Gas dripping out of engine...right before Powell trip, too.

[Sunbeam]

Will do, Bob

While we are on the topic though: How long is too long to leave gas in the carbs? Having paid someone to rebuild all four (due to the PO leaving gas in the carbs for a looooooong time), I'm not keen to do that again!

I'm happy to drain them when necessary to keep them from gunking up, but of course don't want to do it unless I need to (especially #4... that looks pretty hard to reach *#^/*!). Right now I have non-ethanol fuel in my tanks (yay!), along with Yamaha Ring Free additive (plan to put that always). I have blue marine Stabil on hand, but wasn't going to add that unless/until I need to. So I guess I have three questions:

1) At what "sitting" time frame would you add blue marine Stabil vs. figuring you were using the fuel fast enough to not add it.

2) With non-ethanol fuel in the carbs, how long would you feel comfortable letting them sit without draining them between uses?

3) With ethanol fuel (which will only taint my system if there is no other choice, but that's bound to happen sometime) in the carbs, how long would you feel comfortable letting them sit without draining them between uses?

Thanks, as always,
Sunbeam

[jkidd]

Yes those look like the drains and the bottom one looks like you would have to take the bottom cover off to get to it. Unless you have a trained mouse for the job. The vents or overflows might or might not have hoses on then depends on the motor. Like Bob says button it up take a trip there will be plenty of people around to help out if there's a problem.

[Chris]

Yes...the brass plugs are the bowl drains. The hole that the blue line intersects in the second photo is the vent...if the float sticks fuel will flow out of that hole. In a bind you can remove the plug and tickle the float with a piece of wire (gently) to get it unstuck.
The two other things you asked about are the prime/start components. These enrich the fuel on a cold start...kinda like a choke...but work differently. Solenoid on top...thermal component on the bottom...have no effect on a warm start.

[thataway]

Even if I have ethanol free fuel, and am not going to run the big outboard for 2 months I will drain it. If ethanol--a month. With smaller outboards I run the carbs dry each time I put it up and store it on its side or back. With the Honda, if not going to run it in a month I drain it. I try and run the generator each week if not running it daily and leaving fuel in it.

The Honda 90 is easy to drain the carbs, and shutting off the fuel still leaves a little fuel in the carb.

[tsturm]

[digger]

The enricheners are what you have circled. When the motor is cold, these act as chokes. Also, the vents on the carbs are holes that you will not be able to see while mounted on the intake manifold, but will leak some fuel when the engine is tilted. You can also get fuel that will leak out of the carb throat, and move into the silencer. The silencer will also have some crankcase residue from the breather, which is vaporized oil and gas as the engine warms up and the breather recycles the vapors into the engine. This will make any fluids that exit the breather be a gas/oil/water vapor mixture -- dirty looking, gas smelling residue. All natural and mostly non-issues, unless it becomes extreme. You can reach the bottom carb drain fairly easily with a small box-end wrench. It only needs to be cracked open slightly to drain the carb. Do not worry about what you have seen -- you are just being extremely aware of something most others would not even notice. Ron

[Sunbeam]

Bob: Thanks for the time-frame reference on carb draining vs. not - it's good to have a baseline idea.

tsturm: Appreciate the confirmation on the drain screws and the "thing that takes the place of the choke."

So, if I understand it:

a) choke (which I don't have)
Restricts the air intake to richen things up.

b) "thing that takes the place of a choke"
Probably adds fuel to richen things up.

So two different means of achieving the same end, apparently. I think my Honda 8D also uses method b, whereas the old standby Honda8A uses the traditional choke. Anyway now I know what the "schnozzles" are for.

Sunbeam
(Hoping to hit the road for Powell tomorrow)

*******
Edited to add (we were both posting at the same time):

Ron:
Aha, I think you've hit the nail on the head - that makes perfect sense as to why the fuel would definitely smell like gas, but also be "thicker" and behave more like oil. Also, the path did seem to follow straight down from the grille that I think is the air intake - sounds like it's the silencer (maybe they are one and the same). It's great to have a handle on what was most likely happening!

I started to worry that my post might have been a bit too much of an over-reaction, but you know, I've learned so much from reading your replies and looking around the engine since yesterday, that I'm glad I tilted it up all the way and had the "leak." And maybe a few others have found the thread useful (or will).

Also good to know that carb #4 will not be as bad as it looks

[tsturm]