Carb'd outboards
01-21-2011, 06:53 PM
#1
Administrator
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Stuart, FL
Posts: 24,416
Man I tell you what I have had the worst couple years with carb'd outboards. First was the 2 stroke 15hp I took to the bahamas. The usual scenario is this, plug in the fuel tank in and start pulling the motor, fuel starts pouring out of the carb. Then it happened with my 6hp. I ended up just buying a brand new carb cause it gave me extra hp. So I bought a new 15 hp 4 stroke tohatsu, brand new. when I got it home I figured i would run it and my other 6hp at the same time, 15 hp runs great of course, but now I am worried since I am not going to use it until May.
I go to start the 6hp up and fuel starts pouring out of it. So I take the new carb which had maybe 2 hours use on it off and sure enough the float is stuck, I get it running only to find out the primary needle is plugged up tight.
What I don't get is I've been running these things dry when I store them and yet they are still filled with yellow guck 3 months later. I'm going to have to come up with something to connect to the fuel line and run some sort of solution through it when I store them. The question at hand is what? I use the ethanol fuel treatments and I use the startron crap, but nothing keeps these carbs from gumming up after sitting. I even drain the bowls to make sure they are totally empty.
I'm seriously considering not buying ethanol fuel at all for them, I never had this issue prior to ethanol. That 15 hp 2 stroke ran for 5 years fine on regular gas, put the ethanol gas in and the carb clogged up and then i blew a piston out of it (prolly not due to the ethanol).
I've got a 9.8 i just rebuilt the carb on and am going to sell it, it hadn't ran on the ethanol fuel guy just used marina gas (no ethanol), but I decided that it probably needed a carb rebuild. After sitting for two years, not having the fuel drained when it was pulled it had no varnish at all in it.
Anyhow if anyone is interested I've found that the stuff at west marine called "de-carb" eats the varnish off the carb parts if you soak it for an hour. I've also found that soaking it in PB blaster overnight removes the crap as well.
So back to my point, what should I run through the carb prior to storing the motors? Any suggestions????
I go to start the 6hp up and fuel starts pouring out of it. So I take the new carb which had maybe 2 hours use on it off and sure enough the float is stuck, I get it running only to find out the primary needle is plugged up tight.
What I don't get is I've been running these things dry when I store them and yet they are still filled with yellow guck 3 months later. I'm going to have to come up with something to connect to the fuel line and run some sort of solution through it when I store them. The question at hand is what? I use the ethanol fuel treatments and I use the startron crap, but nothing keeps these carbs from gumming up after sitting. I even drain the bowls to make sure they are totally empty.
I'm seriously considering not buying ethanol fuel at all for them, I never had this issue prior to ethanol. That 15 hp 2 stroke ran for 5 years fine on regular gas, put the ethanol gas in and the carb clogged up and then i blew a piston out of it (prolly not due to the ethanol).
I've got a 9.8 i just rebuilt the carb on and am going to sell it, it hadn't ran on the ethanol fuel guy just used marina gas (no ethanol), but I decided that it probably needed a carb rebuild. After sitting for two years, not having the fuel drained when it was pulled it had no varnish at all in it.
Anyhow if anyone is interested I've found that the stuff at west marine called "de-carb" eats the varnish off the carb parts if you soak it for an hour. I've also found that soaking it in PB blaster overnight removes the crap as well.
So back to my point, what should I run through the carb prior to storing the motors? Any suggestions????
01-21-2011, 07:50 PM
#2
Senior Member
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: peru, IN
Posts: 1,833
I dunno about those marine engines but pretty much all engines require special gaskets and seals in the fuel system. Ethanol is alcohol based so it dries out and shrinks the gaskets. Thus allowing fuel to leak out and water to get in. But again, I don't know if those engines are built for flex fuel or not though.
In other news, why'd you post this in the new members section? Lol
In other news, why'd you post this in the new members section? Lol
01-21-2011, 08:03 PM
#4
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Thread Starter
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Stuart, FL
Posts: 24,416
The issue seems to be what's left behind after it evaporates. It's a yellow substance and it's as hard as a rock a wire brush won't remove it.
There's got to be something I can run through the fuel line when storing to keep it from varnishing.
There's got to be something I can run through the fuel line when storing to keep it from varnishing.
01-21-2011, 11:25 PM
#5
Senior Member
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Miami, Florida
Posts: 1,591
run some regular gas before storage is the only thing i can imagine. i have a good history with marine engines and i never have carb problems with regular gas. take it out on its final trip before storage with premium pump and some fuel injector cleaner and you should be right as rain.
01-22-2011, 12:26 PM
#6
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Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: Savannah, Ga
Posts: 2,763
Those deposits are from the ethanol. Its not as bad as methanol, but it still gums up fuel systems badly. Ive been having similar issues with my carbed bike getting gummed up constantly, and its a relatively new thing. I think the gas companies are adding more ethanol than they used to.
