Port motor not starting

[banstnick18]

Good afternoon boaters,

I am reaching out on the behalf of my mom who recently bought an 85 F32 sedan with twin crusade 270s.
We are having issue with the port motor not starting, it currently cranks but does not start for us. I am not very familiar with boats but have worked on all my own cars.
So far, I have checked the batteries, and they seem to be doing just fine, the port battery was replaced by her when she bought it (two battery system).
I replaced all 16 sparks plugs and the wires look fine, no idea about the distributer cap. I cleaned the anti-siphon valve on that tank, and we put some gas (only about 5 gallons) because it's very difficult to drive it through the tight marina with only the 1 motor working. I am also not sure where the fuel pumps are located, as that was my other plan on attack. Both motors ran just fine when she bought it, and for the first couple trips she took (only about a mile or so, just to sit in the middle of the lake and have a cocktail with friends). The last trip she had the port motor ran fine and when they went to start it back up to return to the dock it would not turn back over.

Any helpful information would be much appreciated before having to spend a boat load on having the marina service the boat.
Thank you in advance for all the help.

[prowlersfish]

I assume it's cranking over but not starting? Have you checked to see if you are getting spark? Have you checked to see if you getting fuel? Need to find out to see what path to go down.

Fuel pump is on the right side lower front of the engine FWIW

[captainmaniac]

The last trip she had the port motor ran fine and when they went to start it back up to return to the dock it would not turn back over.

If you are saying it simply won't crank, it might just be the neutral start switch. If the transmission is not in neutral, a marine engine won't crank. Check that the gear lever is truly in neutral, otherwise look into whether the switch has gone bad.

[banstnick18]

thanks for the response guys.
The motor cranks but does not start.
I am going to check for spark today or tomorrow, after that work my way towards the fuel being the issue.
If it is sparking I am going to try to fill the vent tube of the carburetor with gas to see if it will start that way, then work my way back from the carb if that starts it up just fine.

[prowlersfish]

Just be careful with the fuel. Vary careful.