Chyrlser 35hp stalling

[wakeandsky]

My father has a 35HP model 357HE s/n 3235. I maintain it for him and drive it basically twice a year - to put it in and take it out, so when it has problems, I'm not there to witness what happened. Last year it stalled out and my father had it towed to a shop and they said all they did was clean the carb. it finished the season without a problem. At the start of this season it ran fine, but stalled out within a couple of days. I found the carb bowl to have a fair amount of small black particles in it, so I cleaned it out and sprayed down the rest of the carb and sent it on it's merry way. Same thing happened (again, I was never with the boat when these things occured) so I totally disassembled and cleaned the carb, tweeked its settings and it ran like when he first got it. The following day I got the call that it had stalled out again. I thought the bowl gasket might be deteriating so I order a gasket kit, cleaned the carb again, replaced the gas lines, cleaned the tanks, and put in inline filter. Went to start it and of course the battery was dead from people trying to restart it. Charged the battery to the point of being able to restart the engine. Ran the engine for about 15 minutes. Took it out for a run. All seemed ok until I was coming back in, slowed the engine, it sputtered and died. Battery was too low to restart, so I dragged it back to the dock, poppped the charger on and a couple of minutes later it fired up fine. Ran it for a half an hour and then started getting intermittent sputtering and a couple of stalls. I'm perplexed because I haven't found a consistent pattern. Once it seemed like it was running on 1 cylinder and within 30 seconds it was back to normal. Other times it just sputters and dies. I thought it might be overheating, but the head doesn't seem very hot and I'm getting a decent telltale. I have a float on order, but haven't gotten it yet, but it didn't seem to be shedding particles. I've thought it might be the fuel pump, but I wouldn't think I should be able to go for a half hour of operation without a problem and then have it clear up in a few moments. Any thoughts?

 

[eurolarva]

Re: Chyrlser 35hp stalling

Hello wakeand sky and welcome to iboats. When chrysler made these they were designed to run 87 octane with lead. The designers never anticipated alcohol being added to the gas. My guess is the black stuff you saw in the carb was parts of the fuel line and parts of the diaphram in the fuel pump. Get a fuel pump kit from NAPA part 18-7806. Replace all the fuel line with newer stuff. Dump all the gas in a glass container and verify if it is bad. I would also recommend switching over to a plastic gas can. I have noticed fewer problems with my gas since I switched. Another concern is that your starter may be getting too much work out. I would not be suprised if that is the next thing to go on that motor with all the problems you are having.

Also rebuilding the carb might be a good idea. The new seats are rubber coated and seal better then the originals. The carb is 18-7037 also from NAPA. To buy both kits total is around thirty bucks.

 

[wakeandsky]

Re: Chyrlser 35hp stalling

Thank you. That makes sense to me. When I had checked with my dealer, they said the carb rebuild kit was no longer available, so let me show a moment of ignorance, am I correct in assuming the NAPA you refer to is the same as the auto parts dealers I am familiar with?

 

[i386]

Re: Chyrlser 35hp stalling

Your problems sound just like mine. After cleaning the trash in the float bowl and getting a new tank, line and filter I thought my problems were over. The first clue for me was how hard it was to start. But spraying some premix right into the carb made it start easily. After working with it a little more I thought my problems were over. But then 2 weeks ago I was fishing and decided it was time to go because of the storm coming in. After a little trouble getting it started I pointed bow toward the boat ramp and took off at top speed. It then hesitated and surged back up to full rpms about 4 times in rapid succession. Then it ran fine all the way to the dock. I took it out again a few days later and rode for miles and miles at WOT with no problems. I took it out again last week and it did the surging thing again. I couldn't get it to stay running after the premix I sprayed in burned off after a few seconds. I made it back on the trolling motor. It's getting to the point where I can't enjoy going out because all I can think about it getting stuck out there.

Anyway, I have ordered a carb kit and a fuel pump kit. We'll see if that helps.


By the way wakeandsky...

I'm not sure if your fuel pump is like mine but I learned something the other day. The fuel hose fitting where the gas exits the fuel pump has more to it than I thought. There's a long skinny screen filter in it. It may be worth checking out. It looks like a regular barbed, slightly bent elbow fitting. To look at it, you'd never know there was a screen in it. Mine was clean, but yours may not be.

 

[eurolarva]

Re: Chyrlser 35hp stalling

Yeah NAPA carries both kits. You can also buy both kits here at Iboats.The fuel pump kit is HERE and the carb kit is HERE. NAPA sells quite a bit of marine products.

 

[wakeandsky]

Re: Chyrlser 35hp stalling

i386, I did not know of the screen you have referred to. It's interesting the things that you miss when you are hanging off the back of a boat that is sitting in the water. I shall take a look at that.

Thanks.