volvo 140A 4cyl not reaving up the rpm's

[kevylongshot]

my volvo 140a i put in my 21 ft trophy is running crappy, when i put it in the boat it would only rev up 1/4 throttle then it would bogg down, it sounded like it wanted to run but would miss, it really did this in neutral the worst under load it didnt do it as bad, the spark plugs are burning black so that tells me they are not burning the fuel goin in , the compression is about 135psi on every cyl,i put new sparkplugs in it , and then i cleaned the 2 carbs and now it wont start at all ,there is no spark ,i think maybe it is the coil , i orderd new plug wires and a new coil it will be here on tuesday, how do i check my coil to see if it si it at all i am so close to having this boat goin its drivning me mad , although iam thankfull for it and didi all the work myself the sunner is slipping by and its not in the water were it belongs and cant afford a marine mechenice to look at it

[kevylongshot]

my 21' bayliner trophy is just about all done, but i put the motor in and the engine wont turn up, it sound like it is missing it just has not power ,it wants ti go but just sputers it turns up about 1500- 2000rpm's i put new plugs and did a compresion test it was 130-135psi on every cyl. i cleaned the 2 carbs , they looked fine, i took them apart and clean them and blew them out with air, i then tryed to start the engine and now there is no spark once so ever so i orded a new coil and plug wires they will be here on tuesday, is there a way to test my coil and wires , i do have a amp meter , my boat is a great boat but it is no good to me sitting in my drivway , and cant afford a mechenice to look at it ,as i just replaced the transome and beds in it so any help would be greatly thankfull ,thanks guys

[CDK]

Take a plug and a HT wire, stick the wire in the coil's HT hole and have the plug make contact with the engine block. Remove the distributor cap and distributor arm, then turn the ignition key to the 1th position. With a screwdriver push the breaker points open without destroying them. There should be a small spark there and the plug should spark also.

If that works, the coil, resistor, breaker and capacitor are OK. The problem then is the distributor finger.
If nothing sparks, there is no power. That may be a burnt out resistor, bad contact or the safety switch.
If the contact breaker sparks, but the plug doesn't, suspects are the coil and the capacitor.
You can check the capacitor by unscrewing it's wire, apply 12V, wait a few seconds and then short it to ground. There must be a tiny spark both times.

[kevylongshot]

thanks alot, i really apeciate your advice and too take the time to write me back, i will try that out and hopfully it will work, would you have any idea what would make not turn up, thanks again,

[DaveJ]

Well, what i tend to do, to see if the coil is working, get a mate to hang onto one of the plug leads with a screw driver inserted, and why he/she is not watching, crank the motor over.

If they site there fat dumb and happy, the coil is not working, on the other hand, if the screw driver gets flung, and there is a mention about how they are going to kill me, the coil is working.

Hint: the distance of the screw driver from the motor is in direct proportion to the spark from the coil.

[pistnbroke]

If its electonic igniton never never crank it with the plugs or HT leads disconncted .....that can bugger your electronic igniton ...to test coil measure primary and secondary resistance with and ohm meter 0.3-3 ohm on primary dependent on type ..primary 10 000 ish ohms ..put lead from coil centre to 6mm from block and crank ..if you get a 6 mm spark in air that part is ok

[DaveJ]

Just a warning, before you create an open spark near your block, fan the area to get rid of the fuel vapour. You don't want your newly restored boat turn to a pile of burnt rubble.

[kevylongshot]

thanks alotdave , i put new wires ij it today and it run alot beter iam wondering if it is the coil the motor is reaving up in neutrul but in drive its not , only about 2000 rpm's i dont know what to do

[kevylongshot]

i put a new resister and starter relay and condenser in it and new plug wires and set the timming with a timming light and its running away better ,the engine is turnning up ,but under load its not could it be the coil ? or the carbs ,there are 2 of them thanks alot
from kamloops canada, kevin

[pistnbroke]

can you get a 6mm spark in air ? If no change the condenser and try again it wont run right if you dont have a spark that can jump the plug under cylinder pressures ...

[kevylongshot]

thanks , but i put a new condenser on it , anything else? iam goin to put a new coil tommorow, will that help do you think?

[PAR]

Since a few tune up parts made a dramatic difference, don't you think maybe doing a full tune up might be in order? It sounds like this boat hasn't received the love it needs to be reliable and you're suffering the results.

Get it tuned by someone familiar with these systems. While they're there, I'm sure they'll find the other problems you Volvo has, which sound minor, for what it's worth.

The other option is to continue the crap shoot of tossing parts at it, until you've accidentally hit the problem, which is a foolish and expensive way to diagnose you problems, not to mention isn't going to get things adjusted properly.

[PAR]

It's pretty difficult to follow this discussion across the several threads it's being pursued.

[kevylongshot]

sorry,iam not much of a coputer guy atall, i''ll tell you whats goin on with the engine at this moment, it will reave up in nutural lots but when under load it only reaves up about 2000 rpm, (when iam cruising) maybe 9 knots, and it should get up and go way better then that , iam thinking weak coil? or maybe the prop is too big ,the motor is a older one about a 79 or older, and the boat is a 21ft bayliner trophy the pic'sare in my profile,the motor is a 140 volvo with dual carbs,i put new plugs and wires, new pionts, and had it timed also the motor sounds very nice, it just purr's, thanks alot for you help

[kevylongshot]

good advice i will do that,it's just a guy gets so close to completion and i want to do it myself, but i'll have too now becouse every time i turn around iam dumping money into it and getting me nowere,thanks alot PAR,thats very wise of you,

[Jeff]

<duplicate threads merged>

[kevylongshot]

didnt get that one yet jeff

[pistnbroke]

tell us what prop you have and the gearbox ratio .....you said you think it may be over propped

[kevylongshot]

its a 270 volvo leg, the boat had a 4 banger in it before this one, the prop. is a 15x15 three blade left hand, according to the dealership the prop is the right size, i kinda think it is a motor out of a car and the cam is diferent? iam not sure though, but it runs really good and sounds great,just no power only turning up about 2000 rpm's,thanks alot

[PAR]

I think you just don't have the diagnostic skills to access this engine's issue(s). I know that a skilled mechanic would quickly run down a set of well established routines and within a few minutes would narrow you issue(s) down, probably with a very accurate guess within 5 minutes. I'm fairly sure I have a good idea and the engine isn't in front of me, but you are still struggling deciding is it's fuel delivery, ignition or gearing. Look, literally in one minute, I could isolate the problem(s) to the related system(s).

Bite the bullet, and have a real boat mechanic have a look. Another option would be to buy a book for your engine/drive combo and run through the procedures yourself, though this does require some understanding of how these systems work and looking for the "usual suspects" when certain "symptoms" appear, which requires experience and something that is clearly missing here.

[kevylongshot]

the 140 volvo is getting blow by a mechenic has told me the rings are gone , also he did a leak test and it failed , the motor has to be overhauled, 3.000 $ ,does anyone know what other used engine i could use, it has a penta 270 leg and they are a AQ series , any sugestions would help as iam not very good at this stuff, but love to be on the water, to many this may all sound stupit, but to me iam learning lots, and i am blessed to have found this site , thanks alot guys

[pistnbroke]

Dont trust the mechanic ...he did a cylinder leakage test you say .....the compressed air he put in the cylinders came out in the sump ....If that is right you should have lots of pressure in the sump when you pull off the oil filler .....If this is not the case he is pulling your wallet ...were you there when he did the test ??? If its scrap why not pull the head and check the gasket or do a compression test with a cheap auto gauge ......

[kevylongshot]

its gone

a guy from the coast came up and gave me good money for it , its gone ,, thank the lord, i bought a turn key operation its a v190 invader 1991 its in great shape, its a 19 ft'er with a 5.7 merc lots of jam, there was 4 adults and my 2 boys and we toped out at 40 mph, that was pretty good for a boat load i think any ways , iam pretty happy with it, any advice out there that you guys know about the invader or the 5.7 LT merc ? i hope it is a good egine, it seemed good no oil anywere and it souned nice . a older couple used it on a small lake , it was on the same lake since new, i paid 7,200 $ for it canadian ofcourse , later guys , get back to me soon , :) :)