AQ125A Please Help

[Jolie Lynn]

Hi guys,
Having a prob here. First off thank you to all for getting me as far as I am now with our first boat. The people and posts here are great!! I have a Volvo AQ125A with 270 leg in an 82 Bayliner Capri 1950. Last year she was resurrected after 10 years and had a blast (ran very good) This winter I decided to remove the engine to clean and replace just about everything. It has a new timing belt, alternator belt, plugs, cap, rotor, points, condensor, wires, coil, impeller, starter, carb rebuilt cleaned thoroughly, fuel pump, cleaned and inspected distributor lower half, new fuel lines, water seperator, cleaned and functional check of anti-siphon valve. Fuel tank over winter was half full (optimist here with Seafoam. First start up set points and timing to get engine warm. Once engine was warm I set Dwell to 62, verifaied tach and set timing at 10 @ 900 RPM. Took boat out and worked out bugs.
Now the PROBLEM: The boat was ran without incident first adding and using about a 1/4 tank. The second time out it was hard to get started cold and once or twice the engine surged thought nothing of it. Next time out added 1/4 gas to tank and was a little hard to start but did then surged and stalled. VERY hard to start and when engine ran for few seconds nursed her almost in to dock. I soaked and went through carb twice, more thorourghly than the local carb shop here. Engine very hard to start, when it does runs rough and only for a few seconds. I verifed coil and all cylinders have spark, timing belt and timing still on time. Flushed carb again (tired of doin' that Added more Seafoam. The carb is a single barrel Solex with really only one jet to adjust other than the idle speed. I had a previous problem last year and now has returned which I am not the only one here with this but would hear sucking sound from carb and engine would stall at around 1300 RPM if advanced slowly but when throttle is goosed it would accelorate fine past that certain point. I am at my witts end with this and kids are losing interest in my new found love of boating. PLEASE HELP
Thanks

 

[Jolie Lynn]

Re: AQ125A Please Help

Me again,
Forgot to add that I cleared out gas in the carb and ran the line from the pump from to new gas in a portable gas can to see if it was some bad gas but no luck

 

[captmello]

Re: AQ125A Please Help

Hummm...Thats a tough one. You've done so much work to it, it's hard to say what might be wrong. I usually suggest only fixing one thing at a time and testing between repairs to make sure its done right.

Anyway, since you've had the carb off so much, could the gasket at the base be leaking air? If so it won't run right. Try spraying carb cleaner or something at the base of the carb while its running to see if its sucking air. If the engine runs differently when spraying, there's your problem.

Those carbs have no choke so hard cold starting should be expected. Just ahve to find the right technique.

 

[Jolie Lynn]

Re: AQ125A Please Help

Thanks, I will certainly check that. The carb gasket on the bottom did look ok and sits between carb and the restrictor plate but I don't know if the restrictor plate needs one between it and the manifold.

 

[captmello]

Re: AQ125A Please Help

but I don't know if the restrictor plate needs one between it and the manifold.

I would think that any two mating surfaces should have a gasket. Try the spray test first, see if it shows anything.

 

[Jolie Lynn]

Re: AQ125A Please Help

It appears that there is one below it and carb is seated good. I did the fresh gas test again more thoroughly and still no go. Well I did some further investigation and I might have slipped two teeth on the timing belt. The valve and distributor lines line up on the marks but down at the crank the belt has two lines and when I first installed it I put the mark between the two lines as best as I could. Now the two lines are off the mark. I did not change the belt tension idler but it appeared ok and the belt was new and tight so I don't know how it slipped. I am going to find someone to help me get it dead on and replace the idler if necessary. Do you guys know the part number of an idler preferrably an automotive alternative. I looked everywhere for my ignition coil and everyone wanted $69 and shipping but the local car parts place stocks the same volvo part number and cost me $19 off the shelf
I will try to get the timing right this week and touch base here by weeks end. Feel free to give any 2 cents on this, I will accept it graciously !!
Thanks

 

[Jolie Lynn]

Re: AQ125A Please Help

WELL WELL WELL chalk it up to a poor ground at the distributor and condenser. Only after many frustrating evenings and throwing lots-o-money at it I was going to do many of those things any way but not all at once. My hard starting rough running and that flat spot in the rpm where the carb made a sucking sound and would die unless slamming throttle fully ALL went away !! I had a similar problem on a previous post that a carb kit seem to cure then but not this time I used Guaranteed Carbs out of Florida and they seem to do a good job. They do much more than the local shop's soak spray and kit. It ran me $14 to ship it to them and their bill was $218 including shipment back with a lifetime guarantee. I did find the timing belt tensioner at my local car parts place for $40 same volvo part number (on the shelf). I hope this helps someone else Happy Boating !!

 

[RandyJ]

Re: AQ125A Please Help

Glad to see you got it fixed. I resurrected virtually the same boat.... paid $200 for it on a galvanized trailer so got a decent deal.. very proud of it! Not sure what the deal is with mine but it is usually hard to start after I've run it across the lake, once it warms up. I went through several problems when I got it going the first time... had to replace water pump impeller, timing belt, points, plugs, and checked the valves before I even tried to start it the first time. Oh yeah, I had to completely replace the upholstery and steering wheel... still got more upholstery to do but proud of my accomplishment and the joy of having a nice old boat that runs great! Last weekend the prop simply fell off in 60 ft of water... so I'm now hunting a prop and all the parts that go with it on the prop shaft....

 

[Jolie Lynn]

Re: AQ125A Please Help

Wow I paid a heck of a lot more than that. What a bargain ! I have enjoyed fixing this one up and my goal is to have it safe and dependable and that seems to be the case now. About that prop just to let you know you CAN use a left or right hand propeller. That will broaden your search. I found one overhauled for $50. If you get a different propeller from what you have you just need to change the arm under the outdrive cover form one side to the other to pivot the center cam from left hand to right hand rotation and adjust your exhaust trim the other way if it veers....Thats it!! Mine was left hand and now is right hand.
Good Luck

 

[RandyJ]

Re: AQ125A Please Help

Thanks for the info. I was told the same thing about making the swap from LH / RH last night and also found a prop if I want to buy it but I also need the locking bolt that goes through the cone nut, the cone nut, and the thrust washer... they seem a little hard to locate.

 

[Jolie Lynn]

Re: AQ125A Please Help

Hi guys,
Just a quick question do you have the pertronix conversion? I am thinking about it because of previous issues. If so how much on a scale of 1 to 10 would you recommend it to me? I was going to start a new thread on this one but thought I would ask.
Thanks

 

[Robj]

Re: AQ125A Please Help

Hi guys,
Just a quick question do you have the pertronix conversion? I am thinking about it because of previous issues. If so how much on a scale of 1 to 10 would you recommend it to me? I was going to start a new thread on this one but thought I would ask.
Thanks

9/10, did not want to give it a perfect score. I have it and it works great. Well worth the money. Put it in more than 3 years ago.

Have a great day

Rob.

 

[Jolie Lynn]

Re: AQ125A Please Help

Hi again,
Just installed basic Protronix conversion kit and it was a breeze. I kept my stock coil which is above 3 ohms across primary. There was no difference in performance but not having issues like before and constant tweaking was well worth the 100 bucks. Thanks