Motor Problems!?

I am a 1994 Stratos 284 with a 1994 Evinrude Intruder and lately the motor has been running like crap, let me explain…..The ball on the fuel line is always soft and needs to be pumped before start up. That led me to believe there was a leak or I had a bad ball. So I replaced all the hosing and put a new ball on and still it did the same thing. I then put in clear plastic tubing for the fuel line to see if there were any bubbles but there wasn’t. I was kinda stumped at this point so I just decided to put new plugs in and clean the fuel filter and that helped a little but didn’t solve the problem. Does anyone have any other ideas?? Also, one thing that I have noticed is that when it is hot and sunny out it is more prone to run bad…I don’t know if that is quincidental (sp) or actually means something.

Dustin

I HAVE*****

DEALER, CARBURATION CHECK, CHECK FOR AIR LEAKS.

GUNDY

You are leaving your tank vented too right? (thats all I can help sorry )

If it was my Carburator wouldn’t it run like bad all the time??

Bass be careful. I have a 94 Johnson that did the same thing. It turned out to be the VRO pump. What that does is pump your gas and oil, if it is oil injected, to the motor. It apparently will still work in most cases, but like fuel pumps and water pumps in cars, one day the will just up and s#$t the bed on you. Reason I say be careful is that I happened to be on the Chippewa river at crest when mine acted up on me and totally went on the next trip I had with it. Not saying that it is the problem, but it’s worth a check. Onother cause might be that you have bad thermostats in it. There that my 2 cents, hope it helps you avoid disaster

This may not help at all…but ya never know. The Yamaha I am borrowing was having some problems.

I talk to a mechanic and he said the lifters (?) are junk and often need to be replaced. They are on every other piston. Odd or even I can’t remember. Apparently it will cause the motor to run rough.

He said the way to test this is to remove the plugs and pump on the ball hard for five minutes. Then turn the motor over. Fuel will shoot out of the cylinders that have bad lifters.

That is the first time I have ever heard anyone say anything bad about a Yamaha? What year, how big, 2 or 4 stroke?

I think we are getting lost here.
BassHog has an Evinrude 2 stroke, the Yamaha mentioned is a 4stroke, there are no lifters on 2 strokes, the boat he has doesn’t have a portable fuel tank, but a built in, so there is no problem with venting.

I would say fuel pump, and have compression checked, if 1 or 2 cylinders are bad, it will start and idle rough.

Is the problem only at idle, or across the RPM range?

The problem is just idle….it runs rough in neutral but doesn’t die (often) but once you put it in forward/reverse it will die if you don’t give it gas right away. Once you get the rpms up in forward/reverse it runs fine.

Thanks for the ideas

Only at idle is good, that means it’s probably not severe. If it was worse when it’s wet, I’d say pop the cowling off sometime after dark and see if the spark wires are putting on an electrical show, but since it’s worse on sunny days, I’m guessing it’s a carb problem. Could just be something simple, like gunk in one of the idle jets.

Might just try running some carb cleaner through it, although now that I think about it, that might not be the greatest idea on a 2-stroke motor. Anyone have any idea if this is bad? I may have to google a bit today.

Use Seafoam, add it to your fuel and see if it helps.

when was the last time you had it tuned?
and once I had a Merc that kinda acted like that. Ended up being the head gasket was leaking.
Good luck

I will try the seafoam….I will keep you updated on results.

From the sound of things it sounds like your low speed jet is partially plugged or your carb is gummed up. Time for a tear down and complete cleaning then reassemble. If the gaskets look to be in good shape then a rebuild kit might not even be in order.

Removing a carb off a 2 stroke and disassembling it, cleaning it up and reinstalling it is not a terrifically hard job to do on the motors I’ve worked on. If the seafoam doesn’t do the trick you might want to consider it.

I am having the exact problem with mine right now. I just took it to the shop and will know the problem in the morning. I will be sure to post what the outcome is, it might help you narrow things down.

Got the motor back . It was a simple fix-few adjustments on the carb, drained a little water out of the carb, and a fuse. The mechanic told me it was a super clean and strong motor with excellent compression .

Thanks for the update.

Good to hear it was something simple