I'm Stoked, Help Me Fuel My Fire!!!

[excalibur1031]

Purchased a 1989 Chaparral 178XL 3.0 Mercruiser Alpha 1 outdrive a month and a half ago. This is my first bowrider and other than a few outings on a bass boat that I owned, boating is fairly new to me. After getting the boat out for the first time, it overheated....not what I wanted my first outing to be. Needless to say I was 20% satisfied with me outing(only because I got the boat off the trailer and back on under its own power)LOL... I replaced the impeller that was the cause of the problem, removed the head sent it to the machine shop, performed a cylinder leak down test on the block (0-3% leakage on all cylnders...YEAH)and put the motor back together. I performed a complete tune-up with fluid changes, filters, and anything I thought would be necessary for my next trip out. I think I'm just paranoid, but rather have more new parts than old. Bought a reman carb because the one on it when I purchased it didn't have a choke. I wanted that feature so I spent the money. I set the idle mixture on the Rochester carb on the muffs, finally took the boat out to the lake yesterday and set the idle in the water in gear. Everything was going great, boat ran awesome, fired right up, it was a blast!! I did however experience a hard start, idle issue after shutting down the engine for about 15 mins and everytime I stopped or started the motor thereafter until I trailered it. I adjusted the idle mixture in gear on the trailer and it seemed to be fine after that. So.....90% satisfaction with this outing. I'm getting more excited. I do however want to achieve a 100% satisfaction level on my boating. I want to know about these 3.0s. Is this a common issue, hot start problems? It was hard to start except with throttle being open, my guess..rich condition. And what about not idling after the hot start? Sorry this was so long, I'm just really excited!! Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance

 

[Bt Doctur]

Re: I'm Stoked, Help Me Fuel My Fire!!!

Get up to the Adults Only section and download the manual and start reading it.

 

[zbnutcase]

Re: I'm Stoked, Help Me Fuel My Fire!!!

Marine engines do run rich, and the starting issue after a shutdown(known as "hot soak") IS NORMAL. Hit throttle only button, advance it to near full and start it. A carbureted engine will NEVER act like that fuel injected car you probably have in the driveway.

 

[bigskiohio]

Re: I'm Stoked, Help Me Fuel My Fire!!!

let idle for a minute before shuuting off and open your choke up or hate to say remove it as sometimes they are set to tight to start adjust to be open some and you need to pump throttle 3-4 times then leave it up some then pull it down when it starts. just kidding about removing it. ther is a sticky on this subject i think.

 

[excalibur1031]

Re: I'm Stoked, Help Me Fuel My Fire!!!

Okay, I guess the hot soak start is a problem then... I guess I'm more concerned about it not idling and just stalling after I get it started. Is that normal as well, or do I need to do some more digging?

 

[Silvertip]

Re: I'm Stoked, Help Me Fuel My Fire!!!

You apparently are not understanding the "hot soak" discussion. What happens after shutdown is that engine heat continues to build for awhile which "can" boil the fuel in the carb float bowl. Those vapors spill out of the carb into the intake manifold where it returns to it's liquid state and creates an immediate tendency to "flood" the engine when trying to restart after a few minutes. Therefore you were told to activate the neutral throttle advance feature to get some air into the engine to negate the flooding condition. when the engine starts don't yank the throttle back to full neutral. Patience sir -- pull it back to a slightly high idle until the hot soak situation clears. Then go boating. When you stop nextd time, let the engine idle for a minute or two to allow the temperature to stabilize, then shut it down. If there is still an issue, the carb needs attention. It may also be that the choke you installed is not correctly adjusted. NEVER adjust the choke on a hot engine. When it is stone cold and with key off, pump the throttle once, set it to idle and look at the choke plate with the flame arrestor removed. The plate should be just closed and should open with just a light finger touch. If it is open at all, loosen the lock screws and rotate the disc so the choke plate just closes. Tighten the screws and away you go.

 

[excalibur1031]

Re: I'm Stoked, Help Me Fuel My Fire!!!

Okee Dokee... I understand the process more completely now. Yes, the choke is setup properly, thanks so much for the advice and further enlightenment!! Can't wait to be back on the lake to try the advice!!

 

[smarks]

Re: I'm Stoked, Help Me Fuel My Fire!!!

I think "SilverTip" has got you going in the right direction. It really does sound like a fuel related problem.

A second solution to a "Hard start when hot" would be the coil going bad.
Just a thought..

Steve

 

[cr9c1]

Re: I'm Stoked, Help Me Fuel My Fire!!!

I had this same issue on a 120hp OMC. The problem was this: The 2nd terminal that boosts coil voltage to 12v on the starter solenoid was not functioning. Someone added a 2nd solenoid, thinking it would fix it, but this didn't have the "I" terminal either. Replaced 2nd solenoid with solenoid + I terminal, install booster wire, bingo. Fires right up.

This might be your problem if your engine just plain out sounds like it isn't firing at all when its cranking. If its sputtering, and trying to start, it might be something else though. Just my .02, and what I found with my "hot start" problem.