flooding

[renoduckman]

More trouble. I have been fighting electrical problems on my 88 80hp Merc. While trying to restart it to look at timeing i flooded big time. The fuel bulb dosent get stiff as normal, fuel is just running in to engine. I guess a float must be stuck? Only thing i can think of. Any more thoughts. Thanks joe

 

[WillyBWright]

Re: flooding

It could also be a torn fuel pump diaphragm. Remove the front of the air box. If gas is leaking from one or more carbs, you'll see it. If you don't see it at the carbs, it's the fuel pump. It could also be a bad primer bulb check valve on the In side.

 

[renoduckman]

Re: flooding

Thanks. I will try to get to this tommorrow am. The fuel is for sure going into the engine and flooding it. I will keep it updated. thanks joe

 

[renoduckman]

Re: flooding

Well took of air box cover and the bottom carb is clearly the problem. Gas flows out like crazy when using primer bulb. Must be a stuck float? I will pull all carbs out today and clean. Any idea what else cause this besides junk in carb? Needle wear or whatever to look for? I dont think this has anyting to do with my problem, it happend after i have been dealing with my electircal issue. And on that subject, any good way to test a coil that i suspect is bad? Or do you just better to replace? Thanks Joe

 

[josh_2562]

Re: flooding

why do you think the coil is bad. I thought my coil was bad and it turned out to be my switch box.if you have no spark from it change it with on of the other one and see if the coil still has no fire. if it fires it could be your switch box. i'm not a boat mechanic that just how i found my problem. hope this help

 

[renoduckman]

Re: flooding

Took apart carbs today. They were very clean. I dont know what made the float in the bottom carb stick? I didnt see any dirt inside and the float,needle looked good near as i can see. I blew it out and all but not any dirt i can see. Float level looks good. I will have to reinstall carbs and retry i guess. As for the coils i have been suspect of them all along. Can a coil be an intermitent problem? My coils had green looking mess inside of the towere where the plug wire hooks up. I tryed to clean as best as i can but have allways thought about replacing just becasue of that. I will updated. Thanks Joe

 

[josh_2562]

Re: flooding

the green stuff could be die eltric grease.

 

[renoduckman]

Re: flooding

Thats a good point. Forgot about that. Anyway, i got the carbs back in but havent had a chance to start it yet. I will try in morning and keep you posted. Joe

 

[renoduckman]

Re: flooding

Well still seem to be flooding. Primer bubble never seems to get really firm. Questions now. It seeems like the 6 or so outboards i have used over the years, the primer bubble gets hard and i stop primeing. Now mine doesnt seem to and fuel is going thru carb or carbs into engine. Somebody suggested that the bulb can be squezed to hard and that overcomes the float needle ? Does that make sense? I have never had that problem before and all of a sudden? I think carb or carbs must be at fault here. Any opinions on that. Carbs were very clean and looked ok. Float levels looked ok and needels seemed ok. I did not see any problem or junk at all inside carb. Maybe the rubber is getting old on the needle? Thanks joe

 

[Silvertip]

Re: flooding

Obviously fuel is going past the inlet needle. So either they are assembled wrong, worn out, the float level is too high or it is assembled upside down or hanging up. The float test is as follows: With the carb disassembled, but the float needle and seat all installed, tip the top of the carb upside down and blow (mouth -- not compressed air) into the fuel inlet fitting. If air passes, fix whats wrong as its obviously not sealing. If you can't blow throught the fitting it is sealing properly but the float level may be set too high. "Seems alright" is a term you've used a lot. Checked and correct are the terms you are looking for.

 

[renoduckman]

Re: flooding

Thanks for the advice. Will take apart again and double check. Floats measured correct going by the spec in my book. Also did the blow test and it worked fine. I have something wrong though. Thanks will look again. Joe

 

[Silvertip]

Re: flooding

I didn't re-read the entire thread but have you considered a bad fuel pump.

 

[j_martin]

Re: flooding

Fuel pressure should run 7 lbs or less (usually 5-6). With a bone crushing grip, you can easily exceed 10 lbs with a primer bulb.

When the carbs are filling, the bulb should give with a "firm handshake" squeeze. When they top off, you should feel a definite stop. If you then squeeze real hard, you can overcome needle valves, or hurt the fuel pump. It also tends to force fuel into the oil injection system, causing an already oil starved fuel system to run longer without oil.

hope it helps
John

 

[renoduckman]

Re: flooding

Thanks for the advice men. I havent had a chance to retake apart yet. but you said it better then i ever can. There is no stop when the carbs fill up. Im not squezing that hard. I will recheck and repalce needles. Thanks joe

 

[gorco]

Re: flooding

Joe,

I've got the same problem with my 1990 115. I've taken the carbs off at least 5 times. 1st it was the bottom carb and now it's the 2nd from the bottom. It seems like it should be an easy fix...but it's not turning out to be.

Please post a reply when you figure how how to solve your issue. I'm interested in finding out if the same thing will fix my issue.

Steve

 

[johnnyz48]

Re: flooding

Do you have spark? In the past year I have fought two carburetor problems with gas pouring on the floor to find out it wasn't gas it was spark. You said when you were trying to start it it flooded bad. No spark and gas doesn't burn and pretty soon it's flooded

 

[johnnyz48]

Re: flooding

Your foats might be fine your pumping in and filling the bowl and then pushing it out the vent maybe

 

[renoduckman]

Re: flooding

Thanks for the advice. Here is where im at now. I have a 2 week wait untill i can get boat in to a mechanic i trust. In the mean time i have started to play with boat again. As i have said before, i replaced swith box year ago and seemed to have fixed problem. Boat ran well for awhile. After a few trips in started to die. It whould restart right away. Came to the conculsion that the stator was bad. It was orginal and was suspect. Upon removing stator noticed trigger wires had cracked insulation and looked bad. Replaced both and think i had elec. problem fixed. But it still doesnt run right. Sounds like its missing. Timing light shows all cylinders fireing and DVA shows correct voltage on coil inputs. While i dont have dial indicator to check TDC, the timeing is on at speed best i can see with my timeing light. Now is where flooding started. Primer bulb never firms up and lower carb flooding bad. Fuel runs into motor and out the front of carb. Took carbs apart and they were very clean. Needles looked good. Float level looked good going by what my manuel says. Passed the blow test also. I reinstalled carbs. Still getting leaking. Engine will run but still sounds like a miss. Now while it was running i squezed primer bulb. Not very hard either. It killed the engine. I think my engine is being flooded out? I think i have my elect solved but its fuel now. I have ordered some new inlet needles. I have to wait for those and i will replace and recheck float level. I will also rebuild fuel pump. I dont think thats problem but it hasnt been done for years.
Now i did compression test. I get 95, 95, 98. I warmed up engine some and rechecked. It only changed about 2 pounds each. 96,98,100. I know thats not great but there even. I never got engine totally up to temp. At least this shows me that i dont have one real low cyl. Again, when it was running before with the intermitent elec problem it ran well, seeme to have good power and started and even trolled well. I think this engine will have some life left if i get the bugs out?
I know this is a long post. I appreciate evrybodys help and advice. I will update. Thanks joe

 

[gorco]

Re: flooding

I think I have my fuel leak solved. Maybe the fix will help you too.

I ended up adjusting the tab on float so that the needle valve stops fuel coming in the carb slightly sooner.

Like yours, mycarb passed the blow test. However, after closer inspection, the needle valve didn't appear to be seating securly unless I raised the float to it's max height. I decided to adjust.

Like others have recommended, I rebuilt the fuel pump. It didn't fix my problem, however it was needed. One valve was malfunctioning.

Good luck with your carb.

Steve

 

[renoduckman]

Re: flooding

Thanks again. Hope that solves your flood problem. Waiting for new needles to get here. Will install and recheck float level. It has to be one of those two. Carbs were very clean. I will keep you posted. Joe