New Owner: 1997 Tige Austin TX

[pjku79]

After a bit of a horror story, I am finally the owner of a 1997 Tige (previous owner never titled the boat in his name). It took me 7 months to get everything in order, so the boat is in a bit of disarray. When I purchased the boat, it was running, but not running well. I had planned on having someone rebuild the carb. Last winter (I live in TX), I was rushing to get it winterized because a freeze was suppose to happen, so I took it to a shop to have winterized. When I picked the boat up the guy said they couldn't get it running (it ran a few days before I took it). I am not sure what exactly they did, but now it won't run (still cranks).

I slightly remember the guy I bought the boat off of telling me there was a way to basically turn the choke on using the throttle. When I was messing with it last weekend, I couldn't figure it out. I thought there was something you pull out then move the throttle...not really sure. Anyways, I am looking for some guidance. Also, is there an owners manual online somewhere? I could't find anything with my searching.

Honestly, I don't know much about boats. I have done most anything with a car (LS1 swapped 69 firebird, 49 ford truck on s10 chassis, and 63 vtec powered austin mini). The shop I took the boat to told me it did not have the original motor in it. I am guessing it is a 350 truck engine.

Lastly, if anyone is in the Austin TX or San Antonio TX area and knows of someone or a good shop, I would greatly appreciate it.

Pete

[TigeFamily]

You can "pump" some gas into the carb by using the throttle lever....maybe that is what he was referring to? I used to do that with an I/O I had. You could disengage the gear by pushing in a button at the base of the throttle lever and then pump it roughly 10 times to spray gas into the venturi....but my boat had TKS which auto choked when cold. On old carb motor, there must be a way to choke it.
But there will be others on here with much more mechanic experience than I. I just know enough to do general maintenance. Hope you get her running. Nothing worse than looking at your boat sitting in driveway and not being able to use it. Hopefully they winterized it right and didn't mess up the block if it froze.
Have you check plugs, wires and distributor? That is normally the first place to start on carb motor. Make sure you are getting spark...then make sure you have fuel (is it old and crappy?) If you have spark, then make sure you have fresh fuel that will ignite....then it just comes down to air (if everything is working properly).

[pjku79]

Thanks. Hopefully more will respond. Honestly, I wish I had more time to spend on it. I am hoping someone knows of a good mechanic.

I will probably give it another try next weekend.

Also, an owners manual would be useful so I can figure out how it is suppose to work and what maintenance is needed in general.

[boardman74]

Unfortunately the odds of find an owners manual for a 20 year old boat are not good. Someone on here having one and willing to make you a copy is probably your only chance.

The Ski Dock is the Tige Dealer in Austin. If your looking for a mechanic qualified to tell you what is wrong and what your maintenance needs are I would start there.

[TeamAllen]

The owners manual won't tell you things like that. They were very generic about boating safety and stuff. I thought I uploaded mine on here somewhere? I'll have to look.
Is it a Mercruiser engine?

http://www.tigeowners.com//downloads...engine_manuals

[h2o-ski]

The service department at the Ski Dock is awesome. They checked out the prop shaft after I hit a tree and they had a quick turn around in the middle of summer when they were slammed.

[BlackoutATX]

I'll put a vote in for the ski dock as well. Maybe not the cheapest option. But they definitely know tiges.

[Zenith]

Post some pictures of the engine bay to give us some idea. I found all the manual online for my Mercrusier engine in my 96 pre2000wt. Is basically a 350 chev with a webber carb with marine cooling and exhaust system. If you spash a bit of fuel down the carb the crank it, it should fire up and run for a couple of seconds. If so probably carb of fuel problem.
If it hasn't been well loved you will want to be checking the condition of the raw water pump impeller before you go too far. I assume you are putting it in the water to run it.

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[pjku79]

Thanks all. I found an old thread on a local forum that recommended a guy named Stevie. He's going to cone take a look at it next week. Unfortunately I left it in marble falls so I'll have to wait until next weekend to take pics. It's pretty beat up. Needs a lot of Louvre, but I got it cheap.

[hcooperrn]

I'd be really surprised if that carb had a manual choke on it if it's original -- I've had a couple different late 90's I/Os (one Merc, one VP) and both vacuum assisted automatic choke. What the PO may have been referring to is the old trick of cracking the throttle while it is choked -- you push the button in, give it a couple of pumps, and then just barely crack it open while trying to start. It basically allows the main jet the opportunity to flow a little more fuel in, which combined with the choke, makes it more rich and a bit easier to start. Just be careful not to flood, which would require opening the throttle all the way to try and get it to clear.

Be sure to check the normal things if you haven't already -- fuel pump priming, neutral safety working correctly, ignition system (cap, coil, wires, plugs) all in good shape and you're getting properly timed spark. Definitely a good point on checking the impeller and making sure you are in the water or using a fake-a-lake, don't fry your impeller just trying to crank it over.