1981 Sea Ray Sundancer trouble starting after reassembly

Bill Nelson · Jan 8, 2020

Ok, so I rebuilt the water pump, lower assembly got a new (used) upper, new shift cable, shift cable bellows, driveshaft bellow, 2 new exhaust elbows, and exhaust bellows. Cleaned the spark arrestor and installed a new fuel filter.

Now she won't start, but cranks fine. I looked down the throat of the carb, and it squirts gas when the throttle is actuated. Pulled the coil wire from the distributor, which shocked the crap outta me (my test for spark). Tested that the neutral safety switch wasn't grounding the coil line.

Any idears? Dirty Fuel? Bad Distributor Cap? It ran fine before the water pump crapped out and the shift cable froze (≈ 4 months ago).

Mercruiser 260 Chevy 5.7L standard ignition standard cooling

Help is always mucho appreciado!

Bill

Skip Boyer · Jan 8, 2020

Are you getting spark to plug end of wires ?

Bill Nelson · Jan 8, 2020

Skip Boyer said:
Are you getting spark to plug end of wires ?

Gotta check - I'll add that to my mental list.

Thanks, Skip!

Skip Boyer · Jan 8, 2020

LOL Easy to do....just hold a couple plug wires while somebody tries to start. If your screaming profanities....then plug wires are good. LOL

Bill Nelson · Jan 10, 2020

Skip Boyer said:
LOL Easy to do....just hold a couple plug wires while somebody tries to start. If your screaming profanities....then plug wires are good. LOL

I sprayed some started fluid into the carb and it sounded like it wanted to start. When I added fuel with the throttle, it went back to just cranking. Think this points to bad fuel?

Skip Boyer · Jan 10, 2020

It is possibly some bad fuel. Does it smell like gas or varnish ? May want to try and pour a small amount of fresh gas into carb. Maybe about as much as a soda bottle cap will hold.

Bill Nelson · Jan 13, 2020

Skip Boyer said:
It is possibly some bad fuel. Does it smell like gas or varnish ? May want to try and pour a small amount of fresh gas into carb. Maybe about as much as a soda bottle cap will hold.

I disconnected the fuel line and sprayed fresh gas in the carb. Fired right up and ran! Pumped some gas from the tank just to see what it looked like. Fresh gas on the left, bad gas on the right!

Skip Boyer · Jan 13, 2020

Yeap That looks bad! Probly smells bad as well. Yea Haw....the fix is on.

1981 Sea Ray Sundancer trouble starting after reassembly

Bill Nelson

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Skip Boyer

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Bill Nelson

Member

Skip Boyer

Active Member

Bill Nelson

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Skip Boyer

Active Member

Bill Nelson

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Skip Boyer

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