Got a boat, have some questions.

[guiness92]

Well I bought a boat today on a deal I couldnt pass up. Its a 1990 17' Larson cuddy cabin with a 3.1 liter mercruiser inboard outboard motor. The motor only has 212 hours on it and I bought it from the original owner. It only cost 1000 bucks and came with the trailer, and fish / depth finder.

We are having a problem getting it started though and I was wondering if anyone on here knows about these motors. In the pics, right under the air cleaner cover, Is that black rectangle box the carb? Yeah its a stupid question but I know absolutely nothing about these motors. There is a hole on the underside of that black box that dumps fuel when we crank the motor over then stops. Is there something missing there? The oil is clean as new, and everything else checks out good. Any help would be appreciated. ALso is there anything else that we should look for on this thing.

 

[chasingdaylight]

Well I bought a boat today on a deal I couldnt pass up. Its a 1990 17' Larson cuddy cabin with a 3.1 liter mercruiser inboard outboard motor. The motor only has 212 hours on it and I bought it from the original owner. It only cost 1000 bucks and came with the trailer, and fish / depth finder.

We are having a problem getting it started though and I was wondering if anyone on here knows about these motors. In the pics, right under the air cleaner cover, Is that black rectangle box the carb? Yeah its a stupid question but I know absolutely nothing about these motors. There is a hole on the underside of that black box that dumps fuel when we crank the motor over then stops. Is there something missing there? The oil is clean as new, and everything else checks out good. Any help would be appreciated. ALso is there anything else that we should look for on this thing.

yes that is the carb. it sound as if the float bowl ( the flat box) has a hole in it due to salt water being in carb(rotten) ? if you can get a better picture of it when it is leaking we can see better. does it look as if just the metal has a hole in it or is it leaking where a part is connected into the carb or a connection.
i do not know much about boats but i do cars.. that is a rodchester 2bbl it is a popular carb that chevrolet uses.. if no one give you better anwsers this week end i can help you monday -friday 8-5:friday:

 

[guiness92]

It is a hole that looks like it is supposed to be there. It is a perfect circle and the gas flows very smoothly out of it. The owner told me that the carb was rebuilt 2 years ago and only has 10 hours on it since it was rebuilt. The previous owner is a good friend so I know he isnt lying to me about anything with the boat.

Ill see if I can snap a better pic of the hole, but it is kinda hard to get in there with a camera to take a pic of it.

 

[guiness92]

Ok here is a pic of the hole.

 

[#ZERO]

It might be the float level visual check hole depending on the carb.

If the hole is threaded you're missing the screw in brass plug.

Don't crank it over anymore till you fix the fuel leak or you'll have another problem.

 

[SJ/XPBri]

Ok here is a pic of the hole.

I'm assuming that's a shot taken from the bottom of the carb upward?
Bri

 

[guiness92]

I'm assuming that's a shot taken from the bottom of the carb upward?
Bri

Yeah I reached down underneath with the camera and snapped the shot upward. Looking at it with a mirror it doesnt seem to be a threaded hole.

 

[cosander]

http://forums.iboats.com/

 

[SJ/XPBri]

It's really hard to make out in the picture, but it looks like it's the float bowls drain screw/plug. Sometimes people will drain the bowl of fuel when winterizing. I can't find it on the Mercruiser microfiche, your best bet is to pull the carb off and look at it. It's easy to do, much easier than pulling dual carbs off an SJ lol.

If the boat hasn't been used for in a year or two, save yourself a headache, pump the fuel out of the tank. Mixing ethanol fuel with the old fuel will wreak havoc on your fuel system.
Only other thing to watch out for is the points ignition in the distributor, can be troublesome, if the boat is left sitting for awhile.
Anyway, congrats on the new boat!
Bri

 

[Talsivar]

something else to be careful of if you have the mercruiser alpha outdrive that has the waterpump in it, it is just a rubber wheel and if you start it without the hose hooked up it will tear it up. i have the same carb in my boat but i dont remember it having a hole in it. it's at my parents house or i would check.

 

[guiness92]

Well we got the boat on the water today. The problem was bad gas in the tank and water in the gas. We drained the tank, replaced all the fuel lines, changed the water fuel seperator, completely rebuilt the carb and put new fuel in. The boat runs like a top now. Only problem is, I fixed the hole in the carb with jb weld lol. So I will need to either replace the carb, or remove the jb weld and retap a bigger drain plug in there. This boat also kicks up a nice wake so hopefully we can get some good pics and vid from this thing.

 

[jetskiking]

Nice pickup for 1000 bucks. For future reference that is a bowrider and not a cuddy cabin unless I am missing something. Glad it was an easy fix.

 

[guiness92]

Yeah its a bow rider lol. Im not a boat person so I dont know the terminology at all.