Wish Someone Told Me

[wajajaja02]

WISH SOMEONE TOLD ME HOW TO START MY BOAT! Since I bought it ,it was hard to start initially, once running it would run perfect, restart easy, complete tuneup, new batteries, cables, lots of effort and it would start maybe 15 20 mins at the ramp, except the last time, so I take to the shop, they send it home and tell me the " carb stat heater" was falling off the carb. SIMPLE FIX , what ever that thing is. take it home and it still doesn't start.
Call em up, so the mechanic ask,
DID YOU 1 PUT IT IN NEUTRAL AND PUMP THE SHIFT THROTTLE FORWARD THREE TIMES ALL THE WAY TO PRIME THE CARB BOWL ? HUH

inSTANT START.:redface:

 

[mthieme]

Re: Wish Someone Told Me

First boat by chance?

 

[david_r]

Re: Wish Someone Told Me

do you want to hear something more embarassing than that? here it is




what kind of boat do you have to pump the throttle to prime the carbs?

 

[DJ]

Re: Wish Someone Told Me

do you want to hear something more embarassing than that? here it is




what kind of boat do you have to pump the throttle to prime the carbs?

An automotive based I/O or inboard with a carburetor.

 

[wajajaja02]

Re: Wish Someone Told Me

I'M a newbie for sure, its my third boat thought, the first two were outboards, the second one a force 125 that I just got running this year, but haven't used since I bought this one. but injury and illness kept it at home more than I wanted this year, anyway,its a 85 190 mercury(closed system) I/o with a alpha II.
Its a 85 sun dancer aft cabin 22 ft, from Michigan, so never saw salt water. full canvas, indoor kept, full camper.

 

[mthieme]

Re: Wish Someone Told Me

Similar to squeezing the primer bulb on your outboards, you want to prime the carbs on the engine by working the throttle a couple/few times. Sounds like you've discovered this though.
You should have some means of operating the throttle only - without working the shifter. This will depend on what type of remote controls you have...There might be a separate little lever, a button, ...my OMC handle pulls out away from the bulkhead.
Next time, post a problem here and hopefully we can save you some time, money and aggreavation.

 

[david_r]

Re: Wish Someone Told Me

yup now i really feel stupid........im an auto mech:redface:

it never dawned on me when i was reading and replying and then i hit "submit reply" and i felt my face turn red......i didnt know how to stop it from sending so i just stared at the screen in disbelief that i could be so ignorant.

so go ahead and poke if you want..... im thick skinned

 

[mthieme]

Re: Wish Someone Told Me

Nope.
It takes a big man to admit he's wrong.
I won't poke at that.
Plus no one knows everything.

Now, if you do it twice...you're fair game!

 

[david_r]

Re: Wish Someone Told Me

that sounds fair enough.......i just hope the wife doent see it, id never hear the end of it

this is her favorite forum in iboats!

 

[mthieme]

Re: Wish Someone Told Me

that sounds fair enough.......i just hope the wife doent see it, id never hear the end of it

this is her favorite forum in iboats!

uh-oh, lotta guy talk in here...
WOMAN ON DECK !



PS - hopefully you're posting under an assumed alias

 

[david_r]

Re: Wish Someone Told Me

i should have used an alias.

she usually only reads the sth forum when she hears me laughing...then she trys to read them all, but shes heard a lot worse than they will allow on this site.

any other time she reads it is because its her turn on the net and shes checking where ive posted while shes surfing.

she thinks im addicted cause if im not workin on something im on here......i like to work on anything that moves and i love boats-im still a little green on some of the troubleshooting of obs though.....i love to talk motors!

seems like i learn something new everyday too bad its at others expense.

 

[samagee1]

Re: Wish Someone Told Me

Similar to squeezing the primer bulb on your outboards, you want to prime the carbs on the engine by working the throttle a couple/few times. Sounds like you've discovered this though.
You should have some means of operating the throttle only - without working the shifter. This will depend on what type of remote controls you have...There might be a separate little lever, a button, ...my OMC handle pulls out away from the bulkhead.
Next time, post a problem here and hopefully we can save you some time, money and aggreavation.

I am kicking my self and laughing about it after this post. I have been looking for an issue like mine when I came across this thread. I get to the part here where you say "...my OMC handle pulls out away from the bulkhead." I smack myself and say I knew it. I imediately go out and uncover the boat and check. Sure enough! I hook up the water to the ear muffs still on the I/O and it fires right up. I had even asked the person I bought this off of last month about cold starts and he said it wasn't needed. I knew that I didn't have a button or lever, and I have even had another boat in the past with this same type of starting control. Well I missed last night on the water, but I wont miss tonight. I'll chalk it up to a blonde moment while I continue to wait for my motor manual. I am just glad I don't have to pull the fuel filter to look for a clog.

Thanks guys!

 

[rndn]

Re: Wish Someone Told Me

Posting this incident could have saved 10 or more people who have been having the same issue. I agree that it takes a big man to admit the mistake, so thanks for sharing.

 

[wajajaja02]

Re: Wish Someone Told Me

Im feeling redemption and my red face is almost normal again

 

[zach103]

Re: Wish Someone Told Me

Dont worry . i spent 10 mins trying to figure out why mine wouldnt start. checked everything possible. did everything i usually do.. well i forgot to connect the kill switch back up and it was right in front of me.

 

[fishrdan]

Re: Wish Someone Told Me

When you pump the throttle before starting the engine 2 things happen, 1- it squirts fuel into the carb bores (or intake) to give the engine an overly rich charge to help start the cold engine, 2- it makes sure the choke closes which allows the cold engine to start and warm up easier.

The remote control (shifter) on your boat should have a button, switch or something that will allow you to operate the engine independent of the outdrive, as in you can rev up the engine without having the boat in gear. On my old Mercontol it's a button in the middle of the shifter, don't know about yours.

My cold starting procedure on my 140HP I/O is to press the shift disengage botton, pump the handle 2-3 times, start the engine and adjust the throttle to 1000RPM. After I'm done securing everything in the boat and untying from the dock the engine is warmed up and ready to go, pull the throttle back to idle which locks the shifter back into,,, well, shifting,,, and were off.

Took me a while to figure out this procedure when I got the boat, so I wouldn't feel too bad

 

[Andy in NY]

Re: Wish Someone Told Me

Guys, we all go through something like this at some point.

My first boat, first time out on the lake I couldnt figure out for the life of me why I coundnt get it moving. Got 3-4 mph...


turns out I thought the warm up/idle control lever was the throttle...


*facepalm*

 

[Adjuster]

Re: Wish Someone Told Me

That lanyard/kill switch will get you everytime. I went through an older boat my father purchased wire by wire because it wouldn't get a spark. Standing in the boat frustrated I noticed a strange piece of plastic dangling from the key chain attached to one of those spirally spring coiled wires. Which by the way was attached to the key that I must have fondled and turned a hundred times trying to start the boat.

 

[10 FOOT INVADER]

Re: Wish Someone Told Me

When we bought our monterey this year,our first time out it would not start. I messed with it for over a hour. My wife said to call the guy We bought it from. Now all of my boats have been outboards with two levers. One for gear and the other for throttle. The original owner said to press the center button in to take in out of gear and pump the throttle it should fire right up. It did. I had no clue as to pump the throttle out of gear. Always ask the dumb questions early.

 

[samagee1]

Re: Wish Someone Told Me

I have had this boat about 2.5 months now and have learned alot of it's quirks. Like that it needs to sit and warm up a bit if I didn't start it in my yard on the muffs first, and how to start it correctly. A couple of weeks ago I was at a marina with seven lanes and wasn't rushed. However I wanted to get out and enjoy a full day of cruising with the wife in Grand Traverse bay, so we just leave the dock. I am exiting the marina and a very large cruiser ends up behind me and coming up fast. I push the throttle forward to get it up on plane fast and stall the boat!

It started back up, but I remember that now everytime I am sitting at the launch. Yesterday I was at a two lane launch in Grand Traverse bay and sat there and let it warm up even though I had started it in the yard on the muffs.

The first thing I am going to do next spring is replace the battery cables though, they are shot. The positive cable is now broke. I noticed it was in need of repair when I first got it. All in all, we have been loving this one. Best boat we have had so far.