like that. its old-school with the yellow wire with red stripe going directly from the key to the starter pilot relay, then on to the starter. so crank it until it fires.
the 4.3 is a very stable and reliable motor just like all boat motors with a few exceptions from a few decades ago. that is with proper maintenance.
you are green when it comes to motors
you can run at WOT when the time comes. not for hours on end however if you have the room, go for it. as long as the motor is properly set up, you should be about 4800 -5000 RPM at WOT
I run my boat at WOT for about 20 minutes at times. then again, its 23 miles from the boat launch to where we like to toss anchor.
this isnt a frigging EFI car that does everything for you, its an old-school marine motor. think 1975 pickup truck - one step above a lawn tractor with a manual choke
- first step, turn on the batteries
- second step, turn on the bilge blowers
- next - and extremely important on a cold motor - always one full throttle pump. this sets the choke and gives the motor a shot of fuel to prime it. some motors will need a second pump. go back to the 1975 pickup truck comment.
- next, press the throttle only button and advance the throttle to about 1/3
- then crank the motor. you need to crank until it fires. that may be 3 seconds, it may be 15 seconds. however you crank until it fires, however never more than 20 seconds at a time with a minute of rest between cranks
- when it fires, back the throttle down to 1500 RPM for a few minutes (boats do not have fast idle cams)
- then back the throttle down to neutral, the button will click and go boating
on a warm motor, you should not need to advance the throttle
if you have a TKS carb, the carb is supposed to take care of the choke. however I found its iffy at best and you still need to advance the throttle
the fact that you only crank the motor for a few seconds at a time indicates that you are thinking its like your modern car that the starting circuit is actually controlled by the BCM reading the key switch and the ECM fires the starter for the duration needed. it isnt like that. its old-school with the yellow wire with red stripe going directly from the key to the starter pilot relay, then on to the starter. so crank it until it fires.
the 4.3 is a very stable and reliable motor just like all boat motors with a few exceptions from a few decades ago. that is with proper maintenance.
you are green when it comes to motors
you can run at WOT when the time comes. not for hours on end however if you have the room, go for it. as long as the motor is properly set up, you should be about 4800 -5000 RPM at WOT
I run my boat at WOT for about 20 minutes at times. then again, its 23 miles from the boat launch to where we like to toss anchor.
