Boat dies after driving awhile and then won't regain powe

[The easy]

Please help a new boater.... This is my first boat ever. I have a 1975 Wellcraft Airsport 165. It has a 1974 115hp Evinrude. This boat is very basic... <br /><br />I was driving it for about 15 min and then it just died... this has happened before so I switched tanks and it started right up... but then when I gave it gas it would speed up gradually over time... Sometimes it would reach full spead and sometimes not.<br /><br />I thought it was me mixing the gas too thick... I then mixed the next batch a little light but around the 50:1 ratio... I ordered a repair book and called the repair shop... They have a 7 to 10 day wait before they can work on it... I really want to boat this weekend... <br /><br />Any tips?? Do gas additives and treatments work on 2 cycle boats??? Does this sound like a big problem or something smaller and less expensive.??? <br /><br />Any thought would be greatly appreciated...<br /><br />thanks.... John

 

[DJ]

Re: Boat dies after driving awhile and then won't regain powe

When it died, did the primer bulb go flat?<br /><br />If it did, you have a tank vent problem.<br /><br />No need to mix heavier than 50:1.<br /><br />About the ONLY additives I will run through an outboard are: Sta Bil (fuel stabilizer) and Sea Foam (NAPA) for carbon cleaning and fuel stabilization.

 

[The easy]

Re: Boat dies after driving awhile and then won't regain powe

Thanks for your thoughts... Don't think the primer went flat... I did vent both tanks....<br /><br />someone said it maybe water in the gas??? Don't know how to fix that??? <br /><br />someone said it may not be getting oil??? Thought the oil was in the gas???<br /><br />Any ideas....??

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: Boat dies after driving awhile and then won't regain powe

i'm voting power pack gets hot and fails.

 

[rickdb1boat]

Re: Boat dies after driving awhile and then won't regain powe

You wouldn't have made it 15 minutes if it had water in the tank....I'm with TD on this one as to something is getting hot and failing..

 

[The easy]

Re: Boat dies after driving awhile and then won't regain powe

Ok... thanks... now of course I need to ask... what is the power pack??? How do you keep it from ove heating?? and is this something that I can replace??<br /><br />Also good to hear from a missouri person... I've been in NC for a couple of years and miss back home... Go Cards...

 

[reeldutch]

Re: Boat dies after driving awhile and then won't regain powe

start with the basics,<br /><br />1 compresion check.<br />2 spark check.<br />3 fuel check.<br /><br />1, if not within specs about 10% psi between lowest and highest nr forget spending money on fixing other things.<br /><br />2 best way to check for spark is run the motor and connect a timing light to suspected plugwire.<br />this way you will be able to see interupted spark.<br /><br />also a cylinder drop test could help to discover a ignition problem. <br /><br />3 get a plantspray bottle and fil it up with 50:1.<br /><br />start the moter and spray mixture in carbs throught. if there is a lean or no gas problem the moter will rev up spraying mixture into carb.<br />if motor stalls this could mean that you have good fuel going into cylinder.<br /><br /><br />do these basic tests and let us know

 

[rickdb1boat]

Re: Boat dies after driving awhile and then won't regain powe

Don't really want to tell you to buy a pack unless it's comfirmed bad. You need to find out if you are losing spark to the plugs after the engine and/or pack heats up. The simplest way to do this is run the motor on muffs at home and take a hair drier, point it close at the pack and see if the motor loses spark and runs rougher. A timing light can help you determine spark loss. If so, you've found the problem. If not, then do each coil and see what happens. Got to narrow it down before parts and money are wasted. Packs are about $80.00-$100.00 for your motor...<br /><br />

 

[The easy]

Re: Boat dies after driving awhile and then won't regain powe

Sounds like it is headed to the shop.... I can do the plantspray bottle thing but I have to admit I'm an idiot when it comes to engines... I have no timing light and don't know what the cylinder drop test is.. <br /><br />Sorry I'm so ignorant when it comes to these things... <br /><br />It runs... but just doesn't maintain power... sometimes it will get up to full speed and others it won't...<br /><br />I did get to drive it 5 times before this happened... It was awesome... I can see why people love boats... Even trying to solve the problem is kind of fun... kind of<br /><br />thanks again

 

[The easy]

Re: Boat dies after driving awhile and then won't regain powe

Rick you rock... thanks for the step by step tips.. I'll try that trick... That's the showme way...

 

[reeldutch]

Re: Boat dies after driving awhile and then won't regain powe

the danger with heating up your popwerpack with a blowdryer is that you might heat up a good ppack to much and cause these symptons with your blowdryer. heat increases resistance,to much heat caused by blowdryer will simulate this sympton.<br /><br />do nut heat it up so you will defently have a bad pp.<br /><br />i would tie up the boat on the dock or leave on trailer in water and run it till the the same sympthon occurs.<br />if you dont have a timing light pull the plugs 1 at the time so you get an idea wich cylinders are producing power.<br />if you have good spark you could have a fuel problem. dirty carb.<br />but first check compression no sence to spent money with a bad engine.<br /><br />good luck

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: Boat dies after driving awhile and then won't regain powe

buy a service engine specific manual at kencook.com or the the # off their site a buy one on ebay. make it you best friend for a while. if you can't do the repairs you can atleast understand the mechanic. these were great reliable engines. just need a little care periodically. but powerpacks were known to go out. it was new technology.

 

[rickdb1boat]

Re: Boat dies after driving awhile and then won't regain powe

the danger with heating up your power pack with a blow dryer is that you might heat up a good pack to much and cause these symptoms with your blowdryer.

News to me..............