Hello all,
Well, to start, this is my first post and my first outboard... I am pretty mechanically sound, and so this has actually been a fun adventure! (i know that may sound weird) Now i know how an outboard works, because before, looking at it was like trying to read Chinese... Anyway. But i am somewhat going around in circles a little bit and maybe one of you have experienced the same problem and you have already solved the issue.
Main issues: (all were happening prior to any work starting on it)
1. idles fine for the most part. When i stop for a while it takes a few trys to get it going again and may sneeze in the process, but it always fires up. And when i try to go in to the dock, putting it in gear just slightly, it dies probably 70% of the time, so i have been kind of a magician now on the ole float the boat in from afar trick. But it sucks for tight spaces and i really don't want to hit a $80k boat with my piece of crap 89 19' bayliner cuddy. This may just be a completely separate issue from #2 and may just take a quick adjustment. (Idles at about 900 no load / 700 with load)
2. WOT - It only gets 3800 RPM, no matter with load on it or not. (i revved it up for a quick second by hand - not knowing that that was a no-no until after. But nonetheless, thats how i know...)
Yet, in saying this, the engine really does purr like a kitten at the speed it reaches, but it just is not the 5000 - 5500 RPM that it is supposed to achieve. And with such a hog for a boat, i really would like to get this amount because it takes about a year to plane and i can only get about 24 MPH. Trying to tow anything but a feather is a negative ghost rider...
Actions taken:
New spark plugs
New fuel with 50:1 ratio of oil
Compression test: 130 across the board (cold test - maybe a hot test is needed?)
Spark test: All cylinders have spark with a inline spark light tester (do i need one that has a certain gap?) Can this type of ignition i will say "flame out" at higher RPMs?
Fuel pump rebuilt completely
Carburetors fully rebuilt and look great - Linked and Synced
Fuel lines of engine inspected and some changed that looked worn
Stator ohm test - 713 on both sets of wires (no voltage test done - needed?) As reference, book says 680 - 800 so that seems fine.
Trigger ohn test - 45 on all 4 sets of wires (no voltage test done - needed?) As reference, book says 48-52, could this be my problem? Its a little low, but it is consistent.
Prop changed (but as i mentioned - Load didn't matter)
Items not done:
Timing - If this may be the issue, i would love to have someone walk me through it, for this is one item that i have never done on any of the engines i have ever worked on... But i just would think by what timing should do, it wouldn't actually run smoothly if this was off? But maybe i am waaaay off on that thought.
Entire coils and CDI replacement - But i do have the whole "board" i guess you would call it that i got off Ebay from a seller who was parting out the same engine and said they all worked before the engine blew)
Rectifier - not sure if this could cause this issue - but it does have a crack where the negative pole has peeled up the corner of it. Thought i would add this just in case.
Exhaust - Haven't looked all through the exhaust, but it does come out where it is supposed to and quite a bit of it, but maybe not enough at WOT? was just a thought coming from working on cars, if the exhaust is pushing back it has this similar issue, but that not may be the case in an outboard.
Choke - Could the solenoid (for a lack of a better word) be messing around with it and possibly making it stick? didn't want to run it without the carburetor covers off to see when at WOT.
Fuel bulb / vent / tank system - Bulb gets hard, when i take it off the engine it if i squeeze it hard it will shoot about 3'.
Well, that's about it. Sorry this was a long read, but i wanted to post as thorough a post as i could so that you guys could know where i have done the troubleshooting and where i have not.
Thanks in advance.
Well, to start, this is my first post and my first outboard... I am pretty mechanically sound, and so this has actually been a fun adventure! (i know that may sound weird) Now i know how an outboard works, because before, looking at it was like trying to read Chinese... Anyway. But i am somewhat going around in circles a little bit and maybe one of you have experienced the same problem and you have already solved the issue.
Main issues: (all were happening prior to any work starting on it)
1. idles fine for the most part. When i stop for a while it takes a few trys to get it going again and may sneeze in the process, but it always fires up. And when i try to go in to the dock, putting it in gear just slightly, it dies probably 70% of the time, so i have been kind of a magician now on the ole float the boat in from afar trick. But it sucks for tight spaces and i really don't want to hit a $80k boat with my piece of crap 89 19' bayliner cuddy. This may just be a completely separate issue from #2 and may just take a quick adjustment. (Idles at about 900 no load / 700 with load)
2. WOT - It only gets 3800 RPM, no matter with load on it or not. (i revved it up for a quick second by hand - not knowing that that was a no-no until after. But nonetheless, thats how i know...)
Yet, in saying this, the engine really does purr like a kitten at the speed it reaches, but it just is not the 5000 - 5500 RPM that it is supposed to achieve. And with such a hog for a boat, i really would like to get this amount because it takes about a year to plane and i can only get about 24 MPH. Trying to tow anything but a feather is a negative ghost rider...
Actions taken:
New spark plugs
New fuel with 50:1 ratio of oil
Compression test: 130 across the board (cold test - maybe a hot test is needed?)
Spark test: All cylinders have spark with a inline spark light tester (do i need one that has a certain gap?) Can this type of ignition i will say "flame out" at higher RPMs?
Fuel pump rebuilt completely
Carburetors fully rebuilt and look great - Linked and Synced
Fuel lines of engine inspected and some changed that looked worn
Stator ohm test - 713 on both sets of wires (no voltage test done - needed?) As reference, book says 680 - 800 so that seems fine.
Trigger ohn test - 45 on all 4 sets of wires (no voltage test done - needed?) As reference, book says 48-52, could this be my problem? Its a little low, but it is consistent.
Prop changed (but as i mentioned - Load didn't matter)
Items not done:
Timing - If this may be the issue, i would love to have someone walk me through it, for this is one item that i have never done on any of the engines i have ever worked on... But i just would think by what timing should do, it wouldn't actually run smoothly if this was off? But maybe i am waaaay off on that thought.
Entire coils and CDI replacement - But i do have the whole "board" i guess you would call it that i got off Ebay from a seller who was parting out the same engine and said they all worked before the engine blew)
Rectifier - not sure if this could cause this issue - but it does have a crack where the negative pole has peeled up the corner of it. Thought i would add this just in case.
Exhaust - Haven't looked all through the exhaust, but it does come out where it is supposed to and quite a bit of it, but maybe not enough at WOT? was just a thought coming from working on cars, if the exhaust is pushing back it has this similar issue, but that not may be the case in an outboard.
Choke - Could the solenoid (for a lack of a better word) be messing around with it and possibly making it stick? didn't want to run it without the carburetor covers off to see when at WOT.
Fuel bulb / vent / tank system - Bulb gets hard, when i take it off the engine it if i squeeze it hard it will shoot about 3'.
Well, that's about it. Sorry this was a long read, but i wanted to post as thorough a post as i could so that you guys could know where i have done the troubleshooting and where i have not.
Thanks in advance.
Last edited: