[Public-List] The A4 motor mystery??

[John Birch]

Jacques

It's been a while since I worked on an A4, but when you cleaned the carb, 
did you open up the float bowl and remove the fine mesh metal fuel screen at 
the top?

Many overlook that screen, or aren't even aware its there.

If not, open the float bowl and remove the screen and put it in a jar of 
acetone for about a half hour, occasionally shaking it and then scrub it 
carefully to dissolve the varnished gas if it appears yellow or orange.

I did this for a friend, our manager, a few years ago when his A4 wouldn't 
start - his gas had varnished.

Solved the problem.

Hope this is a help.

John

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Gordon Laco" <mainstay at csolve.net>
To: "Alberg 30 Public List -- open to all" <public-list at lists.alberg30.org>
Sent: Monday, September 26, 2011 11:46 PM
Subject: Re: [Public-List] The A4 motor mystery??


> Bonjour Jacques
>
> Your issues sound familiar... When a gasoline tank sits for a long time a 
> jelly like sludge will accumulate.   Your carb will be gummed up after a 
> few minutes of running after each cleaning.    Perhaps you should consider 
> having the tank professionally cleaned
>
> Gord Surprise 426
>
> On Sep 26, 2011, at 10:58 PM, "Jacques Dusseault" <dusseaultj at gmail.com> 
> wrote:
>
>> 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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