Reeds?

[WinnerCougar74]

Is the only way to check reeds is by pulling them out and looking at them or are there tell tale things that indicate they are bad or broken? I have a 1974 135hp Chrysler.

 

[jerryjerry05]

Bad reeds: you can have blowby coming from the front of the carb or carbs.
Snake camera. I bought a small flexible "snake" cam for my Android phone,,11$ on Ebay.
The "snake" part is skinny enough to get by the flaps in the carbs so you can see the reeds.

 

[racerone]

What is your motor doing / not doing that leads you to ask this question?

 

[WinnerCougar74]

Inconsistent idle and warm engine restart is difficult

 

[racerone]

Take it apart.----Inspect reed petals.----I believe new reeds are available.

 

[WinnerCougar74]

Yeah, I have the gaskets so if the reeds are ok I can put it back together.

 

[WinnerCougar74]

Found reed pedals on ebay. Didn't realize I needed 4 of the 4 pedals and 4 of the single pedals. Already had 2 of each so got 2 more. One thing I learned on these motors is make sure you have the parts before you tear something apart. Any little thing can boat anchor these outboards. I ran around fishing with the cowling off, always a good look, and saw fuel inside the cowling soo I might be getting some blow back on the reeds or maybe a problem with the float needle. I'll post my results.