I got to take my 1993 40HP Evinrude (tiller, TTLETB) out on the lake today. It really pushed my boat well. I bought the motor a couple weeks ago and revived it after the previous owners said it hadn't been run in a couple years. Started right up with some blue smoke, probably because I primed the cylinders with some penetrating oil prior to attempting to start.
I had it mounted and a couple small things fixed at my mechanic. New primer valve, new fuel filter, some new fuel lines. The big expense was I went ahead and had them rebuild my carbs. I would have done it, but it was already there and they said it wouldn't idle and would die because of the carbs. The tilt is off while I'm repairing it, so it sits really low in the water right now. My mechanic said it runs a bit rough on idle due to that fact.
So I take my boat out from their shop. I run it up and down the lake probably 5 miles or so. We are mostly running WOT except for wide turns, etc. We did have to maneuver through a couple long no-wake zones at a slow idle. During this whole time the boat performed well, didn't kick or sputter except if I turned the idle all the way down where the throttle would go no lower. No wake speed was really smooth. We've been out for about 1.5 hours when we start to run out of fuel. I had borrowed a tank and didn't know how much fuel was in it and the gauge was broken. So we try to make it back to the marina. Well, we didn't make it. Ran completely out in a no wake zone about 100 yards from a marina. We threw the trolling motor in and drove over and got new gas. I used my handy-dandy mixing bottle to accurately mix 50:1 in the tank with 4 gallons. That would be enough to make it back plus leave the guy I borrowed the tank with plenty to spare.
Hooked up the tank, prime the bulb. And it struggles to start. Finally get it started, rev it up in neutral, idle it down and put it in gear and it dies. Did this several times, each time with it struggling to start. When it would finally start, it would blow out blue smoke. Normally, it didn't smoke at all, even on a cold start. Finally I grabbed the primer bulb and squeezed it and it seemed to have way too much slack. Pumped it up, it started, started to take off and it died. The fuel line had slack again. Repeated, and finally it started again, primed the fuel line again and started off and all seemed well.
We get to the marina and its rush hour at the ramp. So we idle down real slow trying to wait on a pontoon that was taking forever to move. We're barely moving at this point and it dies. We paddle over to the dock behind that pontoon that took forever to unload. Try and try to start it with almost no luck. It would start, throw it in gear and it would die. Priming the fuel line seemed to help, but failed to solve the problem. It would go into gear for a few seconds then die. Eventually we got it on the trailer with my bow line.
So before we got gas, the motor ran really good. I hope we didn't get bad gas. I have thoughts of it being a bad pickup in the tank or his hose or the fuel connection. But also, I was thinking about vapor lock. The motor would have been really hot after all that running. It was about 90 degrees F out today when this happened. Any ideas what the cause may be? I plan on starting it in my 30 gal trash can on Monday and also calling the mechanic too.
Also, if the carbs were rebuilt as described, should I have rough idling with the throttle all the way down? I have the idle speed adjusted up, but it still is rough and feels like it might die even when cold. I had them give a once over the engine and the carbs are all they suggested fixing.
TIA
I had it mounted and a couple small things fixed at my mechanic. New primer valve, new fuel filter, some new fuel lines. The big expense was I went ahead and had them rebuild my carbs. I would have done it, but it was already there and they said it wouldn't idle and would die because of the carbs. The tilt is off while I'm repairing it, so it sits really low in the water right now. My mechanic said it runs a bit rough on idle due to that fact.
So I take my boat out from their shop. I run it up and down the lake probably 5 miles or so. We are mostly running WOT except for wide turns, etc. We did have to maneuver through a couple long no-wake zones at a slow idle. During this whole time the boat performed well, didn't kick or sputter except if I turned the idle all the way down where the throttle would go no lower. No wake speed was really smooth. We've been out for about 1.5 hours when we start to run out of fuel. I had borrowed a tank and didn't know how much fuel was in it and the gauge was broken. So we try to make it back to the marina. Well, we didn't make it. Ran completely out in a no wake zone about 100 yards from a marina. We threw the trolling motor in and drove over and got new gas. I used my handy-dandy mixing bottle to accurately mix 50:1 in the tank with 4 gallons. That would be enough to make it back plus leave the guy I borrowed the tank with plenty to spare.
Hooked up the tank, prime the bulb. And it struggles to start. Finally get it started, rev it up in neutral, idle it down and put it in gear and it dies. Did this several times, each time with it struggling to start. When it would finally start, it would blow out blue smoke. Normally, it didn't smoke at all, even on a cold start. Finally I grabbed the primer bulb and squeezed it and it seemed to have way too much slack. Pumped it up, it started, started to take off and it died. The fuel line had slack again. Repeated, and finally it started again, primed the fuel line again and started off and all seemed well.
We get to the marina and its rush hour at the ramp. So we idle down real slow trying to wait on a pontoon that was taking forever to move. We're barely moving at this point and it dies. We paddle over to the dock behind that pontoon that took forever to unload. Try and try to start it with almost no luck. It would start, throw it in gear and it would die. Priming the fuel line seemed to help, but failed to solve the problem. It would go into gear for a few seconds then die. Eventually we got it on the trailer with my bow line.
So before we got gas, the motor ran really good. I hope we didn't get bad gas. I have thoughts of it being a bad pickup in the tank or his hose or the fuel connection. But also, I was thinking about vapor lock. The motor would have been really hot after all that running. It was about 90 degrees F out today when this happened. Any ideas what the cause may be? I plan on starting it in my 30 gal trash can on Monday and also calling the mechanic too.
Also, if the carbs were rebuilt as described, should I have rough idling with the throttle all the way down? I have the idle speed adjusted up, but it still is rough and feels like it might die even when cold. I had them give a once over the engine and the carbs are all they suggested fixing.
TIA
