Tweet
Backstory:
A few years ago I picked up a used whaler, and had a really clean 2001 90hp yamaha on the back. It was always horribly difficult to start. The night before I'd go fishing I'd spend about 30 minutes getting it started, as it would start fine the next morning. After getting sick of this process I took it to my local shop and had them pull and clean the carbs...still hard to start. During this time, my first son was born so the boat sat unused for about 18 months, the marine where I had it dry stored "said" they ran it once a month for me.
Current:
I moved cities about 16 months ago, and found some free time to take the boat out. It was hard to start again, but ran fine for about 1/2 an hour and then it stumbled and fell on its face. I was able to limp it home at idle. I did the usual troubleshooting, plugs, compression, what I found was; I could pull the top two plugs and it would continue to idle, but if I replaced them and pulled the bottom plug it stalled, it was running on one cyl.
I loaded up the boat and took it to a yamaha mech here in Jacksonville, he pulled the carbs and said they looked horrible, my old mechanic didn't do @#$% when he said he cleaned them. So after getting them cleaned, again, I took the boat out, and it ran fine, but was hard to start.
Last week I pulled the prime start assembly apart and replaced it with a new unit (should have tested the old one as it worked fine). After replacing it it was still hard to start. I then pulled the entire assembly apart and cleaned the passages, checked the lines. It now starts on the second 3 second turn of the key.
Summary for the lazy:
Hard starting issues might not be resolved by just a carb rebuild if the mechanic doesn't take time to ensure the prime start/emergency start function is cleaned and checked as well.
A few years ago I picked up a used whaler, and had a really clean 2001 90hp yamaha on the back. It was always horribly difficult to start. The night before I'd go fishing I'd spend about 30 minutes getting it started, as it would start fine the next morning. After getting sick of this process I took it to my local shop and had them pull and clean the carbs...still hard to start. During this time, my first son was born so the boat sat unused for about 18 months, the marine where I had it dry stored "said" they ran it once a month for me.
Current:
I moved cities about 16 months ago, and found some free time to take the boat out. It was hard to start again, but ran fine for about 1/2 an hour and then it stumbled and fell on its face. I was able to limp it home at idle. I did the usual troubleshooting, plugs, compression, what I found was; I could pull the top two plugs and it would continue to idle, but if I replaced them and pulled the bottom plug it stalled, it was running on one cyl.
I loaded up the boat and took it to a yamaha mech here in Jacksonville, he pulled the carbs and said they looked horrible, my old mechanic didn't do @#$% when he said he cleaned them. So after getting them cleaned, again, I took the boat out, and it ran fine, but was hard to start.
Last week I pulled the prime start assembly apart and replaced it with a new unit (should have tested the old one as it worked fine). After replacing it it was still hard to start. I then pulled the entire assembly apart and cleaned the passages, checked the lines. It now starts on the second 3 second turn of the key.
Summary for the lazy:
Hard starting issues might not be resolved by just a carb rebuild if the mechanic doesn't take time to ensure the prime start/emergency start function is cleaned and checked as well.
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