Association Forum - Buy a spare carb!!!!!

Assn Members Area · Join

Home.

Association Forum

Ships Store

Cruising

Racing

Technical Tips

Photo Gallery - New

Boat Search - Updated

Manuals & Brochures

Swap Meet

Links

Officer Flag Line & Staff

Bylaws & Constitution

Members Area

Join the Association

Notice:
The advice given on this site is based upon individual or quoted experience, yours may differ.
The Officers, Staff and members of this site only provide information based upon the concept that anyone utilizing this information does so at their own risk and holds harmless all contributors to this site.

Association Forum

Username:	Password:
Save Password
Forgot your Password?

All Forums

Catalina/Capri 25/250 Sailor's Forums

General Sailing Forum

Buy a spare carb!!!!!

New Topic

Topic Locked

Printer Friendly

Author

Topic

mrapkins
Navigator

Member Avatar

USA
124 Posts

Initially Posted - 06/25/2012 : 09:10:27

Last year, I had trouble with my Honda 9.9 dying under idle after a long run (it ran fine at the slip after starting) so over the winter I stripped the carb and cleaned everything. Re-assembled, motor purred like a kitten. Purred like a kitten all year until Saturday 16th when we left my marina in Middle River on the Chesapeake.

Motor seemed to hesitate but I pushed on thinking it would sort itself out. Reached the stage to put up the sails and you guessed it, motor died.

Since I was traveling with a bunch of friends we decided to sail on and try and solve the problem at anchor that night. I changed the plugs and the fuel filter but motor still wouldn't start.

My wife insisted that we push on to the next marina where we could take the motor off and re-strip the carb - which we did - with no luck. So, this being Sunday I called 2 mechanics to see who would respond 1st. 1st guy says he can be at the marina at 7.30am Monday - yeah!!!! He arrives on time and sets to work with a cigarette burning over my extra fuel tanks!!! He couldn't get the engine to start but he knew a guy who could and he would have him call me. So we wait. And then the second mechanic I had called calls me. Says he's a certified Honda mechanic and he can be at the marina in 45 minutes - yeah!!!!

Never did hear from the "guy who could".

2 hours later certified Honda mechanic arrives and checks things out. Turns out the first mechanic had broken the isolator and failed to re-attach the carb properly. Anyway he spends around an hour and finally says that since we had cleaned the carb and he could possibly see a minute crack in the jet we should get a new carb. I agree. (BTW this guy had had a heart attack 2 weeks previously!!) He says it will take 3 or 4 days. I tell him I am on vacation and like to re-join my buddies on a cruise. He says he'll do what he can to get me going ASAP. Says he'll call as as soon as he has the parts ordered which will be when he gets back to his shop. It's now 12.00pm on Monday.

5.45pm Monday and silence from the mechanic so I call him. Parts are ordered and will be in on Wednesday.

So we wait.

Wednesday morning I call to see what time he's coming. He says Fedex arrives around 2.00pm and he'll be here right after the parts are delivered. 3.00pm he calls to say the parts have arrived but it's too hot to install them - it was nearly 100 degrees and the guy has just had a heart attack so I agree.

Thursday morning at 10.00am he arrives carb in hand. Says they didn't send a new isolator so he's going to glue the old one back together. Then he notices that a part he needs from the old carb isn't at the boat (he took the old carb back to his shop) so he has to drive (actually be driven - he's not allowed to drive coz of his heart attack) 45 minutes each way to get the part. He returns 2 hours later part in hand. 15 minutes later carb is installed and the motor purrs like a kitten. He then hands me his bill. $595!!!!!!! He has a 3 hour minimum and charges $135 an hour - plus parts!!!!!!

Moral of the story, you can save an awful lot of money if you keep a $148.86 carb (boats.net price) on hand!!!!!

Edited by - on

redeye
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

3474 Posts

Response Posted - 06/25/2012 : 09:27:15

Wow.. that bill would have had me clutching my heart.

Edited by - on

delliottg
Former Mainsheet C250 Tech Editor

Members Avatar

USA
4479 Posts

Response Posted - 06/25/2012 : 10:31:15

Ouch.

Edited by - on

glen
Captain

Members Avatar

359 Posts

Response Posted - 06/25/2012 : 10:57:45

OK I’m lucky I guess. My story is similar in the aspect that I also have a 9.9 Honda. The lucky part is I had the opportunity to pick up another identical 9.9 Honda a few years back, so I have a spare engine. Last year my original started to do the same thing yours did. So over the winter I took it in for service. He put in new plugs and gas filter and said it required a simple carb adjustment. OK put it on worked for a while than in a crowded river it quits. Luckily for me I got it restarted (then it died, then it restarted etc. etc.), but I got back to the well, and swapped motors (not all that easy of a job to do in the water) The mechanic now has the motor (2 weeks)and is telling me he can’t find a problem with it. The spare motor is working perfect, but I still want the original fixed. Will keep you posted if he discovers the glitch. Like you I wish I had just bought a D## carb myself

Edited by - on

mrapkins
Navigator

Members Avatar

USA
124 Posts

Response Posted - 06/26/2012 : 04:31:58

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by glen
 OK I’m lucky I guess. My story is similar in the aspect that I also have a 9.9 Honda. The lucky part is I had the opportunity to pick up another identical 9.9 Honda a few years back, so I have a spare engine. Last year my original started to do the same thing yours did. So over the winter I took it in for service. He put in new plugs and gas filter and said it required a simple carb adjustment. OK put it on worked for a while than in a crowded river it quits. Luckily for me I got it restarted (then it died, then it restarted etc. etc.), but I got back to the well, and swapped motors (not all that easy of a job to do in the water) The mechanic now has the motor (2 weeks)and is telling me he can’t find a problem with it. The spare motor is working perfect, but I still want the original fixed. Will keep you posted if he discovers the glitch. Like you I wish I had just bought a D## carb myself
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

Please do let me know if you find out what's wrong. Yesterday, motor started cutting out at idle!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Edited by - on

dmpilc
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

USA
4593 Posts

Response Posted - 06/26/2012 : 07:10:39

You might want to go ahead and buy a spare carb anyway while they are available. I just discovered that boats.com lists the carb for my 1999 Merc 5 hp 4-stroke as obsolete, but certain individual parts are available. Go figure.

Edited by - on

Sloop Smitten
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

USA
1181 Posts

Response Posted - 06/26/2012 : 09:22:16

When I had a Honda outboard I suffered through the engine dying at the most inopportune times as well. Finally solved it by buying new jets for the carb and cleaning it with a carb bath cleaner. That was 5 years ago and that engine still runs good. I sold it to the fellow across from me in the harbor and he often tells me how he stole it from me. The jets should be less costly than replacing the entire carb.

Edited by - on

glen
Captain

Members Avatar

359 Posts

Response Posted - 06/26/2012 : 11:15:21

Please do let me know if you find out what's wrong. Yesterday, motor started cutting out at idle!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[/quote]
As soon as I get any information I will let you know. Yesterday after running it on and off for 3 days, it finally did it to him. He still hasn’t figured it out, but at least he knows I wasn’t making it up. At this point he has made it his goal to get to the bottom of it.

God only knows what this will cost me.

Edited by - on

Sloop Smitten
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

USA
1181 Posts

Response Posted - 06/26/2012 : 14:15:29

glen,
The idle jet for the carb is under a brass plug on the right side of the carb looking at it from the front side. If you remove the plug you can remove and clean it. The plug is there to prevent tampering because the jet is considered part of the emission control system. It was never intended to prevent cleaning of the jet. Do a search on the General Forum and you should be able to find information to remove the plug and clean the jet. The Honda idle jet has a tiny orifice which can easily clog. If this solves the problem, but only for a short time, replacement of the jet will probably help. mrapkins problems do not sound the same as a plugged idle jet. Yours does. The plug should be similar to the one depicted below at the end of the "horn". You need to bottom out the jet and keep track of the revolutions required so you can put it back at the same location. The jet to the left is the fast idle jet. You can clean it as well. It does not adjust so just screw it in till it seats.

Edited by - on

delliottg
Former Mainsheet C250 Tech Editor

Members Avatar

USA
4479 Posts

Response Posted - 06/26/2012 : 15:18:42

I had lots of problems with my carburetor when I ran rusty gas/water mix through it last year. I had the same problem you're experiencing with not running at slow idle. The problems continued into this year after three carb rebuilds & cleanings (new jets, soaking in carb cleaner, new float, etc. by me). The engine would run fine for a short time (always less than half an hour), then the problem would crop up again. Turned out to not be even related to the carb, it was my fuel bulb that was sticking closed. Since I'd always pump the bulb a few times before I started the engine, I'd get enough gas in the carb to run for a short time, but if it were running at low idle, it couldn't pull any more gas through the sticking valves in the bulb. If it were running on the fast idle jet (about 1800-2k RPM or so), it's run just fine because there was enough suction. I finally replaced the bulb solely in desperation, and voilà, all my problems went away.

Edited by - on

rrick
Captain

Members Avatar

USA
261 Posts

Response Posted - 06/26/2012 : 22:49:27

Carry extra parts... Spark plug, coil, wire and points... Prop, nut and washer... Cable for shift, throttle and choke... Fuel pump, primer bulb, hose and connections... Plugs and fluids for lower unit, engine oil and an extra dipstick (magnetic tool too to retrieve broken dipstick)... Carburetor spray, starting spray and a chlorinated solvent (steps 1,2,3 to ungum/depaint)... Tool set is easy and does not stray far from what the manufacturer included at purchase.

Edited by - on

GaryB
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

USA
4275 Posts

Response Posted - 06/27/2012 : 19:59:38

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by rrick
 Carry extra parts... Spark plug, coil, wire and points... Prop, nut and washer... Cable for shift, throttle and choke... Fuel pump, primer bulb, hose and connections... Plugs and fluids for lower unit, engine oil and an extra dipstick (magnetic tool too to retrieve broken dipstick)... Carburetor spray, starting spray and a chlorinated solvent (steps 1,2,3 to ungum/depaint)... Tool set is easy and does not stray far from what the manufacturer included at purchase.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
Heck, why not carry an extra powerhead and lower unit too! Sorry, couldn't resist!

Edited by - on

mrapkins
Navigator

Members Avatar

USA
124 Posts

Response Posted - 06/28/2012 : 04:30:57

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by GaryB
 <blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by rrick
 Carry extra parts... Spark plug, coil, wire and points... Prop, nut and washer... Cable for shift, throttle and choke... Fuel pump, primer bulb, hose and connections... Plugs and fluids for lower unit, engine oil and an extra dipstick (magnetic tool too to retrieve broken dipstick)... Carburetor spray, starting spray and a chlorinated solvent (steps 1,2,3 to ungum/depaint)... Tool set is easy and does not stray far from what the manufacturer included at purchase.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
Heck, why not carry an extra powerhead and lower unit too! Sorry, couldn't resist!

<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

I think this picks up an interesting point; what is an appropriate set of spares to carry for basic cruising?

Edited by - on

OLarryR
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

USA
3370 Posts

Response Posted - 06/28/2012 : 08:43:59

Wow ! "... what is an appropriate set of spares to carry for basic cruising?" What a great question !

Two big factors are what waters are you sailing (as in how far away from shore and human inhabitants) and what has been past nightmares which would drive one to carry more spares.

Those that started sailing off of of a sunfish, Lazer, Banshee, etc had no outboards at all and the spare that some with a cockpit may have carried was limited to an oar...and it was a time before there were cell phones ! Those that had somewhat larger sailboats with a few addl creature comforts had a small outboard and maybe an oar but definitely no spare outboard and doubtful if any spare components to service the outboard. So, that then brings us to presnt time with a Cat 25.

I have only the basic little pouch tool kit that Honda provided which has a spare plastic safety interlock that fits below the start button, a spark plug wrench, screwdriver, etc. I carry no spark plugs or any other spares of sorts. I have one or two collapsable oars in the dumpster but on a boat our size, it may only be helpful if very close to the marina...like 20 feet outside of it. Of course, we all have two sails and except for extremely high winds or calm days, that is what I would use if the outboard konked out. yes, I am at risk for certain occasions regarding wind conditions but as of right now, I seem comfortable with that risk....probably until such time that i may experience some sort of nightmare in which I wish I did have some addl spares with me.

We all have to make these decisions and we sometimes default conservatively with some things and not so on other things. For example, I always wear a auto-inflating PFD but I alaways also have a vest type PFD in the cockpit for myself in addition to one for each guest. If it becomes too cumbersome to have all the vests in the cockpit, then I usually have one or two dangling off of my Ram Swing arm for my depthfinder or just inside the cabin. But others, they probably just have them up front in the VBerth because the regs do not state they have to be in the cockpit, only accessible...and believe the regs do not cover anything regarding rqmts regarding spares for the outboard...so anything goes regarding your conservatism with situations that may arise.

Edited by - OLarryR on 06/28/2012 08:47:58

Topic

New Topic

Topic Locked

Printer Friendly

Jump To:

Association Forum

Notice: The advice given on this site is based upon individual or quoted experience, yours may differ.
The Officers, Staff and members of this site only provide information based upon the concept that anyone utilizing this information does so at their own risk and holds harmless all contributors to this site.