"vintage/bloody old" 58 evinrude fleetwin dies out after several minutes-Help!

[Chrisf2575]

"vintage/bloody old" 58 evinrude fleetwin dies out after several minutes-Help!

Hi guys,

Bought a "fully restored" 58 fleetwin 7.5 engine-- looks beautiful. Went out for an hour the first day, no problems. Second day was difficult to start, then died out after 15 minutes-- we were running at mid throttle, then started to miss, then power down.
Was stuck on the lake for 1 hour trying to restart... occasionally it would start and run for 5-10 seconds, then nothing.
Towed home (humiliated)
Got a bucket of water... tried again after several hours... she starts up. I kept her running at "start"-- ran beautifully for about 5 mins.. then an occasional "backfire" (sorry for the wrong term... this is the first boat I've owned), then a couple more, and then power down... can't be started.

I don't think she's overheating... the water coming out is hot, but consistently so.

increasing throttle will not save the engine from shutting down...

I have no experience with marine engines... any advice would be greatly appreciated!!

Thanks!!

 

[samo_ott]

Re: "vintage/bloody old" 58 evinrude fleetwin dies out after several minutes-Help!

Re: "vintage/bloody old" 58 evinrude fleetwin dies out after several minutes-Help!

For having no previous experience, '58 is an old one!

When you say fully restored, what was done? did you see the receipts?

As for that age it needs new coils as they always fail. New points, impeller in the water pump, and a carb kit is what I would expect but others will say differently.

Make sure the bucket is deep enough or you will overheat it on shore.

Is it a double line fuel tank? You know the cap has to be tight for it to work, right as it's a pressure type system.

Have you done a compression test on it? You should always do that for a baseline. Borrow a gauge if you do not have one.

Oh, and welcome to the iBoats forum. Be patient, and you will get the help you need here.

 

[F_R]

Re: "vintage/bloody old" 58 evinrude fleetwin dies out after several minutes-Help!

Re: "vintage/bloody old" 58 evinrude fleetwin dies out after several minutes-Help!

Samo is pretty much right on. The first thing I would suspect is the coils. If it truly is restored, they will have been replaced. But your symptoms deny that.

The gas cap is something I would have taken for granted. It IS tight, right? And it does build up pressure in the tank, right?

 

[Chrisf2575]

Re: "vintage/bloody old" 58 evinrude fleetwin dies out after several minutes-Help!

Re: "vintage/bloody old" 58 evinrude fleetwin dies out after several minutes-Help!

Hi guys,

Thanks for responding so quickly! I tried her again in the water this morning, to make sure the tank was building pressure... it is a two line tank. Anyway, the tank is holding pressure.. after a couple of pushes of the button, it gets hard to push, and when the engine starts dying, I tried pumping a couple of times, to no avail!

I had initially suspected a fuel pressure problem b/c if wiggled, the connector hisses a bit-- possibly worn/ poorly replaced o-rings? Anyway, today it showed no signs of leaking, but there is certainly pressure in the tank-- unscrewing the cap releases a lot.

I am inclined to believe that this motor is fully rebuilt.. it comes from a guy who produces modern replicas of older wooden boats and restored motors... of course, reputation isn't everything!

Hey, thanks for the ideas... if anything else comes to mind, please let me know!

Cheers

 

[JB]

Re: "vintage/bloody old" 58 evinrude fleetwin dies out after several minutes-Help!

Re: "vintage/bloody old" 58 evinrude fleetwin dies out after several minutes-Help!

Sure sounds like bad coils are failing when they get warm, Chris.

 

[Chrisf2575]

Re: "vintage/bloody old" 58 evinrude fleetwin dies out after several minutes-Help!

Re: "vintage/bloody old" 58 evinrude fleetwin dies out after several minutes-Help!

Hi guys,
I opened her up... didn't take off flywheel, but took off access plate... looks all sparkling new under there... I'm going to order two new Prufrex coils from vintage outboard.com, though. The ones in there are also the Prufrex, and are probably new (they look untouched) but you never know... one could be a bad one? right?

Thanks for the advice... any tips for removing the flywheel? Thanks,

Chris

 

[R.Johnson]

Re: "vintage/bloody old" 58 evinrude fleetwin dies out after several minutes-Help!

Re: "vintage/bloody old" 58 evinrude fleetwin dies out after several minutes-Help!

Before buying anything, do a compression test. If you don't have a guage, take the head off. That engine has all bushings', no roller bearings. They are a nice little engine, but they don't like a lean oil mixture. You can't run them on 50-1. What were you using?

 

[F_R]

Re: "vintage/bloody old" 58 evinrude fleetwin dies out after several minutes-Help!

Re: "vintage/bloody old" 58 evinrude fleetwin dies out after several minutes-Help!

I wouldn't advise replacing the coils if it has already been done. Besides, one bad coil wouldn't make it quit running, just make it run on one cylinder. You need to do troubleshooting when there is trouble, not when it is running. The usual stuff, is it getting gas, etc.

Those motors have a sintered fuel filter in the bottom of the carburetor. Or at least I think that year does. Look for a glass bowl. Those filters were famous for getting half plugged up and causing the motor to quit. But they would usually start right up again. Just a thought. Oh, and BTW, if it does have the glass bowl and you notice there is no gas in it, that is normal. So that in itself is not the problem.

 

[samo_ott]

Re: "vintage/bloody old" 58 evinrude fleetwin dies out after several minutes-Help!

Re: "vintage/bloody old" 58 evinrude fleetwin dies out after several minutes-Help!

The '58 10's I have have the glass filter so I would assume the 7.5 does also.

And I agree, if there's new coils under there then no need to replace them.

Have you considered calling the reputable guy that sold it to you as if he is reputable he will want to make things right. And also you can ask him what exactly was done on it as it will help us diagnose it.

So assuming it's not ignition then it points to fuel system.

I'd still do a compression test also.

 

[Fuzzytbay]

Re: "vintage/bloody old" 58 evinrude fleetwin dies out after several minutes-Help!

Re: "vintage/bloody old" 58 evinrude fleetwin dies out after several minutes-Help!

I agree with the other posters, its not the coils, more than likely its fuel.
The tank, any idea of it's history, new lines or old ones, maybe some old fuel in it, rust, maybe. Type of fuel, is it E-10?
I have a 56, yours should have the glass bowl, check it for any signs of dirt. Sounds like a dirt build up, and then your losing the fuel flow, causing stall outs, miss firings, ( back fire to you maybe) etc.
When you were stuck on the lake, did you depressurise the system before trying to restart it?
If there is dirt in the bowl, you can try just cleaning it, but be best to clean the carb as well. Even on a freshly rebuild motor, if the carb gets dirty, it needs to be taken apart and cleaned.

 

[Chrisf2575]

Re: "vintage/bloody old" 58 evinrude fleetwin dies out after several minutes-Help!

Re: "vintage/bloody old" 58 evinrude fleetwin dies out after several minutes-Help!

Hi guys,

Thanks so much for the other ideas... have been away from the computer, unfortunately, something came up!

The tank is also "restored"... (I take this term with a pinch of salt!) Anyway, it has new dual lines, and the inside looked rust-free when I checked before filling up.

I heard the correct mixture was 1 Qt SAE 30 oil for 6 gallons fuel (used 87 octane)... not sure if this was the 50:1 alluded to earlier. Is this wrong? I've heard arguments on both sides of using/ not using outboard motor oil for vintage engines, so I figured I'd follow the directions I had.... hope I didn't kill her!

The carb. cleaning thing makes me nervous... id does have a glass bobble-- clearly filled with gas-- doesn't look dirty, but then who knows. Inside the cowl, the carb. looks like the only thing that may not be "squeaky clean / repainted) besides the flywheel.

Is it possible I have the low/high speed knobs screwed up? How does one clean the carb?

Guys, thanks so much for taking interest!!

Best regards,

Chris