Do it yourself carb rebuild????? 95' Faststrike..

[anderdw2]

For those of you that have tackled this, how difficult is this?

The boat is at the mechanic now getting a noise in the lower unit checked, but he suggested we do a carb rebuild. I'm still having some idle issues. The parts are like $150 for the 6 carbs. But. I'm not sure if this is something I want to tackle myself or not. The turn-key quote was $380, so with the other service, I would like to save that money.

The mechanical part doesn't really scare me. Once you do one, the other 5 should be easier. However, I was told you have to readjust each carb and synch. What is involved in this process? Does it require any special tools?

[316jughead]

Not that hard, get a good service manual.

[baker1]

He's pulling your leg, the carbs come off without removing the manifold block and the linkages are not disturbed for a carb rebuild.
Save yourself $6-700.
The first carb took me 45 minutes, the other 5 were done in 20 mins total.
Its more work getting them off the engine.!
Get the shop manual from http://www.outboardbooks.com
Not seloc or clymer.

[ChampioNman]

Use only BRP carb rebuild kits, Make sure your float bowls aren't warped or leaking. Don't over torque the screws for the bowl. Don't remove all of them at once, do them one at a time.

[anderdw2]

Well, it looks like this will be done at the marina. since i was having some other issues, i decided to take it to someone more knowledgable. Turns out, he thinks the seals behind the ?intakes or throttle bodies are worn.

if you first start the boat, it runs fine. But after warm up, it runs very rough. he did a carb adjustment today and no improvement

to redo the gaskets, etc and rebuild all the carbs $1300

[stratos284]

Im getting ready to rebuild my carbs. The manifold gaskets and carb kits, fuel filter, new reed valves cost just under 300 bucks, as stated get a manual and do it yourself

[baker1]

What happens when he does the work and it doesn't fix the problem.

[316jughead]

You had said in the previous post that you had an idle problem. Explain the problem. After warm up does the motor run rough at all RPM. Did you get the lower unit work done or is the $1300.00 just for the throttle body and carb work? Is this guy a certified Johnson Tech? Your first Mech. gave you a fair price on the carb job, that should have included sync and link and a start up and run. He wasn't going to go broke but he wasn't going to get rich either. Add 2 hours labor or 3 just to be safe and the cost of the throttle body o-rings and you have what is going to cost you $1300.00. Just some food for thought.


Modified by 316jughead at 8:55 PM 8/30/2010

[316jughead]

<table width="90%" cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0 align=center><tr><td>Quote, originally posted by 316jughead &raquo;</td></tr><tr><td class="quote">You had said in the previous post that you had an idle problem. Explain the problem. After warm up does the motor run rough at all RPM. Did you get the lower unit work done or is the $1300.00 just for the throttle body and carb work? Is this guy a certified Johnson Tech? Your first Mech. gave you a fair price on the carb job, that should have included sync and link and a start up and run. He wasn't going to go broke but he wasn't going to get rich either. Add 2 hours labor or 3 just to be safe and the cost of the throttle body o-rings and you have what is going to cost you $1300.00. Just some food for thought. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
Modified by 316jughead at 8:55 PM 8/30/2010</td></tr></table>

[anderdw2]

This is the same mechanic. The boat mainly has the problem at lower RPM's. It seems fine at speed, but spits and sputters at lower speed.

When i took it up, he took it to the water to see if a carb adjustment was in order and to do a check to see if he could repeat it. With the trouble of the boat stalling, he had 3hrs there and nothing resolve.

He believes that the problem is the gaskets behind the throttle bodies or intake manifold?? Of course, they go by the rate book, to do the work, he is at 10-13hrs, plus the 3hrs he already has. Since he's replacing the gaskets and a few reeds, he is doing the carb rebuild which is still under $400 as quoted. The parts for the carbs where like $126.00 So the price increase was the additional labor for pulling the other stuff off and replacing those gaskets, reeds, etc , rebuild the carbs, then back to water to test and link and synch

He doesn't think its engine related as the engine runs good when you first start it, but as it warms, it has problems with the lower end. He believes it is sucking air somewhere. What I thought was a lower unit problem, he says is the engine misfiring and causing the motor to shake more than normal.

I know there are no guarentees, but if I rebuild the carbs and the gaskets are bad, then I'm still in the same boat. One of those cases where I trust the mechanic. I do not know if he's certified or not. It's jim's anchorage at Raystown and they have a good reputation, and a johnson dealer for years.

The other thing that sucks, is I just boat a jackplate, hotfoot and column trim to put on the boat. If i do all the work, I'm at $1800.... It's a boat, what are you going to do...

[anderdw2]

I think his total parts came to around $400. I know I'm getting killed on labor, but at this point I want it fixed and I'm not sure how comfortable I am with doing all this only to end up back at the shop.

I guess there is a point, where you have to say, let the experts do it.

[316jughead]

<table width="90%" cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0 align=center><tr><td>Quote, originally posted by anderdw2 &raquo;</td></tr><tr><td class="quote">I think his total parts came to around $400. I know I'm getting killed on labor, but at this point I want it fixed and I'm not sure how comfortable I am with doing all this only to end up back at the shop.

I guess there is a point, where you have to say, let the experts do it.</td></tr></table>

[baker1]

I have the opposite view,
there is a point where I tell the experts no thanks and do it myself.

10 hrs to do a reed job is just plain nuts.!
I could do it faster and I'm a baker by trade.

[anderdw2]

The 10+hrs was carbs rebuild, tune carbs after, redo gaskets behind throttle bodies, reed, etc. Boat is done and it seems to have taken care of alot of my problems. No more stalling, better idle, etc. At least so far.

The estimate of 1400 came in at actually $1048 i know i could have done it cheaper myself, and with alot of thing, i probably would have. But, its done, its done right and I have a working boat again.

Believe me, I understand that at some point, you have to say "what the hell" and just do it yourself. For example, I was at my local toyota dealer this past month and they offered to clean and spray my battery terminals for the low price of $39.95 I did it and it took me all of 10min. The sad part is how many people tell them go ahead, cause they don't know what's involved. Same thing applies here for some, but for those of us without the necessary tools or nohow, I have no problem going local. I'm a computer programmer by trade and own a cabinet shop.. I'm sure alot of guys can probably tackle making there own cabinets.. but I'm sure most can't do quite the job that we do because they don't do it everyday.

Beside, I can't complain, he could have charged me the estimate and I would have had no choice but to pay.

[316jughead]

Thanks for letting us know how you came out. Sounds like an honest shop.

[anderdw2]

I need to really run it out to be sure. But so far so good.