Posts: 3504
Location: Elk River, Minnesota | Hiya,
I like the idea of the inspection and the fact that the seller is o.k with you getting the motor checked. If he was hesitant upon having the inspection done, I would be a little leery as to why. Given he was fine with the inspection from the mention of it, that, to me would be a good sign that he has nothing to hide.
If the carb sputters a bit when punching it down, it probably could use a good cleaning and then a quick adjustment...nothing I would be too concerned about. To do a good deep cleaning, I would suggest a can of Mercury Powertune sprayed directly into the carb throats of the motor when the motor is running at high idle. Lots of white smoke will come out when the stuff starts burning, and you keep doing it to the point that the motor wants to die. keep going until you can kill the motor, or after you have put in about 1/3 of the can...then stop the motor. spray more into the carb throats until you have gone through about 2/3 of the can. Let it sit for an hour....Take it to the lake and run it out. You will have a good clean carb from this point on.
To be safe, I would dump in some sea foam to the tank as well...just to be sure the gas is stabilized.
If the motor sputters a touch when you punch it, that will be a fuel-air mixture adjustment...either running too lean or too rich. If you accellerate slower, it may not do it....definitely a sign of needing a turn of a screw for fuel-air mixture...but it is not very far off from being where it should.
By and large, buying a used boat will have some extra costs at the beginning and to be honest, that is o.k....it is preventative maintenance for the most part, but also brings some peace of mind when things are running well.
I'd be looking at not only the carb cleaning, but I'd also do a spark plug change, fuel filter change, and lower unit lube change.
If you get it, enjoy the new rig!!
Steve |
