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Need Help! 1996 Honda BF30A

J

JoeSaa

New member
Hi All new to this forum, and after reading a few threads, it seems I have found a great forum!

I live in Pearland, south of houston, and recently bought a 1996 14 ft southern skimmer with a BF30 on the back.

I bought the boat last month, it started and ran fair right off the bat, however I was not happy with the speed it was getting after taking it out fishing a few times, and the guy I bought it from did suggest that it had some carb issues. So naturally I took apart the carbs, sprayed them, cleaned them in simple green in a couple cycles in my US, I did not take the pilot screw out, as for some reason I did not see it. I also did not get in anything with wire to see if it was gunked up, it all looked fairly clean though. I replaced the intake manifold gasket, and main gasket, but not the carb gaskets, as they looked to be in good condition.

The boat will start, but not very easily, will not idle, and seems to be running on one cylinder (top cylinder) at low RPMS. When at higher RPM when we engage the choke the motor revs up and seems to run a bit better. My father who has been a mechanic all his life thinks we have a vaccuum leak somewhere, but we can not find one. The boat has good compression on all cylinders (measured 150 on all cylinders after only a few cranks, so I am sure it will hit 180 or so), we checked that all the cylinders have spark, which they do (not sure if they have sufficient spark or not, but they all have some type of spark). Fuel pump is pumping fuel, and the primer bulb does remain to be solid after priming the engine.

I figured I would post this here to get some insight from some of the pros on this forum, before we start replacing too many things, or drive ourselves crazy.

Please ask questions, or offer advice if you can, thank you!

Joey
832244354two (if needed call or text)
 
i would do a lot of what you did. maybe do draw test every which way with a new set of plugs in hand, but there is a good chance that your carb cleaning didn't cut it if you are getting better performance with the choke on. the pilot screws should come out, ... you did check the main jets by eye against the light, right? even if the little hole is a bit out of round it can cause a bit of a running problem. also, i assume you started fresh premium fuel supply from the tank onward and replaced the fuel filter. the fuel pump is not usually a problem, just pump fresh fuel through into a bucket and do the carbs right. if you suspect a vacuum leak, hook the carb synch tool up. (you will check the screws in the manifold as part of that to make sure none missing). i doubt it just needs a carb synch, but if it is really far out, it could contribute to you problem. do the synch when you are done though.
 
I agree with Willdo.

Another thing to check is the timing marks. Most likely, there are ok, since your compression is probably good.

If you turned the carb sync screws too far, it will cause the cylinder to not fire.

Most likely, it is the idle circuits in the carburetors. When you take them apart again, check those thin tubes, as Willdo suggested. Before you put them back together, locate the pin holes at the top of the rear of the venturi. If you take the straw of some brake kleen up through the bottom of the carb into the hole where the thin tube goes into the top of the carburetor. With the idle mixture screw installed but not screwed in, shoot the brake kleen into the hole.....there should be a good spray coming out of the little pin holes. If not...you need to clear the passage. Two other entries to the passage are the idle mixture screw hole and the air jet in the hole at the front of the carburetor. If you do not get the spray, you do not get an idle. That is the path for the fuel/air mixture for idle and transition.

Mike
 
Great guys I will keep that in mind, I have the carbs apart, and we are going to go through them again, and per the advice I saw on previous posts, I went ahead and bought the carb manual (cant hurt for $40!).

I appreciate the advice, and I will definitely look into the small tubes, and make sure fluid is passing through it. We narrowed it down yesterday to fuel not leaving the 2nd and 3rd carb at low rpm into the cylinder, so my father agrees, my carb cleaning job, just did not make the cut, or it just loosened dirt into other areas!

I will report back once I get her purring again, hopefully today, haha!

Thanks for the quick response Willdo, and Honda Dude!

Joey
 
Thanks all it was the carbs, as thought, I did not get into the jets, and the US did not do a good enough job of cleaning it. Appreciate the help on this forum!
 
That's great that you seem to have gotten it squared away. But, if you ever do get to the point that you feel that you need to revisit the carbs, I just wanted to point out that I would never pull one apart unless I was armed with item #3 in the parts breakdown link below.

That tiny little Oring is so critical to the proper operation of the carburetors that if it is damaged or deteriorated in any way, the carb can't deliver fuel as it should. I replace them with new each and every time and use great care when doing so. And, it's not always just a case of you damaging them. They will go bad over time just from the fuel and vibration.

Ok, that's my 2 cents and hope it helps you sometime.


http://www.boats.net/parts/search/Honda/Outboard Engine/2000/BF30AY LHA/CARBURETOR/parts.html
 
jgmo said:
That's great that you seem to have gotten it squared away. But, if you ever do get to the point that you feel that you need to revisit the carbs, I just wanted to point out that I would never pull one apart unless I was armed with item #3 in the parts breakdown link below.

That tiny little Oring is so critical to the proper operation of the carburetors that if it is damaged or deteriorated in any way, the carb can't deliver fuel as it should. I replace them with new each and every time and use great care when doing so. And, it's not always just a case of you damaging them. They will go bad over time just from the fuel and vibration.

Ok, that's my 2 cents and hope it helps you sometime.


http://www.boats.net/parts/search/Honda/Outboard Engine/2000/BF30AY LHA/CARBURETOR/parts.html
Click to expand...

I was wondering if I should replace those suckers... Can I just get orings that match them from a hardware store, or are they too different, where I would need to order them?
 
I wouldn't use hardware store orings as they will probably turn to "goo" fairly quickly. I don't know what Honda uses but I don't think they are "Buna" as you would find for plumbing fixtures. They are probably not Viton but may be a compound made of nitrile and neoprene or viton so they are resistant to gasoline.

You can find them where I sourced that parts page.....boats.net....or your local, friendly Honda dealer. A tad expensive but you can reassemble with confidence.

I do source my orings through a very experienced and technically prepared local "jobber" but if I didn't have that source, I would order from boats.net.

If you are happy with the way your carbs are working now, I wouldn't go back in just for that. I was just pointing out a "touchy" aspect of repair for these little carbs.

If you are REALLY interested in getting it all dialed in and CORRECT....you need the Honda Marine Carburetion Manual; ....$40 + shipping from Amazon.

Completely worth EVERY penny unless you are already a carburetor GURU. And if you are...you will STILL like it!

http://www.amazon.com/Honda-Marine-...4454&sr=8-1&keywords=Honda+carburetion+manual

The manual will give you a THOROUGH understanding of what is going on in there as well as what you should do while you are working on them.

While, like ALL manuals, it misses a few things (like the IMPORTANCE of those little Orings!) it is probably the MOST comprehensive and "to the point" manual I have purchased for info in a long time. It has concise and accurate descriptions of purpose and operation along with COLOR illustrated and highlighted circuit flow diagrams.

I was SUCCESSFULLY rebuilding auto carburetors for decades and these for 2 or 3 years before hondadude (Mike) told me about it.

Before I purchased the manual I was walking NEWBIES through their care and cleaning with good results. I was getting plenty of praise and thank you's...so I really thought I "knew my stuff"!

BUT!!....

......I was actually AMAZED at how much I learned from it after I finally ordered one.

A "must have" for any Honda D.I.Y'er unless all your stuff is fuel injected.

You will NOT be sorry you own one!
 
Whoops....just read the top of the post....you already have the manual!......oh well....now you know where I stand on it. Ha HA!
 
So I guess we did not do something, because it ran for a little bit on all three cylinders, but it is now back to running on one cylinder. We thought it was just the plugs, but it appears that the cylinders are not getting fuel. Should I go ahead and clean the carbs again? I just replaced all the fuel, so that I can take that out of the equation. I am thinking something is still wrong with the carbs, since the spark plugs appear to be very dry in the cylinders that arent working. Any tests, or procedures yall recommend I do ? I do not mind starting all over, and just going down a list. Is there a test I can do to test that I have a "Strong enough" spark?
I know the cylinders are getting spark, but not sure how strong it is... I beleive it is fine, and that it is still a carb problem, anyone have any input on what I can look for on the carbs? Is it possible that my timing could be off? My dad adjusted the valves, and said they were way out of spec, so maybe the timng could be? Does anyone know where the timing marks for my motor are? I know that on the main gear there are 1 2 3 with arrows, but on the flywheel there is only a 1 T or something like that, how do I make sure the engine is correctly timed? Also is it possible that maybe the carbs are so out of sync only one is sending fuel to the cylinder? I just want to finish this our selves instead of having to spend extra money (have already spent a good bit) to take it to the shop to fix something simple we may be overlooking... PLEASE HELP!
 
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