1990 V4 Looper wont take throttle. Been laying around for 2 years.

[spybot]

Just got hold of a V4 120hp looper. The guy bought it off said it ran, but i didnt see it go.
I tried to get it going only to find after a good few hours of going through the CDI faultfinding that the CDI unit had packed in and only firing on Starboard pots.So ordered a new CDI from the states took 10 days to get here.
Once it arrived and fitted i am now getting a good spark on 4 cylinders. Jumping the 7/16 with a snap. Compression is not the best at 125psi but its equal across all pots. The motor will start but will not take any throttle she just dies. When its at idle the Starboard bank gets hot but the port bank stays barley warm. She sounds like she is running really rough. I know she is getting a spark but not sure if the port bank is getting fuel. When at idle if i give her any more than moving the warm up lever she dies. I tried squirting in some easy start to the port carbs but as soon as i do this she dies. What could be starving/blocking the bank ? Could the reeds be stuck ? I have the carbs off the motor and will clean (Ultra sonic) and rebuild them. I am 75 miles from the engine so will only be able to try her again during the week.
Would it be something as a blocked intermediate jet that is stopping the fuel ? Why would it die when giving it more fuel ?
Could the timing be off ? It looks like it has been well maintained but it has been idle for at least 12 months.
Hopefully you guys can give me some pointers

 

[jimmbo]

A lot of things are sold that are said to run, but...
The engine sat for a while, and if not properly prepped for storage, often results in gummed up and blocked carbs. A good solvent cleaning and some compressed air will get carbs clean. I personally think Ultrasonic can do damage to delicate/precision parts as it is essentially inducing Cavitation to remove material, be it dirt or part of the item being cleaned

I highly doubt the Reeds are of concern, same goes for Timing.

"Why would it die when giving it more fuel ?" You are actually giving it more air, and if the carb is unable to provide more fuel in response, it will die

"Easy Start"? is that Ether? Great way to wreck a 2 stroke. Try spraying some gas-oil mix into the carb to see if it perks up

 

[spybot]

Taken that on board Jimmbo
I will use the solvent and air method. As i said the carbs are off to be cleaned. Once rebuilt i will try the fuel/oil mix.
I want to cover as many bases as i can so when i go back up to the boat i have a lot of options to try and sort this problem and hopefully have a sweet running motor.

 

[racerone]

I think the carburetors ---" crossover " -----on this motor.--------Looking at the carburetors the one on the top right feeds the cylinder on the top left side.

 

[spybot]

I think the carburetors ---" crossover " -----on this motor.--------Looking at the carburetors the one on the top right feeds the cylinder on the top left side.

So i take it i should be concentrating on the Stbd Carbs ?

 

[spybot]

I think the carburetors ---" crossover " -----on this motor.--------Looking at the carburetors the one on the top right feeds the cylinder on the top left side.

This may have been why the motor died when i put the easy start in here. I thought i was putting it in the port side carbs when in actual fact i was feeding the strb side hence it died.

As i said i have the carbs (well plastic bowls and upper assembly) are here for cleaning. I am still open to all other suggestions of things to try and get her running.

 

[spybot]

Is it possible to rebuild these carbs WITHOUT the rebuild kit ? Even if they last long enough just to diagnose the problem ?
I have to order parts from the US it normally takes around 10 days for items to arrive then once they arrive we get hit with import duty and then VAT making each kit cost around $47. I dont want to spend $200 Just to find its not the problem.
If it is the problem i will gladly spend the money.

 

[racerone]

On the port side where is the coil with orange / blue stripe ??-----Top or bottom cylinder ?

 

[spybot]

Blue is on the top Racer I followed the CDI installation to the letter with blue on top and green on bottom. Even checked the Black / Yellow to make sure there was not more than 2 volts Key On/Off it showed .03volts This is driving me mad. I thought to start that i had diagnosed the CDI fault wrongly as the port side of the motor was warm and the starb side hot. So i checked for spark and it was there. So why wont it fire ? It must be the carbs or am i going down the wrong path ?

 

[spybot]

Sorry for the delay in replying to questions. I am in Scotland so 6hr in front of you guys. It may be 7pm in USA but its Midnight here. So i will try and keep up with replies

 

[spybot]

I think the carburetors ---" crossover " -----on this motor.--------Looking at the carburetors the one on the top right feeds the cylinder on the top left side.

With me spraying easy start into the wrong carb (I thought it was the correct one Straight through and not opposite) Could this have flooded the motor ?

 

[racerone]

Well flooding clears up in a matter of seconds.------What happens if you spray fuel in the starboard carburetors ?-----Have you considered that the orange wires are identified WRONG from CDI.------A " no harm done " test is to switch them on the port side just in case.----Cost you no coins.----And I know Scottish folks can be frugal.-------They invented copper wire years ago when 2 of them were fighting over a penny.

 

[Klink]

I had a similar situation on an engine I bought to fix. The solution was to clean the carbs, HOWEVER, it was providential that it happened that the carbs would not allow anyone to run the engine fast, for had anyone before me run the engine at high speed they would have fried it, for the engine alarms were disconnected, and the water passages through the head were totally blocked. Those engine's tell tail (pee hose) just tell you the water pump is working, but they do not indicate that the block is getting cooled. Get yourself an infrared temperature gun like the one below and test your engine throughout before you go running around fast. Thank God that I couldn't get that engine to run fast, or I would have fried it.

 

[spybot]

Well flooding clears up in a matter of seconds.------What happens if you spray fuel in the starboard carburetors ?-----Have you considered that the orange wires are identified WRONG from CDI.------A " no harm done " test is to switch them on the port side just in case.----Cost you no coins.----And I know Scottish folks can be frugal.-------They invented copper wire years ago when 2 of them were fighting over a penny.

I have the carbs of for cleaning, cant check the CDI wires till back at the boat. If i swapped the orange wires over would that not cause the same fault on the starboard ? I suppose if it does well then the CDI is goosed ?? Yeah or am i wrong ?
We are a bit frugal but that what makes us Scottish. lol

 

[spybot]

I had a similar situation on an engine I bought to fix. The solution was to clean the carbs, HOWEVER, it was providential that it happened that the carbs would not allow anyone to run the engine fast, for had anyone before me run the engine at high speed they would have fried it, for the engine alarms were disconnected, and the water passages through the head were totally blocked. Those engine's tell tail (pee hose) just tell you the water pump is working, but they do not indicate that the block is getting cooled. Get yourself an infrared temperature gun like the one below and test your engine throughout before you go running around fast. Thank God that I couldn't get that engine to run fast, or I would have fried it.

I have a temp gun Kink but the port heads were only just warm. The water system on this motor has 3 outputs 1 for each bank and a third to vent the cowl.
Iam 99% sure its fuel but will try Racer test on the wires

 

[spybot]

One point i forgot to mention was that i had removed the VRO not completely I just disabled it. I removed the 3 wire connection behind the trim relay box plus the 2 wires that go to the 2T tank.
Could this have anything to do with my problem of "Possible lack of fuel on the port bank"

 

[racerone]

You just swap the wires ( orange / striped ) on the one side of the motor !!-----And if that corrects it then you are good to go.-----No money spent !-----And there is only one OUTPUT hose on the VRO to supply all 4 carburetors.

 

[spybot]

If it doesn't fix it hat would be my next course if action be ????

 

[JerEazy]

You can “rebuild” the carbs without a kit if you mean can you take em apart and clean them out and put them back together. I would think the risk is they would (and it’s likely) leak from reusing gaskets.

That being said, if it’s a blocked passage that you clear with the cleaning; it should run. Since they are already off - although it’s likely wasted labor since you’ll just have to take them off again to rebuild - shouldn’t be any real harm in putting them back on and giving it a go after the cleaning.

 

[spybot]

I didnt get a chance to get to the boat this weekend but i have the carbs off her. What i did was cleaned the 2 air jets ?? Then the one behind the drain plugs. Now when i bought this motor is was not firing on the port bank this was fixed by buying a new CDI unit. So back to the carbs on 2 of them i think from the port bank. had LOOSE Main jets, I mean loose as in it took one turn with the screwdriver to get them out. Could someone before me have done this to stop the port side getting fuel as it didnt have a spark ??? Am i just guessing why they were loose or do you think there may be some kind of logic to it ?
Anyways i wont know till Thursday if the carbs were the problem or if it was the wires to the coils as Racer said to check. Meanwhile im still trying to get my other engine running (See my other post about a complete rebuild of a V4 140.