Went fishing today for 3.5 hours. Boat ran perfectly fine. Did not turn the main engine off the entire time. Literally the moment we got back to the dock ( as I was putting it in reverse to throw the back end toward the dock) the motor died. I originally thought it was a fuel delivery issue since the primer bulb was empty and when pumped did not draw fuel from the water separator. I figured it was a leaky bulb. Got back home and after cleaning the boat was able to get the primer bulb full of fuel, but the results are the samel. The motor tries to turn over when cranked but the starter just goes and it doesn't fire.
Any ideas for a simple something to try, or should I bring the motor in?
Out of fuel? Fuel lever turned off? Fuel fitting loose at tank or motor? Fuel fitting has debris keeping it from opening? Main or engine mounted fuel filter clogged? Water in fuel? What kind of fuel filter do you use? A Racor style water separating canister filter is highly recommended for marine applications.
I do have the racor with the sight bowl. No water in fuel. I will check for the inline filter under the cowling to see if fuel is getting to that point.
Is that a 2-stroke motor? What year? Did the motor stall when you gave it gas from idle?
Edit: I see that is a 4-stroke, Take Marks advice. Also make sure the kill switch clip is fully in. Check to make sure vent is open (if portable tank) or vent is not plugged/blocked. Check fuses, ignition and fuel pump
usually sudden failure is electrical. an inline fuse or kill switch , or ignition box. you need to check and see if you have spark at the plugs. if it ran out of fuel there would have been some rough idle or erratic running before it died, and once you had the primer bulb pumped back up it should have tried to start. even with a fuel pump failure they will pop and act like they are going to start with pressure in the primer bulb.
Quote from: FWilliams on April 21, 2018, 08:49:46 PM
usually sudden failure is electrical. an inline fuse or kill switch , or ignition box. you need to check and see if you have spark at the plugs. if it ran out of fuel there would have been some rough idle or erratic running before it died, and once you had the primer bulb pumped back up it should have tried to start. even with a fuel pump failure they will pop and act like they are going to start with pressure in the primer bulb.
After each pump of the bulb it would grumble like it was about to start, but just for half a second, then the starter would just click click click. Another turn of the key after that is just click click click.
I'll play around some this afternoon again.
Check all of your battery cable connections. If your starter is clicking, it might not be getting enough voltage. The clicking your hearing might be the starting solenoid.
Just to cover the basics check your battery voltages as FM said and also mentioned earlier check the fuses and make sure your fuel vent is not plugged. As you know already, you need fuel, air, and spark and good battery voltage to start and for the motor to run. If everything checks out hook up a spark tester and check for spark (be sure it's grounded properly) Check the items mentioned by members here and report back.
I had weak starting issues that drove me nuts. 🤪
Finally found that the cables going to the starter had a pinhole (possibly from some previous mechanic's test light).
When your battery cables are old and bad, it creats resistance. This resistance also caused my starter solenoid contacts to heat up, collect carbon, and not provide full power to my starter.
Here's what happens when saltwater seeps into OEM cables. Really, this was just a tiny little hole. The way I found it was when i ran my hand over the cable there was a slight bump or bulge.
Wether this is your problem or not, i suggest replacing those non-tinned OEM cables with Greg's Marine Tinned cables.
(http://www.arimaowners.com/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=8642.0;attach=12186;image)
Yikes! Good find CS.
Click click click as in the starter is not turning the engine over? In that case, electrical is definitely the issue. Check your batteries... how old are they? Will they take a charge from a portable charger? if they do, will they hold it? Cables all in good shape? Connections tight and free of corrosion? If you swap out for a known good battery, do you get the same results?
If motor will turn over but not start, check the kill switch first and make sure the retainer clip is in place (once my old DF90a wouldn't start because I pulled it out by accident and didn't notice). The other time it would not start was because the shift cable had gone bad... there is a sensor attached to the shift on the motor that will disable the engine and not allow it to start should the motor be in gear. When my shift cable went bad, it was not fully shifting the motor out of gear, and intermittently the engine would not start.
Quote from: Fisherdv on April 22, 2018, 12:19:32 PM
Yikes! Good find CS.
I hate non-tinned wires on a boat or trailer used in salt water... :facepalm:... Always problems with corrosion.
Pickles1107,did you get it figured out?
Quote from: Fisherdv on April 25, 2018, 05:39:40 PM
Pickles1107,did you get it figured out?
Thanks for all the great ideas. After tinkering with it for a bit longer, still nothing so took it in to Performance in Everett.
They got me fixed up. The ACV valve was bad, so replaced that. Also the throttle cable that had started cracking was replaced.