Argh! My 2-stroke drunk Diesel!!

[LxAV]

This is not good.. some idiot (me) put diesel in the tank and obviously, my '61 Evinrude Lark 3 40HP doesn't like it. I found out about the stuupid mistake the next day after I filled the tank, so it probably had been running on a 2-stroke-gasoline/diesel mixture half the day before. When trying to start it to drive it to the yard for other maintenance it would start and run idle fine,but shut down when put in gear. I tried starting and running it untill the starter battery went dead and then towed it to the yard, where the motor was disconnected from the boat while it went through hull repairs.
I only found out about the diesel mixup when I went through all the repair-receipts three weeks later, then I realised why it shut down when I put it in gear every time..
The motor had been laying on its back this whole time but last week I put it on the boat again, and today I put the whole thing in the water again, hoping everything would be ok. But everything is not ok. The motor will not start. I drained a fully charged battery trying to get it running, but all it did was igniting once in a while, I could hear it was trying to start but then dieing out again..

I have absolutely no clue what to do..
I won't believe the engine is dead because it did breathe a few times, but I also don't know what the diesel might have done. Or is it just that I put the engine on its back for three weeks?
Should I clean everything out or replace things? I'm quite shure there's no diesel in there anymore..

If anyone could help me out I would be really gratefull, this almost antique engine is such a nice picture behind my classic '64 mahogany runabout, I'dd hate to lose it..

Really hope somebody knows what to do.

Thanks,

Alex

[timgoz]

I would rebuild the carbs or at least clean them thoroughly. Then I would flush cylinders & such with pure gas & replace the plugs & fuil filter. Then try again.

Others with more expertise will probably comment. Give it a couple days before taking my advice as I'm no expert.

Tim

[marshmat]

Diesel fuel has properties somewhere between gasoline and outboard oil. The effect on your older, non-computerized, relatively simple motor would be essentially that it was running on far, far too much oil- causing it to die out, because it's hard to get heavy oils to (a) evaporate in a gasoline carb, and (b) burn quickly and thoroughly at the low pressure of six or seven atmospheres that your 'Rude's cylinders reach just before ignition.
I second Tim's suggestion to pull the carbs and give them a thorough cleaning. I doubt much if any permanent damage was done; running a simple mechanical 2-stroke o/b on diesel would stop it dead, but shouldn't blow holes in the pistons and shatter the rods like you might get if you ran a modern high-output diesel on light gasoline.
There's a good chance, if it was lying on the ground in an abnormal position, that fuel has collected in areas where it shouldn't. Thus it might act as if it's flooded when you try to start it. Not sure how one goes about draining all the nooks and crannies on your motor but it wouldn't hurt to do so.

[timgoz]

Maybe he could blow alot out with compressed air?

[Frosty]

Put some fresh fuel in it and start it up. It'lle be fine.

[naturewaterboy]

You may have accumulated some diesel fuel in the lower chamber (where the crank is) and may want to turn the engine upside down to drain this out.

[timgoz]

Also might want to turn her over with the spark disconnected. That will blow her out.

Tim

[mydauphin]

I have used diesel for years to clean/lubricate engine after working on them. Drain fuel from carb, clean plugs, pump some fresh gas and go. Diesel is just thicker WD40

[Frosty]

Turning it over with the spark disconected? This does what. Its not going to fire -if it does it would run. Removing the plugs and cleaning wouldnt hurt.

Turning an outboard upside down is not recomended . Any water resting in the cooling chambers could find its way into the cylinders. With the cylinders being totally open to the crankaces throught the transfer port water may get into the crank case and rust up the bearings.

Never heard a noisy outboard yet runs fine?-- storing in a lazzarette upside down will do it.

[LxAV]

Wow, thanks for all your replies!

To my own amazement, my engine is running again! I only drained the carb, cleaned the tank and checked the filters, flooded everything with unmixed fuel and fired it untill my battery went dead, then I got a booster/charger and kept on trying to get it to run, at first it wouldn't, then only on choke it would start a little, then more, then stationairy, then some times without choke and so on untill I went out on open water with properly mixed fuel on statinairy and on choke, put it on full throttle without choke and it ran perfectly.. It still had some trouble on low throttle but after half an hour of cruising on different speeds it kept on sounding better and better, untill it ran smoothly also on low speeds.

I did not need to replace any parts, nor did I take apart the carburator, it just needed alot of convincing..
My guess is the diesel is much higher on oily lubrication, so it took a while for all this oily stuff to clean out of the engine.

thanks for your replies, I was about to send it to the shop and probably spend a lot of money on unneeded repairs, but your replies gave me convidence nothing should be destroyed, just some patience was all it took.

Thanks!!

[timgoz]

L,

Depending on the morality of the shop, they may ahve taken you for some $$$.

Sounds like it worked out well for you.

Do not be a stranger around here. New guys are always welcome & encouraged.

Take care.

Tim

[ondarvr]

You should not have used unmixed fuel to try and start it, it needs oil at all times. Running it for a very short time with no oil may not do much damage, but it can. The left over diesel may have helped lube it while running the straight gas, but you have no idea how much might be in each carb, if any.