[Public-List] The A4 motor mystery?? (marco lavoie)
Jamie & Deb Little
jamerdeb at nbnet.nb.ca
Wed Sep 28 16:30:20 PDT 2011
Jacques,
I have been having the same sort of problem. My engine quit suddenly on a trip home. I found the coil to be extremely hot. After it cooled down a bit (20 min) it fired right back up. It took 20 min to get hot again and subsequently quit. I replaced it with another coil. This coil had "External Resistor Required" marked on it. I was told that if you use a coil requiring external resistors that, if you do put an inline resistor on the + coil wire coming from your ignition only, that the coil will not get enough voltage while trying to start as the starter is consuming most of it and the resistor further cuts it. They advised me to run an extra wire form the + starter solenoid terminal directly to the coil, so that when you are turning it over the coil is being fed an un-resisted supply of voltage from the battery. In my case i was using a coil requiring external resistance with out any installed. That meant that when the alternator was pumping out 14.5 Volts the coil was getting all of that. The coils are designed to operate on 12 V or less. This is why you either have a coil with internal resistance built in or one that you "apply" the resistance to. After my new coil failed i put an old one on (no markings at all...I'm assuming that it is a unit with resistance built in) and have had no problems. If it is still acting up I'd check the temperature just after it fails.
Jamie Little
A30 "DEBRA"
On 2011-09-28, at 9:59 AM, public-list-request at lists.alberg30.org wrote:
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> Today's Topics:
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> 1. Re: A-4 problem (gordon white)
> 2. Re: The A4 motor mystery?? (marco lavoie)
> 3. Re: Richard H - Fuel Tanks- Return Line (Andrew Johns)
> 4. Re: Richard H - Fuel Tanks- Return Line (Mike Lehman)
> 5. Re: Richard H - Fuel Tanks- Return Line (Don Campbell)
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Tue, 27 Sep 2011 15:22:53 -0400
> From: gordon white <gewhite at crosslink.net>
> To: public-list at lists.alberg30.org
> Subject: Re: [Public-List] A-4 problem
> Message-ID: <4E82228D.8010007 at crosslink.net>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
>
> I have had a lot of battery and magneto ignition engines give such
> problems. Here is what I would do:
>
> 1) if it does not start initially, pour a couple of tablespoonsful of
> gas in the top of the carburetor. If it is a fuel supply problem,
> generally even a gunked-up carburetor, it will at least start and run
> for a few seconds, thus eliminating the ignition system as part of the
> problem.
>
> 2) If that gives no result, pull out one or more spark plugs and, with
> them grounded and still connected to the wires, try turning it over
> again and look for a blue spark. at the plug(s) (no open gasoline in the
> area, please.) Being sure, of course, that the plugs are not fouled. If
> there is no spark, the ignition system is at fault.
>
> 3) If you can get the engine to run fairly well for a few minutes, you
> may be able to tell if when it stops, if it gasped for fuel, or just
> quit cold. In the latter case it could well be the ignition system.
> Coils and condensers may fail when they warm up, though they work, cold.
>
> Or, the muffler could be clogged, but in that case the engine will
> probably die slowly.
>
> If it starves for fuel, it will likely backfire or speed up on the
> last drops of fuel. Look for a gummed carburetor, clogged fuel line,
> gummed or empty tank.
>
> Of course if it has been worked on, the plug wires could be out of
> order or the cam mis-timed. Or water in the gas.
>
> But a strict process of elimination will safe a lot of false-starts
> in the process.
>
> - Gordon White,/Brigadoon II/
>
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 2
> Date: Tue, 27 Sep 2011 19:11:54 -0400
> From: marco lavoie <marcolavoie at msn.com>
> To: <public-list at lists.alberg30.org>
> Subject: Re: [Public-List] The A4 motor mystery??
> Message-ID: <SNT105-W32C82B8B7037E7E9997DE5AFF00 at phx.gbl>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
>
>
> Hi there,
>
> You should check if you still have sparks right after it stops just to be sure but if it still sparks it has to be a fuel related problem. You may try to clean the carburator once again and hook an outboard tank and line to it whit fresh gas.
>
> Bonne chance,
>
> Marco.
>
>
>
>> From: dusseaultj at gmail.com
>> To: public-list at lists.alberg30.org
>> Date: Mon, 26 Sep 2011 22:58:32 -0400
>> Subject: [Public-List] The A4 motor mystery??
>>
>> Dear Atomic 4 devotees,
>>
>>
>>
>> I have had a mysterious problem with my A4 this summer and have not yet
>> found the cause. I posted here earlier this summer and received some good
>> advice early in my A4 mechanical journey. Because of my work outside
>> Canada, my Alberg 30 was on the hard for 3 seasons. It was well covered and
>> looked very good this spring. We installed three new group 27 gel batteries
>> and launched her. To our surprise the engine would not start? The engine
>> has never had a mechanical problem in its 40 yr. life. Upon inspection we
>> discovered that there was no spark. There was a current to the coil with
>> the ignition switch on. The assumption was that there was a problem with
>> the coil. We also changed the points, condenser and distributer cap. We
>> ordered a new coil and when it arrived we installed it and discovered that
>> the main wire from the distributer cap to the coil was heavily corroded and
>> fell apart when being removed. We order a new wire and assumed that it was
>> at the route of our problem and not the new coil. It was probably time to
>> renew the old coil after 40 years. We then tried to fire up the engine but
>> with no success. Again no spark from the coil wire or sparkplugs. After
>> considerable advice and testing we finally found that although there was
>> current (ground) to the coil when the ignition key was turned on, that was
>> not the case when we further turned the key to engage the starter. This
>> explained the lack of spark when trying to turn the engine over to start.
>>
>>
>>
>> To quickly bypass the problem we grounded the coil directly to the engine.
>> It then started on the first turnover and ran smoothly for a couple of
>> minutes then abruptly stopped!! It would not start again until we waited
>> for about 15 to 20 minutes. It would then start and run for a minute or
>> two???? The consensus of interested parties and myself was that the
>> carburetor must be the problem??? (Before leaving the boat on the hard for
>> the 3 years we had filled the tank to full. Before launching this spring we
>> emptied the tank and refilled it with fresh gas.) I then brought the carb
>> home and cleaned it and adjusted the floats as best I could, expecting that
>> this would finally solve the problem?? When I tried to run the engine with
>> the cleaned carb I again had the same result. It would start and run for a
>> minute or two and then stop abruptly. At this point we had missed half the
>> season so in desperation I order and installed a new carborator. Again the
>> same result??? The best guess from me and the interested parties was that
>> the carb was not getting enough gas from the tank. To test that hypotheses
>> I disconnected the gas line and ran it up to a separate gas container. When
>> I started the engine it repeated its previous problem and ran for only a
>> minute or two???
>>
>>
>>
>> The only component we have not yet touched is the fuel pump. Should I
>> replace the fuel pump with an electric one and believe that this will solve
>> my problem????? The container I drew the gas from was higher than the fuel
>> pump and I would expect that gravity would feed the gas through the pump to
>> the carb. even if the pump were defective ???? .
>>
>> I should also add that I checked the compression. It tested evenly across
>> the 4 cylinders at about 107. They tell me that this is good. The engine
>> does not burn any oil that I can measure.
>>
>>
>>
>> I'd be interested in any advice you all might have on: a) how to fix my
>> problem and b) does it sound like a fuel pump problem??? My next step is to
>> seek a religious intervention??
>>
>>
>>
>> Thanks,
>>
>> Jacques Dusseault
>>
>> Kilwinning #446
>>
>> 613-220-2230
>>
>> dusseaultj at gmail.com
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Jacques M. Dusseault
>>
>> President,
>>
>> Synergem Management Inc.
>>
>> Tel: 819-561-1268
>>
>> Cell: 613-220-2230
>>
>> Email: jdusseault at synergem.org
>>
>>
>>
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