Porschesolutions
Seaman Apprentice
- Joined
- Jun 18, 2017
- Messages
- 49
Hi guys,
This is my first boat. I've built Porsche motors & race on occasion so I know EFI components & such but this old TBI is foreign to me.
I just bought a low-hour VIP Runabout with about 40-50hrs on it (per the prior owner), and for the most part the boat appears to be a time capsule. It was started for me and I remember it running VERY rich but as assured it was just still "warming up". The gas didn't smell and the owner and recently pumped out the oil & replaced it with a fresh 5qts. Once back home, I put in another 15g to fill the gas tank up with 87 octane, continued to start/run it here/there and it always felt/sounded like it was picking up cylinders as it warmed up over 2-3 minutes. Felt confident to take it to the lake for the first time on Saturday, where after plenty of opportunities to warm up (145-ish degrees on the gauge), it would run so rich it wouldn't even go up on plane and would lose cylinders due to fouling/running too rich. After a while of letting it "evaporate" & such (3-4 times of shutting it off & waiting for the plugs to dry), we headed back & it fouled while idling & wouldn't immediately re-start so a SeaDoo towed us back: my wife was not impressed The first time we shut the boat off & anchored/jumped into the water to relax while the plugs dried, we noticed quite a bit of gas soot all over the back of the boat that we had just cleaned: VERY rich.
We burned about 1/4 tank of gas idling around with about 1.5 hours of running time...yes, basically idling in-gear.
Here's what I've done so far:
1. Replaced plugs with the proper AC plugs: it had like-new NGK Platinum (un-gappable) plugs in it that referenced a GM LS1 motor, totally fouled. New plugs are at .045 gap.
2. Cap & rotor & wires look new, crappy how there are two sets of possible wire order numbers at each disty terminal that are not correct, but the disty cap is keyed so it only goes on one way. Verified TDC & the 1-6-5-4-3-2 firing order & spark plug wire routing.
3. Removed all the oil: it was heavily gas-fouled & black even though it should have been "fresh". it's fresh now...new filter too: 5 quarts 10w-40 to run until I solve this problem & then will change the oil again & go for the proper marine 25W-40.
4. Boat wont fully start now: I guess it's still getting way too much fuel and the proper spark plug gap being smaller is allowing for even easier plug fouling. I was hoping it was just old/bad plugs and a fresh tank of gas & an Italian tune-up would help fix this issue but it appears deeper than that.
5. there are a couple of un-connected wire ends near the carb that might have something to do with a possible electronic choke problem.
A friend of mine suggested I look at the butterflies/choke butterflies to see if they're stuck open or closed which could explain this; I'll do that tonight. I might pump out the gas & swap in some Berrymans B12 and see if I can get it to clean up. The sucky part is that we have family moving to Korean (via Military contract) in a week & wanted to entertain them this weekend: looking kinda iffy for that.
My motor is pretty easy to access for checking things...feel free to shoot me some questions.
No I do not have a manual (yet)
No I have not checked the fuel filter (not this cause yet agree it needs to be found/checked)
No I have not checked the air/water separator but again think this is more of a choke issue.
Thanks in advance for your suggestions.
Mark
This is my first boat. I've built Porsche motors & race on occasion so I know EFI components & such but this old TBI is foreign to me.
I just bought a low-hour VIP Runabout with about 40-50hrs on it (per the prior owner), and for the most part the boat appears to be a time capsule. It was started for me and I remember it running VERY rich but as assured it was just still "warming up". The gas didn't smell and the owner and recently pumped out the oil & replaced it with a fresh 5qts. Once back home, I put in another 15g to fill the gas tank up with 87 octane, continued to start/run it here/there and it always felt/sounded like it was picking up cylinders as it warmed up over 2-3 minutes. Felt confident to take it to the lake for the first time on Saturday, where after plenty of opportunities to warm up (145-ish degrees on the gauge), it would run so rich it wouldn't even go up on plane and would lose cylinders due to fouling/running too rich. After a while of letting it "evaporate" & such (3-4 times of shutting it off & waiting for the plugs to dry), we headed back & it fouled while idling & wouldn't immediately re-start so a SeaDoo towed us back: my wife was not impressed The first time we shut the boat off & anchored/jumped into the water to relax while the plugs dried, we noticed quite a bit of gas soot all over the back of the boat that we had just cleaned: VERY rich.
We burned about 1/4 tank of gas idling around with about 1.5 hours of running time...yes, basically idling in-gear.
Here's what I've done so far:
1. Replaced plugs with the proper AC plugs: it had like-new NGK Platinum (un-gappable) plugs in it that referenced a GM LS1 motor, totally fouled. New plugs are at .045 gap.
2. Cap & rotor & wires look new, crappy how there are two sets of possible wire order numbers at each disty terminal that are not correct, but the disty cap is keyed so it only goes on one way. Verified TDC & the 1-6-5-4-3-2 firing order & spark plug wire routing.
3. Removed all the oil: it was heavily gas-fouled & black even though it should have been "fresh". it's fresh now...new filter too: 5 quarts 10w-40 to run until I solve this problem & then will change the oil again & go for the proper marine 25W-40.
4. Boat wont fully start now: I guess it's still getting way too much fuel and the proper spark plug gap being smaller is allowing for even easier plug fouling. I was hoping it was just old/bad plugs and a fresh tank of gas & an Italian tune-up would help fix this issue but it appears deeper than that.
5. there are a couple of un-connected wire ends near the carb that might have something to do with a possible electronic choke problem.
A friend of mine suggested I look at the butterflies/choke butterflies to see if they're stuck open or closed which could explain this; I'll do that tonight. I might pump out the gas & swap in some Berrymans B12 and see if I can get it to clean up. The sucky part is that we have family moving to Korean (via Military contract) in a week & wanted to entertain them this weekend: looking kinda iffy for that.
My motor is pretty easy to access for checking things...feel free to shoot me some questions.
No I do not have a manual (yet)
No I have not checked the fuel filter (not this cause yet agree it needs to be found/checked)
No I have not checked the air/water separator but again think this is more of a choke issue.
Thanks in advance for your suggestions.
Mark