Recent engine work leads to more question

This past Saturday I finally adjusted the valves on my 82' BF100. I did so since I was experiencing poor idle when the motor was hot, and I was advised by hondadude and jgmo that this might be the culprit. After the valve adjust I started it up and it ran better than it's ever run. I let it run for a long time, then shut it off and ran it again and idled it for a long time too. I was "stoked" to have acutally had some success at working on my own motor. Well, today I fired it up again and it ran worse than it has ever run! It simply would not idle and it didn't run well until it had been going for a very long time. Even then I had to keep a little throttle on it when in gear or it would die. One thing I've noticed is that the water starts to come out of the "pee hole" immediately when the motor starts up. Is this right, or is it a stuck thermostat? In one of my past posts Hondadude mentioned the it might not be getting hot enough, rather than running bad when hot. Could a piece of the recently nuked impeller be keeping it open? The thermostat appears to be located under the intake manifold in an impression shaped like a thermostat. Is that right? What about the carburater? Is it time to finally get into that? I won't ask for an explanation of how to do that as there are many posts about that, unless someone has something specific on the carb on my motor. Is it possible that the valves "unadjusted"? Maybe the valve adjust has accentuated the "underheating" possibility and now that's a problem. The expelled water never feels more a little little bit warmer than tap water. Thanks guys. You rock, and you've all helped me lot, especially jgmo.

Well,
I decided to clean the carb pretty good. I sprayed all the visible parts and passages. I also took off the intake manifold to check the thermostat, which seemed okay. Now the motor starts right up, but the exhaust is really smokey. I know it must be a tuning issue. I've adjusted the idle screw and air mixture screw up and down with no real change. Any help from anyone? I'm sorry if I'm becoming to frequent and verbose with these posts of mine, but I'm learning as I go. Thanks!!

The smoke at startup could be a very simple explaination. If the motor is tilted in to the boat and not tilted up even just a little, oil will seep into the compustion chamber and you will see the smoke at start up. It should go away in a few minutes.

This is most noticable on the BF100, Bf8A, BF75 (the smaller engines). Although, it does also apply to all of the Hondas. Basically, also store the motor with a little positive tilt.

Also, make sure that your oil level is a little lower than the top mark.

Idle mixture screw initial setting should be 1 3/4 turns out.

Mike

Wow, I guess I missed your first post of this thread more than a week ago. I wouldn't feel bad about posting if I were you, that's what this site is all about. It sounds like you did some good when you washed out the carb so follow hondadude's advice and see how the smoking issue goes.

As far as trying to tell what the engine temp is by putting your hand under the pee stream, it really isn't very accurate a measurement. If it is warmer than the water the boat is in and not "smokin' hot" then that should be good. Having the stream start up immediately after the engine first fires is also a good sign and proof that the pump is doing it's job.

Just be forewarned that I just spent a great deal of typing back and forth with a guy that had thought he cleaned the carb adequately but until he got the jet tube out and really got it cleaned he had problems. So, if yours starts acting up again and you didn't take out the tube and clean it, you may have to.

Good luck.

Hey there Mike,
I pulled the sparked plugs and sprayed some brake cleaner into the cylinders and rinsed out the oil. I don't know if this was "smart" or not, but it worked as the motor started on the first pull and didn't smoke. The plugs don't seem oil fouled at all. From now on I will keep the motor tilted during storage, although I never noticed this much smoke before. It ran the best it has ever run! Thanks, my friend. I'm learning as I go!

James

Hello sir,
From one Jimmy to another, thank you! I do think I cleaned the fuel tube, but I can do it again now that I've done once. What do you think about using break cleaner for solvent on this old carb? I'm glad that the immediate water stream is normal.I just worried that maybe I shouldn't see water until the thermostat opened. When I took the manifold off I noticed that there was a gasket, a metal plate, and then another gasket on the manifold. It seemed very stuck. Should I have removed it to get the thermostat out? And would there be a replacement available if I ripped one of those gaskets? How about the thermostat itself? Is it available? That has been the greatest reservation for me in regards to working on this unit, replacement parts. Even gaskets! Again, it's an '82 BF100. The carb to manilfold gasket came apart when I took the carb off, so I made a new one with some gasket maker, which worked nicely. Perhaps we have to live with unavailable repacement parts for these older Honda outboards, which seems to be the case. Incidently, Jim, I took your advice on that that valve adjust question and simply bent the guage blade to get access to the needed area. It appears to have worked well! Thanks again. Talk to you soon.

James

Below is a link to a picture page of your thermostat and water/intake manifold. All parts with a price next to them are still available through this outlet or your Honda dealer. All parts listed as "OBSOLETE" can usually be found by searching the later model BF8A on this (boat.net) website. It would appear that all the gaskets you need , as well as the thermostat, are readily available.

http://www.boats.net/parts/search/H...03707/INLET MANIFOLD + C.D.I. UNIT/parts.html

Happy to hear that you are having some success with your engine and thanks for posting your results. It will probably soon help someone else that is having a problem with theirs.

Happy and safe boating!