Last fall I attached a fuel pump to the outlet of the "kicker" motor and drained both tanks. I did not change the fuel filter, thinking that I'd put a few hours on the motor in the spring and then change, so than any "junk" kicked up by the draining or spring refueling would be caught in the old filter. I put about 15 gallons in each tank in the spring, ran the motor about 1 hr on the local lake, but planned trips to the Salish Sea got scrapped and the boat did not receive any other use until early August.
In early August I took the boat to a Convention in Richland, WA. The marina in front of the convention hotel was $5.50/ night, a lot less than the $119/ night for the hotel. Great convention. I put the boat in the water and just in idle forward & reverse to a dock for 5 nights. Day temperatures reached 3 digits. With the convention over I started the motor and "idled" to the boat ramp. Motor died as I reached ramp. Started, but would not "rev" up. Acted "fuel starved." Maybe time to change fuel filter, but could not budge filter cartrige by hand and had left filter wrench at home. Finally winched boat on trailer and headed to Salish Sea. I had made appointment to a Marina for electronic check up, arrived on time and had them look at motor also. They changed filter and when removed it was only half full of fuel. They put motor on a "muff" and it idled fine for half an hour. OK, problem solved!
Headed to Bellingham, launched boat about 6 pm, idled to visitor dock, spent night, shopped for groceries in morning. About 11 headed for islands. Cleared visitor dock, headed for harbor entrance and applied power and motor died. Restarted, it would idle and then die. Kicker did same. Drifted into some parked boats and they helped tie us up. With some experimentation I could keep kicker motor going by pumping bulb, but could not keep main motor going that way. Used kicker to get to boat ramp, winched on trailer. It was then 1:30 pm on a Friday afternoon. Where do you find a mechanic on a Friday afternoon or would we have to wait to Monday. So we came home.
At home, I attached fuel pump I use to empty tanks to Kicker motor line and pumped into a spare gas can. Fuel came slowly at first, then fast.
I check breather inlets. We have wasp problems here and they often plug up small holes. They looked good and clean to me. I looked at everything I could think of, could find nothing, so took boat up to reservoir and ran it. big motor started rough but quickly smoothed out. I ran around the lake in circle at 20 knots for an hour (afraid to get too far from the dock). Motor ran fine, no hesitation after first start.
So, it is cured? Dare I trust it? What else could it be?
In early August I took the boat to a Convention in Richland, WA. The marina in front of the convention hotel was $5.50/ night, a lot less than the $119/ night for the hotel. Great convention. I put the boat in the water and just in idle forward & reverse to a dock for 5 nights. Day temperatures reached 3 digits. With the convention over I started the motor and "idled" to the boat ramp. Motor died as I reached ramp. Started, but would not "rev" up. Acted "fuel starved." Maybe time to change fuel filter, but could not budge filter cartrige by hand and had left filter wrench at home. Finally winched boat on trailer and headed to Salish Sea. I had made appointment to a Marina for electronic check up, arrived on time and had them look at motor also. They changed filter and when removed it was only half full of fuel. They put motor on a "muff" and it idled fine for half an hour. OK, problem solved!
Headed to Bellingham, launched boat about 6 pm, idled to visitor dock, spent night, shopped for groceries in morning. About 11 headed for islands. Cleared visitor dock, headed for harbor entrance and applied power and motor died. Restarted, it would idle and then die. Kicker did same. Drifted into some parked boats and they helped tie us up. With some experimentation I could keep kicker motor going by pumping bulb, but could not keep main motor going that way. Used kicker to get to boat ramp, winched on trailer. It was then 1:30 pm on a Friday afternoon. Where do you find a mechanic on a Friday afternoon or would we have to wait to Monday. So we came home.
At home, I attached fuel pump I use to empty tanks to Kicker motor line and pumped into a spare gas can. Fuel came slowly at first, then fast.
I check breather inlets. We have wasp problems here and they often plug up small holes. They looked good and clean to me. I looked at everything I could think of, could find nothing, so took boat up to reservoir and ran it. big motor started rough but quickly smoothed out. I ran around the lake in circle at 20 knots for an hour (afraid to get too far from the dock). Motor ran fine, no hesitation after first start.
So, it is cured? Dare I trust it? What else could it be?