starting problems

[255 amberjack]

Hello all, i have a 1983 mercruiser 5.7l 350 with an SE106 outdrive on it. My problem is this: My rochester 4mv carburetor is not working properly, when i have the boat at the house on the trailer i start the engine up and warm it to make sure everything is running smoothly before i take it to the ramp. i hook up the boat and drive to the ramp and put the boat in the water and then the thing wont start it will turn over anytime i try but wont start so i have topull off the flame arrestor and stick a screwdriver in the secondary air valve after a few cranks it will start right up pull the screwdriver out and it will idle fine anytime i shut the engine down if i want to start it back up i have to perform this little trick. i bring the boat home and the next day go out and it will crank right up. do i have a choke problem i noticed the choke thermo coil is not connected to the carb since there isnt one and my P.O.S. Seloc manual does not tell me where it should be on the carb, wondering if it's supposed to be on the engine somewhere. i'm thinking maybe the engine is warm and im trying to start it while the choke is stuck closed just looking for advice on whether this will cause that problem.

 

[jerryjerry05]

Re: starting problems

Could be the choke is not working.Post pics of your set-up.There are lots of variations of what came stock and what was done later.J

 

[Bondo]

Re: starting problems

do i have a choke problem

Ayuh,... Atleast a choke problem, or More...

 

[255 amberjack]

Re: starting problems

Ok. so i played with the carb a little bit and got the idle set good and just safety wired the choke full open to keep from having a blockage problem on the carb same problem still exists so i figured out the the engine has a blowby problem a bad one in my opinion and the air breather hoses connected to the top of the valve covers are just dumping exhaust into the flame arrestor on the carb so out of the water this is not too big of an issue the engine will still run and idle fine but when its in the water it doesnt want to run unless i hold the throttle i think i either have a blown ring or a hole in a piston or stuck valves or something else crazy which is going to ruin my day im sure either way its about time to pull the engine and overhaul it im wondering if anyone knows if having a block in the exhaust could cause this problem or not im going to do a compression test on it some time this week

 

[255 amberjack]

Re: starting problems

I'm going to be starting a new thread i did the compression test today and found out what i think the problem might be.