[Public-List] The A4 motor mystery??

[mahseer at kos.net]

Jacques.

The strangest problem I have had to deal with on an A4 had the same
symptoms as you describe, the problem turned out to be a frozen closed
back flow preventor in the exhaust line causeing high back pressure and no
air flow through the carb.

John Boor
MAHSEER #380


> 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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