RD17 electric start

[John O’Shea]

Dave, thanks for the response. What is an exhaust relief and am I able to check it’s operation?

Fleetwin, will do, thanks.

[dave-bernard]

look on the head it is a mechanical setup that opens a valve to relieve the compression whe you use the rewind starter. yours may or may not have one.

[frankr]

No compression relief on the 25-30hp models.

[fleetwin]

Are you using the electric start to crank for compression test, or just pulling it over with the recoil?  Sometimes, you just can’t pull em over fast enough with the recoil to get accurate compression readings.  Try using the electric starter.

[fleetwin]

Perhaps your compression gage is messed up as well, you might want to try a different gage before getting too involved.

[John O’Shea]

Thanks all for responses. I just bought the engine, compression test was done by a marina for the last owner so I’m not sure how reliable the results are, although I’m familiar with the mechanic and they have a good reputation.

[ADAM GIBB]

Keep in mind that the marina may be used to working on modern engines with higher compression. For the old RD, 90 LBS is OK. I like to see 100-120.

[fleetwin]

OK, so those readings were given by the last tech working on the engine.  It is worth trying again with a different gage, using the electric start.

[Author]

Posts