Abort, Abort :{))
We have two girls aboard who are homeschooled. In Loco Parentis, we are charged with giving them at least one new
concept every day.
So, in prep for some of the input I'd received WRT the
Honda generator, and pursuing my unwillingness to give up so easily, I set to additional troubleshooting today before calling any of the leads I'd developed for
service.
I called the girls out and gave them a seminar on internal combustion engines, including troubleshooting. We checked the
oil (full), so if there were an interrupt it would have been the
oil level
sensor. While I'd determined how to bypass it, I wanted to isolate the problem, so I didn't address that directly.
As the only thing which prevents an IC (internal combustion)
engine from running is ignition,
fuel or air, I started at the top (literally) and pulled the spark
plug, having discovered the correct gap in the manual (always, I RTFM [read the freakin' manual!] when I'm stymied; usually I do it first, but the spark
plug had looked great, so I didn't start there in my first explorations). It was within tolerance, but at the wide end, so I showed them how to read and gap it to the short end, and how to reinstall it with the proper level of torque.
Still no joy. On to the second: I disconnected the
fuel line at the carburetor (they learned about fuel injection and carbs in the introduction) and was rewarded with a steady flow. Put it back on and tried to drain the carburetor. No joy in getting the screw to move, so I couldn't prove that there was fuel there. Also, while I'd spritzed it repeatedly with WD40, trying to get ignition in my earlier attempts, I theorized that it wasn't volatile enough, and had been wrestling with how to get gasoline into the opening.
I settled on a paper towel, held under the fuel line while I pulled it off. Saturated, I wadded it up and stuck it into the opening with the choke opened, and pulled the starter.
It ran :{)) - and I let it run for a bit, presuming it was getting its fuel from the towel, but also, fully choked by virtue of the paper towel, may have been pulling fuel through the carb. So, I stopped it after a bit, and extracted all the little bits of paper towel stuck to the choke plate, choked it, and started it again.
Still running, I ran it rich for a time, and turned off the eco-switch, which when on forces it to run full throttle all the time. Still runs. JOY!
Switched the eco back on and it purred like a kitten. I presume it was the same sort of problem I'd met in both the outboards, which weren't very happy starting initially, either - crummy
Bahamas fuel, which had been in each. So, the lesson also included information about
varnish formation, and the importance of adding fuel stabilizer if the
engine is going to be left for some time. Of course, our initial expectation had been that we'd be there for a very brief time, so I hadn't done that. Lesson for me, too, and, likely, being in teaching mode helped me more efficiently arrive at the solution, so it was very helpful to have been put in the position of teacher for the girls...
Lesson ended, I shut it down, buttoned up the various things like the filter housing (I'd taken it off to get to the carburetor), spark plug cover and main housing access), moved it over to the
shore power input, and, as I type, the Xantrex
inverter charger is putting 70 amps continuously into the system.
Now, on to sourcing another 15HP impeller, as long as we're stuck here for a bit, it being afternoon already, and my wanting to have fully charged (and also equalized, which I'll do after it's all the way up)
batteries.
So, thanks to all respondents public and private. I really like the Honda eu2000i, despite my own stupid pet tricks (not stabilizing the fuel is my expectation on the problem but adjusting the spark plug no doubt helps) causing the problem in the first place. The more I
cruise, the more I find that's usually the reason for some problem (my stupid pet tricks) :{/)
L8R
Skip and crew, relieved
--
Morgan 461 #2
SV Flying Pig KI4MPC
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