My engine will not fire

[Ladyju]

Hello-

We have a mercruiser 1979 228 v-8 I/o. And it will not fire. I have used starter fluid to get it to fire, and after a few attempts and a few squirts of starter fluid it will stay running. Then when I don't use it for a day or so,I have to do the same thing again. In 2011 we replace the manifolds, and after having it stale our when putting it in gear we had the carburetor (sp ??) rebuilt we also did a complete tune up. So we closed it for the winter used antifreeze and fogged it out and used fuel stabilizer. When we went to open for the summer of 12, we have the same problem. Any suggestions? I have checked out the prices for a new carburetor and we have seen between. 400 and 700. any saving would be a great help. My well is calling my boat...lol. Thanks for any help in advance.

Judi

 

[achris]

Re: My engine will not fire

Are you getting spark?

 

[makonnen]

Re: My engine will not fire

If the engine runs on starter fluid ... that eliminates many things. That means you're getting spark, ignition timing, valve timing, engine mechanical is all good. You need to concentrate on fuel system.

Crank the engine for about 10 seconds to let the fuel pump fill up the carburetor. Remove the flame arrestor, open the choke, get someone to rapidly depress the throttle and look for a spray of fuel down the carburetor. You likely won't see one ... in which case you work backwards and start to look at the fuel pump (electric or mechanical?)

If the f/pump is working then start to look for things like blocked lines, blocked lines, collasped / blocked strainer in the fuel tank etc...

Perhaps even try to hook it up to a different fuel source. Or even buy a generic fuel pump (4-5PSI) at a car parts store to help you figure out if its a carburator problem, fuel pump, lines or tank.

Good luck!

 

[rickryder]

Re: My engine will not fire

Hi Judi,

Stay away from the starting fluid....not really good for the engine....use some fuel in a squirt bottle

It sounds like a fuel delivery problem and like mentioned above you need to start at the carb and work back... Look for fuel spray at accelerator pump....new fuel/water separator....fuel pump

 

[Ladyju]

Re: My engine will not fire

Good Afternoon~

Thanks for all the replies. We will not use starter fluid anymore and put some gas in a spray. Thanks! we will work on it tomorrow and let you know, starting with the carb and work backwards. Thanks again.

Judi

 

[Don S]

Re: My engine will not fire

We will not use starter fluid anymore and put some gas in a spray.

No, you don't want to spray it, you want to squirt it. This kind of bottle

 

[Ladyju]

Re: My engine will not fire

I will have to get a bottle like that, but I can do that. Thank you again!

 

[Augie56]

Re: My engine will not fire

Lady,

I have the same year and engine in my Wellcraft. I just solved the same problem as you, here is what you should check.

1) With the engine NOT running, take off flame arrester (what looks like the air filter) on top of the carb. Using the control lever with the boat in neutral, pump the control lever forward and backward from the neutral position like you're giving it gas. The observer looking down into the forward two barrels of the carb (nearer to the front of the boat) should see a stream of gas shooting in each barrel with each pump of the control lever. If this doesn't happen within a couple of pumps, then the accelerator pump in the carb is weak or shot and you need carb work.

2) If you are getting streams of gas with each pump of the control lever, then you have a choke problem (same problem as me). On my boat, the choke spring was worn out and never engaging the choke. This made it difficult to start when cold (starting fluid was almost always necessary). Otherwise, the engine runs perfect once started and warmed up.

If this is your problem, then you can either:
1) replace the original choke spring ($50-$60 ordered online)
2) convert the carb to electric choke with a kit available online (abnout $50)
3) or you could do what I did and convert it to a full manual choke.

To do a full manual choke, you would fabricate a small bracket to hold a standard manual choke cable (auto parts store or online) and attach it to the carb where the spring choke lever attached. Then you can run the cable to any location you want in the boat so that you can control when to engage the choke. I hid the end of my cable (with the knob that I pull out to engage the choke) in the gunwale shelf. Works perfectly and will never wear out or give me a problem again.

 

[texamwalker]

Re: My engine will not fire

question for ya...when you do finally get it started and running for the day, does it seem to have adequate power on the water?

 

[Ladyju]

Re: My engine will not fire

We never thought of the choke. But that makes good sense. So we will be checking that also.
As for the power we not sure, we had this problem starting at the end of the season, after we had the carb rebuilt. and then when we went to prep it for this year, we had the problem. So it has not been on the water yet to see if we get full power or not. Hopefully we will know this weekend.

 

[makonnen]

Re: My engine will not fire

Yea but if its the choke, and she didn't touch the choke ... then why did it start and run OK with starter fluid?

X2 on the starter fluid. Bad idea. I just use a bottle of brake cleaner in an aerosol can. Pretty harmless and already atomized quite nicely when sprayed.

 

[texamwalker]

Re: My engine will not fire

We never thought of the choke. But that makes good sense. So we will be checking that also.
As for the power we not sure, we had this problem starting at the end of the season, after we had the carb rebuilt. and then when we went to prep it for this year, we had the problem. So it has not been on the water yet to see if we get full power or not. Hopefully we will know this weekend.

ive always been sort of a pessimist i guess be cause it never seems to be the simple problems for me. i know that no one ever wants to hear it but low compression can be a problem causing your symptoms. without a compression gauge its gonna be hard to tell. a poor mans test is to see if there is a difference in firing between pouring gasoline in the carb or spraying ether. ether will fire at a much lower compression than straight gas will.
you also said it seems to run better when it warms up a little....remember that pistons expand quicker than the cylinder chamber which will typically increase compression a little.
i sure hope its something as simple a a non functioning choke or the surge pump not working, if not, you might have to look a little deeper

 

[Augie56]

Re: My engine will not fire

When the choke spring fails, it holds the choke butterfly full open, thus preventing choke. The spring and linkage is supposed to hold the choke butterfly fully closed when the motor is cool, and the slowly open it up as the engine warms up.

Like I said, either go to an electric choke conversion (which still relies on a bi-metal spring; still not an ideal design), or fab up a full manual choke like I did and never worry about it again.

 

[Ladyju]

Re: My engine will not fire

Ok a week later ( thanks to work) we have it starting great! Thanks for all your help with that. Now, is the exhaust hose or tube supposed to connect to the outdrive? On a mercruiser 228 , 1979 ?? Thanks...

 

[78beachcraft]

Re: My engine will not fire

My boat was hard to start cold until it was noticed that someone had removed the hot start wire from the coil, the battery had to have a completely full full charge in order to get enough spark to fire it. Starting fluid did get it going in this condition.

 

[Don S]

Re: My engine will not fire

So. what did you fix to get it to start? That's what people want to know. Just the fact that it now works helps no one.

You should also start a new thread with a proper title for your exhaust question. Not many will notice your new question about the exhaust with a Won't start title.