The Famous Grouse
Petty Officer 1st Class
- Joined
- Sep 26, 2008
- Messages
- 291
Folks, yesterday I took out my walk-through fishing boat with a 150 Johnson 2 stroke out for the day.
This engine is a carbed 2 stroke, btw.
When I started it, it ran very rough and would not stay running unless the idle was set above 1000 RPM. I could not slow it down to get it into gear, it would simply stall as soon as it went into gear.
I got to the dock using the kicker and let the engine run at fast idle for about 10 minutes and then I was finally able to get it into gear so I took a slow lap at about 1500 RPM. It was missing quite frequently, and running very roughly, I could feel the "jump" through the steering wheel.
It then smoothed out quite a bit and after about 30 minutes of on-plane running down the river, it did seem to run better and it would return to idle for a brief period. I did not attempt prolonged idle because I was afraid of fouling plugs and having it die and being unable to restart.
But now it's making me nervous. I use the boat on big rivers and big lakes, so obviously reliability is a major concern.
At the beginning of the day, I had filled the tank with about 27 gallons, it had been about half full and this topped it off. I filled my truck from the same pump, and it's running fine so I do NOT suspect the gas that I filled it with was contaminated.
The boat had not been used for about 3 weeks, so it had been sitting in the heat and humidity, so I'm thinking condensation could be part of the issue, but I've never had it this bad before.
Disclosure: I changed plugs after the last use so this was the first time starting with new plugs. I replaced all 6 plugs, they are gapped correctly at .030, and I always do plugs one at a time so I know I didn't get the wires crossed. I checked the wires after I got home yesterday and all wires were on the right plugs and on the plug correctly.
Questions:
- What could be going on here?
- Is this normal after changing plugs on a big outboard?
- Is this the old bugaboo of water in the fuel? If so, can I add HEAT or some other chemical to get the water out?
Thanks for any help you can give.
Grouse
This engine is a carbed 2 stroke, btw.
When I started it, it ran very rough and would not stay running unless the idle was set above 1000 RPM. I could not slow it down to get it into gear, it would simply stall as soon as it went into gear.
I got to the dock using the kicker and let the engine run at fast idle for about 10 minutes and then I was finally able to get it into gear so I took a slow lap at about 1500 RPM. It was missing quite frequently, and running very roughly, I could feel the "jump" through the steering wheel.
It then smoothed out quite a bit and after about 30 minutes of on-plane running down the river, it did seem to run better and it would return to idle for a brief period. I did not attempt prolonged idle because I was afraid of fouling plugs and having it die and being unable to restart.
But now it's making me nervous. I use the boat on big rivers and big lakes, so obviously reliability is a major concern.
At the beginning of the day, I had filled the tank with about 27 gallons, it had been about half full and this topped it off. I filled my truck from the same pump, and it's running fine so I do NOT suspect the gas that I filled it with was contaminated.
The boat had not been used for about 3 weeks, so it had been sitting in the heat and humidity, so I'm thinking condensation could be part of the issue, but I've never had it this bad before.
Disclosure: I changed plugs after the last use so this was the first time starting with new plugs. I replaced all 6 plugs, they are gapped correctly at .030, and I always do plugs one at a time so I know I didn't get the wires crossed. I checked the wires after I got home yesterday and all wires were on the right plugs and on the plug correctly.
Questions:
- What could be going on here?
- Is this normal after changing plugs on a big outboard?
- Is this the old bugaboo of water in the fuel? If so, can I add HEAT or some other chemical to get the water out?
Thanks for any help you can give.
Grouse
