2006 Honda 50s won’t run well over 3.5-4K RPMs.

[Learo2000GT]

Good Morning.

I have a 2006 venture 23 and have used c-brats in the past but somehow my old user ID won’t work or reset so hence first post.

Anyway, I have dual Honda 50s and I am planning on getting it around to sell, but I am having difficulty with it running efficiently above 4000k rpms. The boat sat for a few years with old fuel (although it had sea foam and stabilizer), so my first course of action was to remove all the old fuel and chance the water separator and internal fuel filters on each motor. I did see a noticeable improvement in the motor running more smoothly but still couldn’t get the boat to get up on a plane and run efficiently above 4K RPMS.

These motors are Carbureted And I am thinking I need to clean them out as a next course of action. I was also going to check fuel flow up to the carbs to make sure I have sufficient fuel flow but being it’s on both motors I am think that’s not the problem. My question is this. Is there a way to try and clean the carbs without removal. I saw some YouTube videos about running sea foam in highly concentrated portable tank, cleaning ports with break fluid or carb cleaner but YouTube videos make me a bit nervous.

Also-Motors have 350 hours and we’re serviced last year but never had a chance to use the boat and I was didn’t have marine fuel in the boat.

Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you Doug

[T.R. Bauer]

Doug,

Concentrated fuel cleaner in a small tank absolutely can work - and you will not hurt the engines doing this since there will be little load on them assuming you are doing it out of the water in a run tank. I'd do an oil change after you do it though since some of the cleaner probably will get past the rings and into the oil thus diluting it somewhat. Many small engines have ran like crud and this fixed it with no harm done.

However, I'm not completely sure you have a carb issue. Since you already changed out fuel filters....check your spark plugs - these can cause this for sure! And if they look like they have been running lean, it is because they have been and now you can focus on fuel. I'd also check compression on each engine since the plugs are now already out just to see what they have. They may be just fine, but one can chase this for a long time if you don't know that you have good compression. I'd also check out how many volts you have - if you don't have good voltage at each engine, don't expect a hot spark. I'd also check fuel pressure too at some point to make sure those pumps are doing their job.

Other than fuel, spark, and compression, these are really pretty simple little engines that last and last. I know I pointed you in a number of directions, but your engines must have good compression, hot spark, and adequate fuel to deliver full power. I hope it is something simple for you.

[No Worries]

Thanks T R. That does help a lot. I am down to the marina now and will pull the plugs, check voltage and check to see if I am getting good fuel flow at the carbs. Then I will try the sea foam and let some of the concentration sit in there over night as well and report back tommroow. I will also check the ignition coils and such. Thanks so much for the path of troubleshooting. I was also reading there might be 2 internal fuel filters or a screen or somthing? I changed the one filter that’s visible inside the motor case but is there a second internal fuel filter seperate from the fuel Separator filter which is external? Thanks so much. Do you happen to have a manual so I’ll check that out as well. Greatly appreciate the guidance

[thataway]

I like to fill the carburetors with a carburetor cleaner, such as "Gum out Carb cleaner". Fill the bowls from the drain up (drain the fuel out, then squirt the pressure can long red tube into the carbs until they are full. That should work its way up into the jets. There may be some crud there which may not be dislodged, but worth a try.

What T.R.Bauer recommends is excellent also.

[No Worries]

[tsturm]

[T.R. Bauer]

What he said.....People die using brake clean when they use it to clean metal and then weld. It is very dangerous stuff when burned and a little of that gas is lethal. Just be careful - as usual