Time to rebuild Honda carb?

As a 4-stroke newbie, I just bought a ~2003 honda BF20D manual start. Used it for two days. It started easily and ran like a Honda - solid, torquey, and quiet.

Then I took the motor off and left it on the foreshore while I worked on the hull. It was on its side, and I suspect that high tide got up to the carbs. (Not a submerged motor, but perhaps above the "down side" of the engine.)

The next day the motor would not start. Spark was good. The plugs appeared wet, and my standard 2-stroke fix -- pull the plugs, blow them off, open throttle and pull it over to clear fuel -- did no good. No visible water in the oil

Two weeks later and 500 miles away, I've drained the float bowl & refilled it, pulled the plugs and blown them dry with compressed air. I have gotten it to run for at most a minute, and never without the choke (Fuel enrichment valve) off. I am the proud owner of the $51 service manual (BIG!), but a little disappointed that there is little "Why we designed it this way" material.

I'm guessing that there's a passage or three in the carb that isn't open.

Does this make sense?
Any thoughts about rebuilding Honda carbs?

The answer would be "Yes."



I don't think this happened because of a single dunk.

(Later: carb cleaned & hooked up. It will occasionally start and run with the FE plunger lifted, but if I attempt to "roll smoothly on" the engine dies. Goosing the throttle gets it past the "dead spot" (probably because of the acceleration pump). I suppose I missed some bypass channel in the carb casting...)

Well, after two trips to the carb cleaning bench, it started last night on pull #2 with the FE system active, but would not run on idle at all without that. My assumption is that I have a clog in the idle pilot circuit. So...

1) Does anybody know the exact routing of the passages to the pilot screw? The output passage is easy to see - from the bottom of the needle cavity to the carb throat behind the throttle plate - but I don't see the supply drilling.

2) Can the carb body be dipped? Are there hidden O-rings still in the body that will be ruined? Is the grey color a paint that will be stripped or anodizing?

3) How much idle blowby normally comes out of the vent tube that extends to the intake silencer? I'm getting sharp puffs form the tube each time I turn the motor over.