Motor ?

[David Janssen]

2007 Nitro 288 with Merc 150 EFI. This happens every time I take my boat out:



Put the boat in the water. Fire up the engine. Runs about a minute dies. Fires right back up again. runs about 2 minutes dies. Fires right back up, runs the rest of the day with no problems. (occasionally if I am sitting in Neutral for a few minutes it will die)



I am not super worried because after I do this little dance when I first put it in the lake it runs fine the rest of the day. But what could be going on here?



As a side note (this really confuses me) if I hook it up with the garden hose it doesn't do any of this.

 

[Jim clear]

Is your motor trimmed down to far, leaving the exhaust in the water?

 

[Ralph Hayden]

I wonder if it's an ethanol problem? Perhaps it runs fine until it picks up the separated ethanol then quits, eventually picking up the good gas and running fine. If you can hook up your outboard to a portable gas tank filled with fresh gas and it runs fine, you may have to empty your gas tank to solve the problem....just a guess here.

 

[David Janssen]

Jim--My thought was also that it had something to do with exhaust since it does not have this problem when running out of the water. Not sure I understand your question though. The Exhaust comes out around the prop no? So if I trim high enough to let the exhaust out of the water the prop is going to be out also right? Thanks for your response. And any clarification would be great because I think we are on to something here.



Thun--I Never run ethanol through the engine. It's funny though. Ethanol is supposed to save this nation's energy problems but anytime I hear of an engine issue the first response is always. You didn't run ethanol in it did you?

 

[Ralph Hayden]

I envy you then. We can't buy ethanol free gas where I live. We've got more oil underground and offshore than Saudi Arabia. If we could drill our own oil that would solve most of this countries financial problems! If anyone's interested, here's a list of ethanol free gas stations.
http://pure-gas.org/index.jsp?stateprov=NY

 

[Jim clear]

I dont know about your motor, but I have a 150 hp 2 stroke, there are two exhaust port on mine (and alot of other) one is through the prop obviously lol, but there is also a secondary port just below the motor cowl in the center on the housing right next to the pisser. I know if i trim my motor down to far when I am just putting around it runs alittle rough, once I get this port out of the water it is ok again. Not saying that is your problem, but just though it interesting that when on muffs you dont seem to have this issue. Just a thought!

 

[David Janssen]

Jim. I think you nailed it. Took it out last night and when I started up the motor I trimmed the motor in just far enough to make sure the impeller was getting water. Ran it for a few minutes like that with no problems then once it got up to temp trimmed down and set out...ran great. It doesn't like to sit in neutral with the trim too far down. But I can live with that.



I OWE YOU A COLDS ONE!

 

[Dan J.]

As a rule of thumb, if you'll trim your cowling where the decal is parallel with the water's surface you'll find starting much easier as the exhaust ports will be just above the water's surface. Less back pressure on a cold two stroke is a very good thing. Good luck!

 

[Jim clear]

I know if I go below quater on my trim guage when running slow or starting, it runs a little rough there. It is pretty acurate reading i think because i looked back there a couple of times and the exhaust port is almosr under water at that setting. I have to be careful becuase i have a ass heavy boat lol.

 

[Gene B]

I have a 2001 200 XR6 motor. when I put the boat in and get ready to start it, I trim down to when the trim goes from fast to slow. Then I start it. It has always worked well for me.



Gene