I have enjoyed using an older Tohatsu 2-cycle 8-horse outboard motor on my Mac 26S that is, until recently.
For most of this season (starting in March here in North Texas) the motor has started right up, never needing any choke even when "cold". Lately, I have had trouble starting it and found I had to run the starter for quite a while before it would finally catch. Once started, I had to carefully apply throttle to keep from killing it until finally I was able run the excess gas out. Lots of white smoke in the process, so quite obviously flooded.
This morning it would not start at all. I tried disconnecting the fuel line and cranking and cranking, but to no avail. I made several attempts over the course of the next 20 minutes or so. Finally I gave up and we just had our picnic lunch at the marina and went home to put the grandkids down for a nap.
When I came to take the motor off the boat (maybe 2 hours later), I decided to give it another try and it started after a fair amount of cranking, again with careful application of throttle and a big cloud of white smoke. After that it ran fine and would start back up easily. Something I did notice was that if I pumped up the pressure with the fuel line priming bulb that fuel would drip from the bottom of the fuel pump, but it's hard to say if it was leaking from the fuel pump body or from where the fuel line attaches to it.
A friendly expert at the marina suggested that in the future I just unhook the fuel line from the gas tank and let the engine run dry after use. He opined that the ethanol in regular gas wreaks havoc on the fuel line and other components when allowed to sit. I think that stands to reason, so that will be my practice going forward. I intend to replace the fuel lines, fuel pumps gaskets, and fuel pump diaphragms for good measure.
I would welcome opinions and feedback on this, as I missed really nice day for sailing toward the end of the season and wish to avoid a repeat of the experience.
Thanks!
For most of this season (starting in March here in North Texas) the motor has started right up, never needing any choke even when "cold". Lately, I have had trouble starting it and found I had to run the starter for quite a while before it would finally catch. Once started, I had to carefully apply throttle to keep from killing it until finally I was able run the excess gas out. Lots of white smoke in the process, so quite obviously flooded.
This morning it would not start at all. I tried disconnecting the fuel line and cranking and cranking, but to no avail. I made several attempts over the course of the next 20 minutes or so. Finally I gave up and we just had our picnic lunch at the marina and went home to put the grandkids down for a nap.
When I came to take the motor off the boat (maybe 2 hours later), I decided to give it another try and it started after a fair amount of cranking, again with careful application of throttle and a big cloud of white smoke. After that it ran fine and would start back up easily. Something I did notice was that if I pumped up the pressure with the fuel line priming bulb that fuel would drip from the bottom of the fuel pump, but it's hard to say if it was leaking from the fuel pump body or from where the fuel line attaches to it.
A friendly expert at the marina suggested that in the future I just unhook the fuel line from the gas tank and let the engine run dry after use. He opined that the ethanol in regular gas wreaks havoc on the fuel line and other components when allowed to sit. I think that stands to reason, so that will be my practice going forward. I intend to replace the fuel lines, fuel pumps gaskets, and fuel pump diaphragms for good measure.
I would welcome opinions and feedback on this, as I missed really nice day for sailing toward the end of the season and wish to avoid a repeat of the experience.
Thanks!