Recirc. hose found disconnected. Damage???

[NHStriper]

I noticed I had a fuel leak and did not take care of the problem right away. Decided to put it off until I pulled the boat out. Well the day I pulled the boat out, the engine started up fine but I did not have enough power to plane off. It felt as though only half the cylinders were firing.

Back at my house I found one of the recirculation hoses was disconnected. I have a 96 115hp Johnson V4. Could I have caused any damage to the engine by running it with one of the recirc hoses disconnected? Could this have caused my engine troubles?

Any help would be great.

 

[psteurer]

Re: Recirc. hose found disconnected. Damage???

The recirculation hose does just what the name implies. It recirculates unburned fuel from the crankcase back into the fuel path so it can be burned and not drip from the motor and pollute the water. That could have been your fuel leak but would not cause damage to your motor. Sounds like the problem might be elsewhere.

Why don't you start by connecting the fuel line and pumping the bulb and looking for leaks from the tank all the way to the carburetors. After that you could do a simple spark test. You could follow that with a compression test and then turn to the carburetors

 

[R.Johnson]

Re: Recirc. hose found disconnected. Damage???

That broken hose also mean's an air leak which will mean a lean condition. Start with a compression test.