What to do next

[doughman]

A few weekends ago I had to be towed off muskegon lake my motor wouldn't start. The next day I went into sportsfisherman center and after a few trials the guy helped me get it started, he said it was the 6 gallon tank, the venting was bad creating a vapor lock.

My boat ran fine for a week and now it is back to same problem. I went to halls they said it sounds like my line from tank to motor was bad I replaced it, motor still will not fire.

My hope is that my motor is just flooded, I am going to pull plugs tonight and turn it over and let plugs dry out overnight(plugs are new last weekend)

What else can/should I do? (60 HP evenrude 1998)

Marv aka doughman

[GLF]

Does the motor start again if you pump the ball? Maybe the fuel pump is bad. Yes.....2 strokes have a fuel pump.....but I may be calling it the wrong thing.

My brother had a bass boat with a 150hp Evenrude. The boat would start and run like a raped ape for a short time, then it would crap out. If I squezzed the fuel ball, I could keep it running.

Not sure if thats your problem or not.......

[GLF]

Yes.....2 strokes have a fuel pump.....but I may be calling it the wrong thing.

Maybe it was called a diaphram.

[Tad Pole]

a pluged tank vent can cause the same thing,remove the cap and see if it will run

[doughman]

initially I was told it was a bad cap not venting correctly, then they said the line from tank to motor was no good, before I knew that, I tried repeatedly to start it and think I flooded the cylinders out.

Update, I just pulled the 3 plugs and turned it over for a brief second, gas came out everywhere, cylinders were soaked, when I was trying to start it before I must have pumped way to much into the motor. Plugs reak of gas.

I believe the fuel pump is ok, I am going to air it out tonight and place 3 new plugs in tomorrow and hope everything is ok. One guy I am working with tonight said meybe the coil pack is bad.

Marv

[Satisfaxion_Gauranteed]

90% of the time is comes down to fuel and spark. The rest of the time it's timing.

I'm assuming the timing is good because the engine runs intermittently.

Testing anything in the ignition is easy; just ground your spark plug anywhere on the engine(away from gas) and hit the key quickly to turn it over. If there's spark, then the ignition system is likely functioning well. If you're physically touching the spark plug when you do this, expect a friendly little bite.

To double check coil casings, spray some water on the coil and re-test for spark. If no spark, a bad coil/coil casing is likely the culprit.

"gas came out everywhere" leads me to ask more questions; is it misting everywhere or streaming everywhere? The gasoline coming into the cylinders should be highly atomized, looking more like steam coming from a cooking pot rather than a leaky faucet. The engine may be running a touch rich. This will be much more apparent under warm weather conditions and humidity than it will under cooler/drier weather. Cold engines need richer mixtures(i.e. what the choke does) and hot engines need leaner mixtures.

If the engine dies again after being run for a while, re-test your ignition by pulling the plug and drying them out with a cigarette lighter. Ground your plugs and turn the key to check for spark. If you've got spark, then pull your other two plugs and dry them out with the cigarette lighter and the engine will probably re-start. This will get you into port and points you in the direction of a rich fuel mixture. On a two-stroke engine, too much oil will cause a very similiar issue.

If you don't have spark, then your buddy is probably right to say it is the coil as this is not uncommon for coil casings with some minor defect causing issue as the coil heats up. Take a can of wire drier with you and spray your coil. This will work about half of the time if it's a moisture issue on a bad casing within the coil.

I have had two cases this summer where I've gotten some bad gasoline, too. My wife's car and my truck got a hold of some gas bad enough to cause both of our check engine lights to come on. This doesn't sound like the case with you, but something to be aware of.

I knew all of those I.C. engines and combustion classes I took at MTU would come in handy some day:grin:

Good luck!

[special x]

Sounds like you have more than enough fuel. Test for spark . if no spark unplug black& yellow wire located on port side of engine it is a single Amphenol style connector not to far from power pack this will test your ignition switch & tether. If engine starts or has spark your problem is switch ,tether or may be grounded wire (Warning engine will not shut off with this wire dissconected). If still no spark problem may be in stator or power pack.

Hope this helps

Leroy

[doughman]

Well lesson learned, it happened to be the tether. $40 at halls to tell me that, boy I felt dumb, but lessons are sometimes costly.

Boat is back on water tomorrow

Marv