No fuel

[gusthewonderslug]

Hi all I just fired my 1968 lark 40hp up after winter and found that I'm not getting any fuel into the engine. I rebuilt the carb last year and run it all summer with no issues, over winter I ran the engine every 4-6 weeks so it's about that long since it was running. I pulled carb apart today and didn't find anything out of the ordinary, I pulled the main jet, idle jet and needle and seat and couldn't find any obvious issues, cleaned it out with carb cleaner pressurising all the orifices then put it back together and still unable to get it to run. Any ideas or suggestions are welcomed. Angus

 

[kbait]

Squirt a bit of premixed fuel into the carb throat and see if it fires up briefly.. that'd confirm your fuel delivery issue. If it doesn't fire at all, check for 1/4" spark from both leads in open air.

Good luck!

 

[gusthewonderslug]

Thanks yes already tried the fuel down the throat that's how I trouble shot it.
I'm still confused as to why though.
I'm going to try another tank of fuel just in case i got a bad batch.

 

[boobie]

Read post # 2 again.

 

[gusthewonderslug]

Trick for young players,
I topped my 10litre tote tank up before trying to start it up, but left 2-3 litres of old fuel in the tank, this old fuel had obviously gone stale and wouldn't start the fire to get things going, I dropped the old fuel, drained the line and the bowl, choked it up hit the key and bingo all good.
I didn't think that leaving the old fuel in the tank and mixing it with fresh fuel would have affected its combust ability to the extent that a motor wouldn't run.
All in all a good result, I now know my carb is still in good condition and all the problem was bad fuel.

 

[bonz_d]

A little late to the party but I'd like to know if after you dumped that fuel if you checked it to see if there was any water in it.

I had a simular problem last spring. Fresh tune up, fresh fuel, ran great until. Was ready to go out for the 1st fishing trip, everything loaded, got to the ramp and it would not start! Finally pulled out, canceled trip. Couldn't figure out what happened until I pulled the fuel line from the engine and there was all this white milkey looking stuff leaking out. Water in the fuel!

What had happened was I left the boat out the night before ready for the trip. That night it rained hard. Drained the fuel into a clear glass container, about 4 gal of fuel and a qt of water settled out on the bottom. Later found that the fuel cap which has a gauge it it had a crack which allowed the rain water in.