LeifThor
Member III
Normally this rather tired atomic 4 runs perfectly.
After not sailing for a couple months, thought I'd run the engine just to keep things moving.
Unfortunately I made a couple errors up front that may have completely screwed me.
The first is I forgot to open the fuel line.
The second is I remembered to open the raw water intake line.
With choke pulled out, the engine started up and ran for about 15 seconds, then died.
That was unusual, as this engine after quite a bit to get running well and good every time never does this. She starts every time, even after a month of non use.
Not realizing I'd forgotten to open the fuel line (and I have a electric fuel pump), I tried again and again.
Now the fear for anyone knowing atomics is running so much water through the engine, it backs up eventually and you get water in your engine, which is a very bad thing if that happens.
Luckily, when I rebuilt my exhaust system, I added an additional valve at the low point after where hot exhaust air and water are mixed, so should I ever wonder if I've got too much water in that area endangering the engine, I can empty the water into the bilge area and it's then routed safely out via the bilge pump. It's easy to check, and so far there was no water.
After trying to start the engine for 30 minutes, I decided to FLUSH the engine with fresh water, and attempt it another day as night had arrived and I was pretty frustrated. I use a 5 gallon bucket, and hooked up my dock hose to the fresh water rinse connection and tried starting the engine hoping to crank it long enough to fill the engine with fresh water, and shut it down for another attempt on another day.
Water did not seem to be going through the bucket, so I finally hooked up the hose the the spigot at the dock box, and turned the water on. This creates water pressure which I don't like, preferring the impeller pull the water in the engine.
After about 3 minutes, I thought I didn't want the water pressure pushing the water through and so disconnected the hose from the dock box water spigot. I thought I'd make sure the water hadn't backed up and opened the valve at the low point in the exhaust and for the first time ever water came shooting out for 1.5 seconds. Prior to this, there was never more than about 1/2 a cup of excess water to exit that valve whenever I'd check it.
Unfortunately it was around this moment I realized I'd also failed to open the fuel valve up until now...
Now things go from bad to worse...
Now the engine sounds wrong when I try and turn it over.
I've pulled a spark plug and it's getting spark.
I've checked the oil, and it's not foamy or milky.
I've pulled the fuel line off after the electric fuel pump, and with the key partially turned and fuel pump engaged, fuel definitely comes out.
When I pull any of the spark plugs, they all have a liquid between the two points where the spark happens, and I've never seen that before.
My air intake for the carb looks like it could use a cleaning.
Having the manual, and reading it after this incident, I know the atomic needs 3 things, fuel, air, compression.
I know it's got fuel, I checked.
I don't think it's got water in the engine as I checked the oil, and it's not milky.
I know it's got air, for water came out the back when it ran for the 30 seconds, and on a second attempt a couple days later (today) some more water came out for a second.
To check compression, they suggest pulling the plugs and holding your thumb over the hole one plug at a time, which I could do, but an easier test would be to simply look at my pressure guage when starting the engine and if there's pressure, it should show up as the regular pressure it runs at, and if one of the cylinders is down, that should show up as reduced pressure, no?
I'm pretty concerned as this engine once I got it running well, has been a champion every time, once running for 14hrs straight from Ventura to Catalina Island without a single hiccup. I've maintained the engine replacing the impeller every two years. Flush the engine with fresh water after every use. recently changed the spark plugs.
One thing to note, I've never seen any liquid in the spark area of the spark plugs as I see now in all the plugs, and that's alarming. I've seen oil, carbon...crud basically, but never any liquid of any type.
Anyone with an atomic ever put enough water in the exhaust to back up the water until it went back into the engine?
Any ideas what I should try next?
Thanks!
After not sailing for a couple months, thought I'd run the engine just to keep things moving.
Unfortunately I made a couple errors up front that may have completely screwed me.
The first is I forgot to open the fuel line.
The second is I remembered to open the raw water intake line.
With choke pulled out, the engine started up and ran for about 15 seconds, then died.
That was unusual, as this engine after quite a bit to get running well and good every time never does this. She starts every time, even after a month of non use.
Not realizing I'd forgotten to open the fuel line (and I have a electric fuel pump), I tried again and again.
Now the fear for anyone knowing atomics is running so much water through the engine, it backs up eventually and you get water in your engine, which is a very bad thing if that happens.
Luckily, when I rebuilt my exhaust system, I added an additional valve at the low point after where hot exhaust air and water are mixed, so should I ever wonder if I've got too much water in that area endangering the engine, I can empty the water into the bilge area and it's then routed safely out via the bilge pump. It's easy to check, and so far there was no water.
After trying to start the engine for 30 minutes, I decided to FLUSH the engine with fresh water, and attempt it another day as night had arrived and I was pretty frustrated. I use a 5 gallon bucket, and hooked up my dock hose to the fresh water rinse connection and tried starting the engine hoping to crank it long enough to fill the engine with fresh water, and shut it down for another attempt on another day.
Water did not seem to be going through the bucket, so I finally hooked up the hose the the spigot at the dock box, and turned the water on. This creates water pressure which I don't like, preferring the impeller pull the water in the engine.
After about 3 minutes, I thought I didn't want the water pressure pushing the water through and so disconnected the hose from the dock box water spigot. I thought I'd make sure the water hadn't backed up and opened the valve at the low point in the exhaust and for the first time ever water came shooting out for 1.5 seconds. Prior to this, there was never more than about 1/2 a cup of excess water to exit that valve whenever I'd check it.
Unfortunately it was around this moment I realized I'd also failed to open the fuel valve up until now...
Now things go from bad to worse...
Now the engine sounds wrong when I try and turn it over.
I've pulled a spark plug and it's getting spark.
I've checked the oil, and it's not foamy or milky.
I've pulled the fuel line off after the electric fuel pump, and with the key partially turned and fuel pump engaged, fuel definitely comes out.
When I pull any of the spark plugs, they all have a liquid between the two points where the spark happens, and I've never seen that before.
My air intake for the carb looks like it could use a cleaning.
Having the manual, and reading it after this incident, I know the atomic needs 3 things, fuel, air, compression.
I know it's got fuel, I checked.
I don't think it's got water in the engine as I checked the oil, and it's not milky.
I know it's got air, for water came out the back when it ran for the 30 seconds, and on a second attempt a couple days later (today) some more water came out for a second.
To check compression, they suggest pulling the plugs and holding your thumb over the hole one plug at a time, which I could do, but an easier test would be to simply look at my pressure guage when starting the engine and if there's pressure, it should show up as the regular pressure it runs at, and if one of the cylinders is down, that should show up as reduced pressure, no?
I'm pretty concerned as this engine once I got it running well, has been a champion every time, once running for 14hrs straight from Ventura to Catalina Island without a single hiccup. I've maintained the engine replacing the impeller every two years. Flush the engine with fresh water after every use. recently changed the spark plugs.
One thing to note, I've never seen any liquid in the spark area of the spark plugs as I see now in all the plugs, and that's alarming. I've seen oil, carbon...crud basically, but never any liquid of any type.
Anyone with an atomic ever put enough water in the exhaust to back up the water until it went back into the engine?
Any ideas what I should try next?
Thanks!
