90 ELPTO warm starting issues (flooding?)

dandreye

Petty Officer 2nd Class
Joined
Oct 19, 2007
Messages
141
Hi All,

My 90 ELPTO (2001) starts literally at half a turn when warm unless it had been kept at idle or very low rpms even for a few minutes before it stalled or was stopped manually (whichever occured sooner), in which cases it occasionally won't start for a random period of time (10min to hours). It won't even have a single cylinder fire while cranking all this time until at some point it'll magically start all of a sudden, typically at one cylinder first and soon after the other 2 will kick in. The spark plugs are wet and most of those who saw it happen said the engine got flooded. So I minimized the amount of time I use it at idle or at low rpm (basically I now try shutting it off as soon as I cease riding) and it's helping to the extent that I don't recall seeing the problem happen again so far. Assuming it was flooding indeed is it another instance of the nature of this beast? (one certain one is its famous rough idle because of running lean - btw how can an engine running lean get flooded??) Afaik these are very reliable OBs due to their fairly straightforward design, so I find it somewhat hard to believe that all of their owners have been avoiding idle and low rpm like me for as long as 3 dozen years... surely they'd have upgraded to fuel injected models as soon as those became available - yet there are still plenty of happy owners of the OB in question.

So,
- is there any way to prevent flooding in these OBs purely by means of carburetor or whatever adjustments?
- if it still occurs regardless what is the right procedure to start the OB? (w/o taking out spark plugs unless inevitable)


Many thanks in advance,

Dmitriy
 
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Faztbullet

Supreme Mariner
Joined
Mar 2, 2008
Messages
15,930
Re: 90 ELPTO warm starting issues (flooding?)

You need to check the spark on cylinders when it wont start as it could be a stator issue caused by a stator failing or overheat by bad rect/regulator.
 

dandreye

Petty Officer 2nd Class
Joined
Oct 19, 2007
Messages
141
Re: 90 ELPTO warm starting issues (flooding?)

Faztbullet:

Good point, thank you. By the way if my inline spark tester (installed between CDM and spark plug) doesn't flash does it always point to an ignition problem or might also be caused by flooded spark plugs as no spark = no current = no flash?
 

dandreye

Petty Officer 2nd Class
Joined
Oct 19, 2007
Messages
141
Re: 90 ELPTO warm starting issues (flooding?)

Yet another thought: can it be fuel pump ceasing to work at idle and low rpms? Afaik it has never had a diaphragm replaced and even though the OB has been quite underutilized it's over 12 years old. I wouldn't call the spark plugs completely dry - they're somewhat wet but certainly not dripping any fuel. So perhaps once the OB is running idle or at low rpms the fuel supply is essentially cut off, so the OB keeps running for just as long as there's fuel pumped into the carburetors while riding normally (when there are never any issues) and then stalls - how reasonable does that sound? Is there any criteria to distinguish between a usable and unusable diaphragm if it has no visible damage such as punctures?
 
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