matthewwatts
Cadet
- Joined
- May 4, 2015
- Messages
- 28
This boat... this boat... I wasn't born a patient man and this thing isn't helping. I have a 1988 Forester Phantom 164. It has a 3.0L Mercruiser with an Alpha out drive. I've had nothing but problems. I think I might know what my problem is this time but I want to run it by everyone first.
In an effort to fix problem #2123 with the boat I decided a carb rebuild was in order (after all... it was the only thing left to replace/rebuild). Got the carb back yesterday, bolted it on... nothing. The motor cranks and turns over but will not fire. Look down in the carb and there's gas. Gas shoots when you advance the throttle. I sent the throttle to wide open nothing. I took the spark plugs out and they were black and sooty. I thought "Hey, it's just been running rich for so long the plugs are fouled out. I'll just replace them!" So this morning, I went and bought the AC Delco plugs (marine specific) put them in, cranked the motor and hey... it started. But ran like crap. I couldn't get back to the carb quick enough to adjust the fuel mixture and now I'm back to where I started last night. A boat that will turn over but won't start. I pulled the plugs and looked at them. The tips were already black, but I figured that was probably normal for pretty much being in a combustion chamber. They weren't sooty, though. I replaced the distributor cap and ignition coil only a month ago. The slip neighbor next to me said that I should try two things and then it'll give me a direction to go to.
He said that I should pull out the plugs and pour a bit of gas in each hole, put them back in and start the boat. If it fires then I know it is a fuel issue. If it doesn't, then it's a spark issue. The neighbor said that even though everything is new it still could have a hairline crack causing the issues.
What do you all think?
In an effort to fix problem #2123 with the boat I decided a carb rebuild was in order (after all... it was the only thing left to replace/rebuild). Got the carb back yesterday, bolted it on... nothing. The motor cranks and turns over but will not fire. Look down in the carb and there's gas. Gas shoots when you advance the throttle. I sent the throttle to wide open nothing. I took the spark plugs out and they were black and sooty. I thought "Hey, it's just been running rich for so long the plugs are fouled out. I'll just replace them!" So this morning, I went and bought the AC Delco plugs (marine specific) put them in, cranked the motor and hey... it started. But ran like crap. I couldn't get back to the carb quick enough to adjust the fuel mixture and now I'm back to where I started last night. A boat that will turn over but won't start. I pulled the plugs and looked at them. The tips were already black, but I figured that was probably normal for pretty much being in a combustion chamber. They weren't sooty, though. I replaced the distributor cap and ignition coil only a month ago. The slip neighbor next to me said that I should try two things and then it'll give me a direction to go to.
He said that I should pull out the plugs and pour a bit of gas in each hole, put them back in and start the boat. If it fires then I know it is a fuel issue. If it doesn't, then it's a spark issue. The neighbor said that even though everything is new it still could have a hairline crack causing the issues.
What do you all think?