tryhard

thanks to everyone for the responses. At this stage, I'm pretty much resigned to getting the carbies rebuilt & set up properly and I'll get the pump done as well I think. These will be the 1st things to isolate, then at least I know there done. I'm reasonably sure the fuel line has not delaminated as I have replaced this in the last 18 months or so. As money does not permit at the moment, I will do the simple checks suggested before moving on the the more costly items. regards

Thanks Shark bait, pretty much what I suspect. do you know if the pump should be able to drag the fuel up from the height of the leg say 20 + inches ? During the exercise when I was running of the under floor tank, I had the filler cap Open - so even if the breather was blocked, it would not hav made any difference ! Primer bulb is pretty new but I think I'll replace it any way.

G'day All & thanks to those that offered their opinions previously. Thought I'd give you some feed back following some of the things that I did today. For anyone reading this post before the original here's a quick overview..... Suzuki DT85 (early 80's) motor ran for 1/2 day mostly at slow speeds - toward the end of the day, motor started stalling when put in gear. Eventually, motor refused to start & on water checks were done for fuel & spark - preliminary assumptions were that the motor was flooding. following various opinions & advice from members, here's a rundown on today's investigations : - 1. warmed motor up & did compression check with all spark plugs removed top Cyl. 140 psi Middle 150 psi Bottom 150 psi Now I dont vouch for the accuracy of my gauge as the last time it was compression tested (someone elses gauge) readings were between 125 & 130 psi ? What I can now be confident in is that the readings are not too far apart so no anomilies between cylinders is I believe a reasonable assumption. (3 readings per cylinder) 2. Went and bought new plugs - asked the service centre what the gap should be & rec'd the reply that they are good straight from the box. I persisted & was told that gap should be 0.9mm (0.035" by my calcs) - checked new plugs & found each one to be set @ 0.025" - re-gapped plugs. 3. Checked to see if there were drain plugs on the carby fuel bowls - None 4. Tilted motor all the way up & pumped the primer bulb to see if it was possible to tell if same amount of fuel came from each jet. with my untrained eyes, I was not able to tell - looked the same to me ! What I did see however was that when I sqeezed hard, there was fuel squirted from the carby 'over flows'? 5. whilst in the full up position, I squirted carby cleaner at the jets & then let it drain. 6. I disconected the fuel inlet hose for each carby & squirted carby cleaner into each one (unsuccessfully I think) - I'm going to have the carbies rebuilt so if I ended up moving gunk & causing more blockages I figured all I would achieve is complete justification for full service by the professionals - right ? 7. cleaned up fuel & carby cleaner from motor & left to drain & dry for an hour or so. 8. came back & turned the motor over ( no plugs in ) - then put plugs in reconnect fuel from main tank & final check before starting..........this is where it gets a little interesting 9. connect muffs & started motor - motor runs 3 minutes - hunts for fuel & dies - re-start motor, motor hunts after about 3 minutes - squeeze priming bulb to find it's gone soft - motor continues to run then dies again - RE-START BLOODY MOTOR - you get the picture. 10 New tact required ! - connect aux. tank place on ground next to boat - start motor, motor runs about 5 minutes this time, hmmmm, re-start motor motor runs about 5 minutes, Hunts for fuel - squeeze primer bulb & motor continues to run five more minutes then hunts & dies. I can see a pattern here........ 11. Re-locate aux. tank to rest on topside of boat slightly higher than motor RE-START DAMN MOTOR AGAIN -this is getting tedious.......motor runs & runs & runs - stopped timing after 25 minutes 12. whilst the motor is running I remove the bottom plug lead & note motor changes tune - re-connect ow! ow! ow! bottom lead & disconect middle - no noticeable change in tone - interesting & not what I was expecting re - ouch, connect & remove top lead - no noticeable change in tone ...... anyone want to comment on this? I thought I'd get a noticeable miss for each cylinder???? 13. pulled plugs for a look, Oh yeah, I did actually shut the motor off first - hopefully the pictures will show the results, the bottom plug had quite a fair bit of carbon whilst the middle & top were a little darker than I'd anticipated. I believe that I have possibly got an issue with the fuel pump, I thought that the motor should drag the fuel up from the aux. tank on the ground & plus the fact that when raised to slightly above the level of the motor there was no problems. All this plus the fact that it was not dragging the fuel from the main tank. Am I jumping to conclusions ?? I will now need to pull up the floor & check all the connections & hoses for the main tank and I will review my filter set up as well.

I was going to say run it in the mower as well ! but that only uses a little bit. Maybe some one smarter than me can tell us if you can mix it with fresh petrol & continue to use it ?

I must admit to not taste testing the plugs ! As they dried reasonably quickly, I am assuming they were wet with fuel !

Huey, thanks - definately have the correct plugs Checked the serial No's by the way and it's an 81 model I think. Dangles, Due to my aversion to the embarrassment of being towed to the ramp, I always carry spare plugs - usually cleaned plugs that were replaced at the last service, some 800 wet & dry for cleaning, a spare priming bulb, a spare inline filter, self amalgamating tape, hose joiner, fuel conector, zip ties, fuses & basic tools. (amongst other bits & pieces) Did I mention that I hate being towed ?

Thanks Huey, Only recently replaced the thermostat so I'm reasonably certain thats OK. I could see the spark in the plug Gap but in broad daylight its difficult to tell if it was a 'big fat one' What's your definition of a strong spark ? I will be replacing the plugs as they are about 12 months old - I have always replaced like with like so I confident that they are the right plugs (they were replaced at last service) but are now pretty black on the post. I agree that the carbies probably need to come off - but as money is tight this will need to wait a little longer - to be done when next service is due. I will also get the fuel pump looked at & the oil pump as well. I will do a compression check next weekend & see how that fares. - when last checked ( 18 months or so ago I had something like 125, 125 & 128 ) regards

Thanks Flightmanager, another site added to favourites - all interesting reading. Tumra, thanks, I am reasonably confident that this is not my problem, probably getting too much oil if anything as it is pretty smokey on start up. regards

Definately had spark, but as plugs were wet, also had fuel, so what I'm saying is maybe an intermittant problem for either. now when should I come over to pick up that Optimax?

Thanks Rodnreel, When should I pop over to pick it up ? Free - right ? Yeah, I am wondering if its a fuel delivery or ignition problem but as I seem to have both, its not so easy to pin down. Might be a carby rebuild time - I will have to get it checked when I have it serviced it is about due.

Thanks Flight manager, I have saved that for future reference - bound to prove useful at some time.

morning Raiders, Most of you are probably out fishing as I write this - Right ? Seems that my normally reliable Suzi DT85 must have heard me talking about upgrade options & has decided to punnish me for even considering a change by playing up. Went out to Berrowa yesterday with the kids & Grandpa for to try a new spot. Put the boat in, and as is usual she started first kick. We tried drifting off several of the flats which entailed a fair bit of stop start as we moved from one area to the next - all slow speed stuff. toward the end of our session, the motor started stalling when I'd take it out of gear and put it in neutral, most of the time it would re-start on the first kick but as we decided to finnish up for the day, the motor stalled again and refused to fire. After cranking it (no throttle), over and over & over & over (you get the picture) the motor refused to fire. I pulled the plugs & as they were wet, dried them & cleaned them - cranked the engine & replaced them. I went through this exercise 6 or seven times. without success. I also checked the Spark on each plug & tried once or twice to start with throttle & choke. (just to make sure) Now I did note that earlier at low speed the engine sounded like it was missing - it was vibrating more than is normal - just before stalling. Finally I admitted defeat & requested a tow from a nearby boat. Whilst under tow, I continued to try the motor & she finally fired on the third try - at least I did not have to arrive at the ramp under tow ! The motor ran fine on the trip back to the ramp - BUT on getting home she took a lot of cranking to re-start for flushing. So in summary - motor stalls after slow speed when going from gear to neutral (or extended idle) Running on fresh fuel plugs were wet when checked plugs checked out for spark tell tale was pumping & no overheat alarm Any one have any Ideas on what to look for ?

Thanks Balmain Bob, So from that it looks like the only place you can use a witches hat on the weekends, is Pittwater !

RPL, Whilst I cant help you directly, have you contacted Dept of Primary Industries - they would probably be the 1st place I'd ask. Good luck - I hope your successful, I reckon theres got to be a serious future in it.

Morning fish raiders, I have just spent 40 minutes trawling through the fisheries web site looking for details on what is allowed & when, for the Hawksbury & Cowan Creek, Berowra & Pittwater. I can not find any specific info. But I know it exists !!!!!!! does any one know exactly where to find the regulations that apply to these areas ?? thanks

Huey, I'll be up there with my $10.00 tomorrow !!!!! the budget does not permit serious expenditure at the moment but your responses confirm the patterns that I am seeing not only here but in other conversations I've had as well. Interesting point you make on the anodes - this is something I did not know - will definately look into this. thanks for the offer to look at it - I should pop in if I get a chance I haven't been up your way for years.

Macka, thanks for your input, I'd love to put a 90 on the back - I've seen the same boat with 115 But I reckon thats seriously over powered ! As for the pod - well, I planted a money tree in the garden, but it died !!! Did I understand that you have seen a cruise about with a pod ? - if so I'd be interested to see a photo if you can get one - I cant visualise what that would look like. I have not yet had a parts problem apart from not being able to get a replacement decal for the cowling. I think that a new motor does not make economic sense for me as I would never recover the (depreciated) cost particularly if I wanted to sell in 12 months or so. Anyways all food for thought.

JFish, I only know of one Cottage Point - thats the one in Cowan creek. If you are shore fishing use plenty of berly. I have caught Bream &Leatherjackets there but from the boat and fishing to the shore. At night you will find the bream in the shallower water so no need to cast 100m, 10m ought to do it. In winter, I have heard of hairtail being caught from the shore as well. good luck

Chris, fortunately (unfortunately) the silicone seemed to be gasket silicone and I had a lovely mix of long strings about 40mm long and little balls about 4mm in diameter - the strings happily went through the pick up but the little balls were the perfect size to clog the two holes in the brass pick up fitting. the upshot being that the stringy bits didnt even get to the filter /seperator the just lodged in the priming bulb - I had to clear this on the water (carry a spare) but then I found I couldnt pump juice through when I got it home - progressive diagnosis found that the bloody silicone balls were neatly jambed into both pick holes!!!! Aaah the joys of boat ownership - least it fills in all that spare time

Kiwi Dan, What bait were you using & did you need to burley ? My mum said that she would like one of those park bench's for the Garden, and I figure that if the chairs are now moving into the harbour, it wont be long before the big ones start comming in. Thats if the pro's dont get them 1st !

Seagull, I try to never keep fuel for too long, I generally drain the main tank after each use unless I know I'll be using it again in the near future. (I put any excess in the car) The fuel problems related to there being crud in the tank from a previous owner - had to pull the fuel guage sender unit out and clean the tank - there were chunks (silicon) in the tank ! I have now put in an inline filter before the primer bulb - that became buggered due to the silicon jamming up the one way valves as well. I replaced my failed battery and I always take my battery out not only to keep it charged up but also I like to remove anything that might be attractive to those who might feel that their need is greater than mine! I now also take the spare battery fom the car to be on the safe side - theres nothing more embarassing than being towed back to the ramp for problems that you should have been prepared for in the 1st place ! The point I was making was that I have not had any insurmountable problems with the motor - as Tim the Toolman says - I want "More Power!!" Its important to spend more time fishing & less time getting there - nah, not really - but I am thinking longer term reliability, better fuel economy & maybe a bit less noise. thanks for your reply

G'day raiders, I have a question relating to the difference in horsepower ratings between old engines and newer engines. A bit of background 1st:- I have a Quintrex Cruiseabout powered by a Suzi 85 ( DT85) mid 80's Motor has been solid with major issues including Flat batteries & dirty fuel ! The max hp rating on the hull compliance plate is 85 hp The RPM at WOT is 5100 according to the taco but I have a feeling that its not as quick as my previous cruiseabout that had a blueband 80 hp Merc. (used to do about 45 MPH at about 5500 rpm) I am considering the upgrading the motor but will not consider new as the motor would be worth more than the boat and there would be no likelihood of ever recovering the value if sold. The options are either rebuild or replace with later model. (or do nothing at all!) I recall having a discussion with Hueys dad many years ago & my recollection of his comment was something like this: - "Older motors had hp rated at the fly wheel - newer motors are rated at the prop. Newer motors of the same horsepower are therefore more powerful than the older equivalent" So what would be a mid 90's to early 2000's equivalent to the 85 Suzi ? (and where can I get one for $10 !?!??) any thoughts on this ?

thanks all for your responses. I have not done a load test or measured the voltage - I'll do that today. I have a basic type of charger from the big 'K' so I dont know if its trickle charging or otherwise but it has served me well for the past 7 - 8 years I sure hope The battery's not stuffed after 6 months !!!!!!! I never leave it in the boat and normally charge it after each time Ive been out but got lazy last outing. I'll double check the water levels again this morning and see how we go Hope Santa looked after you all - Merry Christmas

Thanks ETTY, I do know to use distilled or demineralised water, but I'm reasonably sure that the water should only just cover the plates. I put the charger back on yeasterday and I note the things still charging - I think that thats really strange as it normally tops up in 24 hours. I hope its not buggered as it is probably only 6 months old !

G'day All, Boat Name / Call sign is Free Spirits Cruise about - White Hull Cacky yellow deck with Fawn coloured Bimini Always listening to 88 on the 27 Megs