Volvo Penta 140

"This boat was purchased last

"This boat was purchased last fall and was running when purchased. It is the 140 model with dual carbs. It will not start and continue to run. I can get it to turn over and it will fire, but not stay running on its own. I have disconnected the fuel line from the gas tank and am drawing fuel from a can of fresh gas. I have changed the fuel filter and have tried to loosen the connecting bolts where the fuel lines that go into the carborators to make sure I am getting fuel to them in the event there is an air lock. It tightened them back up when fuel was coming out. I'm not sure what else to try here. I have two of the three basic components; electricity to the plugs, fuel to carborators (I think) and air for ignition.

Is there an auto choke? The linkage appears to move freely. There was a screw on the throttle lever and gear control that was disconnected that I reattached. It held a clamp that supported the shifter cable. Don't know if that is related in any way. This is my first boat, therefore don't know all the intricacies."

"Congratulations, my first Vol

"Congratulations, my first Volvo was an AQ140A with the two Solex sidedraft carbs and I too had a lot of "fun" until I got it figured out. Be prepared for some frustration, but at the end you will prevail.

One thing I noticed was that unless you synchronize the carbs correctly, it will not idle well. You will need a Uni-Sync vacuum meter to tune your carbs properly. And no, there is no choke either manual or automatic.

You did the right thing, the shift cable is held in place with a clamp; if not attached you will not be able to increase the RPM.

My first suggestion is that you get hold of a copy of the SELOC and/or Clymer manuals for your engine and use them as a guide. They explain how to set the carbs and also how to set your ignition timing and anything else you need to do to your engine.

If in the meantime you want to try to make it run, try to start the engine and give it a bit of throttle without putting it into gear (that should keep it running), let it warm-up and then reduce throttle as much as you can to keep the engine running; then try to adjust the idle screws at the middle top of each carb (the preliminary adjustment is about 4-1/2 turns open). You also have to make sure that both carbs are opening at the same time.

Hope this is a good start."