96 evinrude 112 spl stalls

[tkdunn]

I have had this boat (20' pontoon) for around 5 years now. The problem I've had started last year. It will start up fine. It will idle in neutral, occasionally I will have to increase the throttle to keep it from dying. When putting it into gear it would run a varying distance then bog down and shut off. Increasing the throttle does not help. I could restart without a problem. Primer bulb stays hard.

Towards the end of last season I cleaned and rebuilt the carburetors hoping to fix this issue. It made no difference. I had a link & sync done at a shop with no improvement. Around 3 years ago the power pack was replaced. Compression was even across all cylinders.

When getting ready for this season I found my fuel line was heavily restricted due to the liner delaminating. I thought I had found my problem. On a short outing my shift cable snapped and was replaced at the shop.

I got the boat back and went out yesterday. Started at the ramp like a champ. Went a few hundred yards and it died down and stalled. Started back up and after a couple attempts was able to make it a mile or so down the lake to our fishing spot.

When it was time to go the boat would start and die in gear. It would sometimes go a few yards but ultimately immediately stalled when shifting.

I checked the screen at the fuel pump and there wasn't much debris. Gas was stored with startron and has been blended with fresh fuel a couple times. The majority of the old fuel should be gone by now.

After paying an insane amount to have my shift cable replaced I can't afford another repair bill. I'm sure this is either a fuel or ignition problem but if someone could assist in diagnostic steps I'd greatly appreciate it.

 

[boobie]

Pump the primer bulb when this happens and see what it does.

 

[tkdunn]

I did try squeezing the primer bulb while it's stalling. Forgot to mention it. There was a very slight increase in idle but it didn't keep it from stalling.

 

[racerone]

Compression test needs to be done.

 

[jakedaawg]

And spark check after it is warmed up.

 

[tblshur]

if carbs were cleaned:joyous:before u found bad fuel lines u may still have a little something in the carbs ,just a thought. good luck

 

[ondarvr]

Run it on a portable tank and a different fuel line. Do you have another inline filter between the tank and motor?

 

[James R]

For ease and simplicity, if you dont have another tank, fill gallon jug with fuel, mix if needed, and stuff the end of the fuel hose in it and try the motor. Dirt in the tank can block the pick up tube and or the check valve therein. .

 

[tkdunn]

And spark check after it is warmed up.

I will have to pick up a tester. Do you have a recommendation for one that will test if the spark is jumping the gap?

 

[tkdunn]

Compression test needs to be done.

Will do as soon as the rain is over and report back. What range am i looking for? I know it should be relatively close across all cylinders.

 

[tkdunn]

if carbs were cleaned:joyous:before u found bad fuel lines u may still have a little something in the carbs ,just a thought. good luck

That's a good point. Do I need to buy new rebuild kits to tear it down again? I only ran it a few hours. Do you recommend soaking the carbs or just spraying it out good with carb cleaner?

 

[tkdunn]

Run it on a portable tank and a different fuel line. Do you have another inline filter between the tank and motor?

Apparently not. I am planning to add a fuel/water separator. Do you recommend also having an in line filter after the separator? I also plan to rebuild the fuel pump because the kits are cheap and it can't hurt.

 

[tkdunn]

For ease and simplicity, if you dont have another tank, fill gallon jug with fuel, mix if needed, and stuff the end of the fuel hose in it and try the motor. Dirt in the tank can block the pick up tube and or the check valve therein. .

I will have to do it this way. I saw a method of flushing the tank by buying an electric fuel transfer pump to circulate the fuel continuously through the filters. Would this be the correct way to fix a dirty tank? I'm not sure how difficult it would be to remove the tank.

 

[ondarvr]

I will have to do it this way. I saw a method of flushing the tank by buying an electric fuel transfer pump to circulate the fuel continuously through the filters. Would this be the correct way to fix a dirty tank? I'm not sure how difficult it would be to remove the tank.

Identify the issue first, then go about finding a solution, right now you have no idea if your tank has crud in it.

 

[racerone]

Agreed run with a known to be good hose and small portable tank.--Testing and trouble shooting is the path forward.

 

[tkdunn]

I wasn't planning to do the flushing unless it were necessary. Just curious if the poster recommended that method. My boat is stored an hour and a half from home so I'm trying to absorb as much knowledge as possible before heading down to source the problem.

The hose on the boat was just put on before we went out Saturday. Is it alright to put the end into a can of gas to do this as long as it stays submerged?

So my game plan is:

1. Check compression
2. Check spark with the engine warm
3. Try running on a can of fresh fuel.

 

[ondarvr]

The new hose is fine

 

[jakedaawg]

Stevens instrument company makes great spark checkers

 

[tkdunn]

Alright guys I was finally able to take a look at things. I didn't have a lot of time but here's what I came up with:

1. I am getting good spark on all 4 cylinders. I only had a kV tester so I'm not 100% of the exact gap but it was at least the 1/2" the manual calls for.

2. I got around 90-100 psi compression on all cylinders. I don't think I let the engine warm up enough. I had never done a compression test before. I know around 3 years ago it was around 115 +/- a couple psi per the shop that serviced it.

3. I inspected the spark plugs while I had them out. They were in good shape, not excessively oily or anything. However the gaps were wrong. They were all at least .040 instead of .030. Correcting the gap greatly improved the idle.

I didn't have a chance to get into the fuel system checks however I intend to this weekend.

Thoughts on results from ignition tests?

 

[tkdunn]

Forgot to mention I also checked the resistance of the coils. The primary coils ranged from 250-265 and secondary .01-.04