On 27-Sep-12 6:13 PM, John Schinnerer wrote: Hi John, Seagull engines run on about a 20:1 gas to oil ratio. If the engine hasn't been run for awhile, there is a very good possibility that the evaporating gasoline left a caking of oil gunk in the main carburetor jet, which would make it smaller i n diameter. Then as you open the throttle, the required fuel for running the engine under load is not available; the clogged jet has become a restriction. I suggest cleaning the carburetor; and while you're at it, also clean the fuel tank as well. You'd be amazed at what you might find in a dirty fuel tank: water; dirt; oil-gel; or other crud that has no business being in a fuel tank. As I recall, the Seagull carburetor is very simple. Squirting some carburetor cleaner into the carburetor might partially do the trick, but my druthers would be to totally disassemble the carburetor; clean all the passages; orifices; jets; and the float chamber with fuel valve; so you know that everything is clean and in order; and then reassemble it again. Now you "Know" that it is clean. . If there was year-old fuel/oil mixture in the fuel tank; dump it and start again with clean fresh fuel, which you should do when you are cleaning the fuel tank (and today's fuel with 10% ethanol may not be kind to an old Seagull engine). The fuel hose may not "like" the 10% ethanol added of today's fuel, and will get soft and squishy with time. The beauty of a Seagull is that you can do a complete overhaul of the engine in the cockpit of your sailboat. Just remember you will need some _*Whitworth wrenches*_ to work on it. (available from Snap on, or other large mechanic's tool company - maybe even from SEARS). SAE wrenches don't fit Whitworth bolts, and metric wrenches don't work either. Connie
Aloha,
Seeing there may be some seagull experts here - a friend has a 1980's seagull on a recently purchased used boat. On his first outing, it ran readily, but only at an idle, wouldn't rev up beyond that.
I realize that's not much info, and, sometimes someone knows just what that's about for some particular machine - if anyone here does, please advise. He's fairly mechanical so I am assuming he would know if it was just a broken throttle cable or something simple like that.
If more info is needed I can ask him for details on the motor. Hope to be taking a sail with him in near future and would like to have a working auxiliary. His previous outing involved a rather long channel passage where the engine at idle held speed over ground at zero vs. outgoing tide...not quite useful for getting home... :-)
thanks, John S.