New Guy, 1996 GTS hard starting

[lbhsbz]

A friend of mine gave this thing to me...supposedly had the engine gone through by a reputable shop about 3 or 4 years ago, and has sat for about 3 years. They drained the gas before putting it up.

This has a white engine...my limited research tells me this is a 587 motor, single carb.

So, I added about 3 gallons of fresh fuel (mixed about 100:1....figured it couldn't hurt since it had been sitting a while, filled the oil tank with sea doo oil, changed the plugs and battery. I had to use a squirter with some pre-mix in the carb to start it and keep it running until it could pump it's own fuel and it runs great...but starting it in the water is a bitch.

It's worse when it's hot. I can shut it off, and then have trouble restarting it after that. It will just crank and crank. Throttle position makes no difference. It will start quickly and then die if I close the choke...indicating that it was not getting enough fuel, but then after opening the choke, you have to hold the throttle about 1/2 way open and crank it for a good 15 seconds or so and it will gradually start to run, clear itself out, and then run great until the next time you shut it off. Strange....seems like it needs fuel, then floods.

I see one grey fuel line on it, but all the rest have been replaced with some sort of clear line. The clear line is all nice and plyable.

I haven't yet checked the filters, but I imagine that since it runs fine WOT, the filters are clear enough to start the thing. I suspect a rotary valve issue since the problem doesn't necessarily seem to be mixure related, but rather...distribution related. I don't have a degree wheel, but I can check the clearances.

Anything else I should be looking for?

 

[Dr Honda]

Do a quick compression check. You should see better than 135 psi. (145 would be very good) If you have good compression, I would pull the carb, and go though it. You may find that the internal filter is plugged up, or the pop-off pressure is WAY off.

 

[lbhsbz]

Ok, Compression is fine...

I went through the carb and it all looked spotless...no deposits anywhere, nothing. Looks like a big boy version of my walbro on my weedwacker....I rebuilt that earlier in the day.

The little micro-filter had a little crud down in the end of it, but nowhere near blocked...I cleaned it anyway. The big filter above the tank was clean as well.

It will fire on the trailer cold within 2 engine revolutions with no choke....one thing is strange though.....the oiler doesn't return to "idle". It appears as if the cable is adjusted so that there is a bit of slack and it doesn't begin to open in a linear manner with the throttle on the carb. Then, once it's open, it stays open.....when you return the throttle to idle, the oiler stays wide open. Maybe this is part of the problem. Is there supposed to be a return spring on the oiler assembly?