Notice the comma in the title? No, I was not burning up the crappie on Grayson lake today. But something was on fire… my outboard!! Guess that’s why we keep extinguishers in the boat.
After tinkering with it again Friday evening, I decided to take it out Saturday morning with mccormick3556 and see if it would run. Ran carb cleaner and sea foam through it and put in new spark plugs Friday evening.
Same result as before. It will fire up and run on land, but dies as soon as it’s put in the water. Boat was running on the trailer, then died when we backed it in the water. After several attempts to start it while in the water, the ignition started making a horrible sound. The only thing I can compare it to was a kazoo at a kids birthday party. It was very loud and would go non stop as long as the key was in the on position.
We decided to leave it alone and just troll around the ramp and fish a bit. Caught a few small bass and a couple decent gills on bottom.
After a couple hours my buddy suggested I try the big motor again. On the third or fourth try it almost turned over. On the next try I heard a loud pop followed by a lot of smoke. I kept trying to start it when I heard him yell FIRE! I looked back and saw fire on the water and the motor. I grabbed the fire extinguisher and he was able to get it put out. After that we called it a day and I hauled the boat to dads for more work.
So tonight, we rebuilt the lower carb, cleaned the upper carb thoroughly, and replaced the plug wires. Still has a misfire and sounds horrible. Need to adjust the cables again to get the idle right. Still not sure what caused the fire either. Replaced a couple of lines I found on the motor that were rotted out which smelled like they had fuel in them at one point… I’m totally lost. Not sure where to go next…. Anyone who is able to offer advice please do so… I gotta get this thing going or I’m in danger of missing the spring fling next weekend.
Sorry for the long post. Just been a rough day and needed to vent it. Thanks for reading.
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