Hey guys, happy weekend!
On this Saturday, I worked on getting my new-to-me Evinrude Lark up and running. I took the carb apart and cleaned it out and replaced a few seals... also checked the impeller. Put it all back together, and with some new gas mixed about 30-1 and a little persuasion (notice the can of starting fluid), I eventually got it running--and running well!
(Ignore the finger lol)
For about 10 minutes, it went from not firing at all, to running for a couple seconds on almost nothing but starter fluid. Once I worked the old gas out of it, and got the new good stuff into the cylenders, it ran for about 5 seconds and died. Then it ran maybe 10 seconds, coughed and sputtered and died. I restarted it and it would run about twice as long, and cough out again. Finally it was warmed up enough to start and stay running with the choke closed. From that point on, it ran great. I stopped it several times; restarted it; and let it run for a while. Let it idle down to a nice purr, revved it up--it was working great.
That is, until I tried putting it in gear. I shifted it into forward, and nothing. So I tried shifting it in reverse, and reverse worked perfectly. I shifted back to where neutral should be--and I notices some ticking in the lower unit(sounded like it was half way between neutral and reverse) I shifted into the forward gear, and it acted like neutral. Now, I know the forward gear worked before I put it in the test barrel, as once in the forward gear, I could turn the propeller, and it would crank the motor over--telling me it was in gear.
I'm hoping that its only from when I took the lower unit off to check the impeller, that I did not have the shifting rod positioned correctly when I tightened down the bolt that connected the linkage. I believe I was in neutral when I tightened down that bolt. Should I have been in a gear instead? I plan on trouble shooting tomorrow, I just hope its nothing major.
On this Saturday, I worked on getting my new-to-me Evinrude Lark up and running. I took the carb apart and cleaned it out and replaced a few seals... also checked the impeller. Put it all back together, and with some new gas mixed about 30-1 and a little persuasion (notice the can of starting fluid), I eventually got it running--and running well!
(Ignore the finger lol)
For about 10 minutes, it went from not firing at all, to running for a couple seconds on almost nothing but starter fluid. Once I worked the old gas out of it, and got the new good stuff into the cylenders, it ran for about 5 seconds and died. Then it ran maybe 10 seconds, coughed and sputtered and died. I restarted it and it would run about twice as long, and cough out again. Finally it was warmed up enough to start and stay running with the choke closed. From that point on, it ran great. I stopped it several times; restarted it; and let it run for a while. Let it idle down to a nice purr, revved it up--it was working great.
That is, until I tried putting it in gear. I shifted it into forward, and nothing. So I tried shifting it in reverse, and reverse worked perfectly. I shifted back to where neutral should be--and I notices some ticking in the lower unit(sounded like it was half way between neutral and reverse) I shifted into the forward gear, and it acted like neutral. Now, I know the forward gear worked before I put it in the test barrel, as once in the forward gear, I could turn the propeller, and it would crank the motor over--telling me it was in gear.
I'm hoping that its only from when I took the lower unit off to check the impeller, that I did not have the shifting rod positioned correctly when I tightened down the bolt that connected the linkage. I believe I was in neutral when I tightened down that bolt. Should I have been in a gear instead? I plan on trouble shooting tomorrow, I just hope its nothing major.
. Anyways, The Johnson looks like it will get me on the water this weekend, so right now, that's the motor of choice... I'll keep working on the evinrude later