Chinewalker
Fleet Admiral
- Joined
- Aug 19, 2001
- Messages
- 8,902
I sold a nice, clean 1970s era Johnson 6hp to a guy this summer. He talked me down on price a bit at the time, saying I could keep the gas tank & hose. Said he had one already. Fine with me, I'll sell the tank with the next motor.
Anyway, flash forward a couple months. The guy calls me and says his arm is sore from pulling on that *&@#^ motor. It barely starts and won't stay running. Says I sold him a piece of junk. I say bring it by and I'll take a look at it. I pull the spark plugs out and they're WET. Water wet! I undo the fuel line from the carb, hook up his tank and prime it a couple times into a jar. Nothing but water!! So, I set up a siphon into his tank, tilted so all the water goes into one corner. Took out about a quart of water before it sucked fuel! It's a wonder the thing started at all for him! I pull the drain plug no the bottom of the carb bowl, prime through until nothing comes out the carb but clean fuel. Then rope it over a few times to get the worst of the water out of the cylinders, put in clean spark plugs and it started first pull!
I called the guy and told him what I'd found. He swore he put fresh fuel into the tank he had. I asked what was in the tank before he filled it. He said there was about a half gallon of old fuel, figured it would be fine if it was diluted 5 gallons of fresh. I'm betting his old "fuel" was nothing but water...
Ugh....
Anyway, flash forward a couple months. The guy calls me and says his arm is sore from pulling on that *&@#^ motor. It barely starts and won't stay running. Says I sold him a piece of junk. I say bring it by and I'll take a look at it. I pull the spark plugs out and they're WET. Water wet! I undo the fuel line from the carb, hook up his tank and prime it a couple times into a jar. Nothing but water!! So, I set up a siphon into his tank, tilted so all the water goes into one corner. Took out about a quart of water before it sucked fuel! It's a wonder the thing started at all for him! I pull the drain plug no the bottom of the carb bowl, prime through until nothing comes out the carb but clean fuel. Then rope it over a few times to get the worst of the water out of the cylinders, put in clean spark plugs and it started first pull!
I called the guy and told him what I'd found. He swore he put fresh fuel into the tank he had. I asked what was in the tank before he filled it. He said there was about a half gallon of old fuel, figured it would be fine if it was diluted 5 gallons of fresh. I'm betting his old "fuel" was nothing but water...
Ugh....
