Puttin her in the water for the first time tomorrow

[MikeyM]

ahhhh good Idea! i'll get the girls together and see what comes up! good idea, i never would of thought of that!

[MikeyM]

14hp vanguard engine trouble update

Hey all, bout a week ago I posted I was having problems with my vanguard in my max, would run fine at idle revving etc, then about 10 to 15 mins after actually driving it would shut down and wouldnt start for about 5 mins or so. Here is what I have found so far. Ordered a new fuel cap...still waiting for it. Tonight after work, I tackled it again. First thing I did was shined a flashlight in the tank....whole entire bottom of tank was covered in sand! couldnt believe it! so I cut the fuel line and drained it into a bucket, so I could see the debris...tons! It was on a full tank so it took quite a while to get most of the fuel out. Finally got it down to a reasonable level, and removed the tank. washed out the tank the best I could and reinstalled...during the installation I mangaged to slide up under the dash and got stuck under the dash in front of the sticks haha I installed a fuel shut off switch under the dash as a make shift theft deterent for when i go camping. After looking at it, I noticed the fuel line was ran up and over the fuel tank bracket and was crushed almost flat....shortened the line a little more to get rid of the flat spot. Tomorrow I'll see how it runs, I have an old neighbor...didnt want to wake her...again lol Im thinking though with everything I found, Im hoping this solves all issues. Oh and I looked over all the wiring and checked all of the connections, all seemed to look good!

[swamp donkey]

Sounds to me like that should do it

[lewis]

Did the fellow you bought it from mention he had sank it? Sounds like your on the way to some fun riding.

[LarryW]

Sweet! Good luck on the test run. After all that, sounds like you got it.

[MikeyM]

lol no he never mentioned sinking, but all he talked about was how good of a mechanic he used to be before his back injury....my guess is he faked his back injury so he wouldnt have to admit he was an idiot hahaha! I cant understand how there was that much sand down in there! had to be atleast a handful in there. I am going to take off the fuel pump and try to clean it out just so I know all fuel issues are taken care of! if this doesnt fix it....its meeting my sawzall! haha

[Dirty Harry]

Well... for what it's worth: pull the tank and CLEAN it and go ahead and replace the entire fuel line (the line isn't that long so it should be fairly cheap, and it's money well spent just for the peace of mind) & install a new fuel filter, that way you can assure yourself that no debris remains anywhere within your Max's fuel system - eliminating it as a potential culprit. As an additional measure of cleanliness, add a couple capfulls of Seafoam to every tank of gas for the next 3 or 4 fill-ups. Then start going though the electrical system... completely clean all contact points carefully and coat exposed wiring & connections with a thick layer of dielectric grease. Lube your choke & throttle cables. Check tightness on manifold bolts and engine & tranny mounting bolts. While you're farting around down in the machine's tub, go ahead and adjust & lube all of the chains; hit your grease zerks with a few pumps of moly/lithium grease, check & adjust pressure in all 6 tires... hmmm... that's all I can think of for right now. Ha-ha. Then go have some FUN!!!

P.S. Welcome aboard!

[MikeyM]

Thanks dirty harry, sounds like a good plan, Shane K helped me out a few weeks back, and showed me how to tighten the chains, where to grease etc, so that part is all taken care of. When I get home tonight im going to throw some fresh gas in it with some sea foam and see how she does. Im keepin my fingers crossed that all will be good! Once its all taken care of next step is to finda place to ride! lol drivin me nuts not leavin the yard

[MikeyM]

WOOOHHHHOOOOO!!!!! I think the problem is fixed! got home, sprayed out the fuel pump and fuel line with carb cleaner, fired it up and ran great! let it idle in the garage for about 10 mins, then took it to the yard, raced around the long back stretch of the backyard and it ran without a hitch....ran it hard too. drove it for about 15 mins, which before would have quit within 5 or ten mins. Very happy with how it ran! Only questionable thing is when its idleing, it "pops" or lightly backfires through the tailpipe, doesnt idle rough, just pops, is that normal or should I dig deeper? I dont mind it, but just want to get the thing running just as good as humanly possible. Thank you everyone who chimed in....definitely appreciated!