You may want to have it professionally filtered, as the presence of too much water can cause engine problems. The presence of water is a tipoff that you may have a bad load of fuel in your boat. Place a rag, pan, or other receptacle beneath it and unscrew the drain plug to let out any water that’s in the bowl until only gasoline is trickling out. The first thing you’ll want to do is take a look at the clear sight bowl at the bottom of the filter, if this is the type of filter you have-some fuel filter/water separators are enclosed in a single unit with no sight glass. These filters sometimes become clogged or filled with water, causing an engine to run poorly. The purpose of these filters is not only to filter particulate matter out of fuel before it reaches your outboard, but also to separate any water that may be present in your fuel. Though many smaller boats using portable tanks are not equipped with these fuel filter/water separator devices, most boats with outboards that draw fuel from an internal fuel tank are. Once you’ve replaced or unblocked the connector, reinstall it and check the engine for any improvement in the way it runs. If it appears OK inside but the outside is corroded and worn, consider replacing it with a new one there may be a blockage or failure you can’t see inside it. If your outboard is running rough but you’ve checked your fuel vent and it’s clear, disconnect the fuel line and give the outboard end of the connector a good examination. The ball bearings and check valves inside some of these connectors can also fail. A haven for corrosion, the ports inside these connectors often clog up with nasty bits of corroded, gas-soaked metal powder that can impede fuel flow. Check the Fuel ConnectorĪnother trouble spot in the fuel delivery department-if you’ve got a portable tank setup-are the snap-in connectors that attach the fuel line to your outboard. Fuel fittings, such as this one, can corrode and clog up, causing significant performance issues in outboard engines. Be sure to check this fitting if you’re having outboard engine problems. External fuel vents can become clogged with the nest-making materials of spiders, wasps, and other insects. A kinked or pinched hose can cause significant performance problems in an outboard engine, especially at higher RPMs, while pinholes in fuel lines can introduce air to the fuel, as well as create a safety problem. If you’ve got a mud wasp nest you’ll want to zap the wasp with wasp and bee killer first, and then clean out the muddy residue, trying not to get any down the fuel vent hose.Īlso, check all your fuel hoses from the tank to the engine. If you do find a clogged vent, simply clean it out with a pair of tweezers. Wasps, spiders, and other critters are well-known for clogging these fittings up, and that can significantly affect engine performance. If your boat doesn’t have a portable tank, but instead an integral tank with a fuel vent that’s plumbed to the outside of the boat, inspect that vent. If your outboard motor isn’t running at its best, check the fuel vent on your portable tank to make sure it’s open. Simply twist it open and monitor your engine for improvement. If it isn’t, it will cause your engine to become fuel starved, run rough, and eventually stall. If you’ve got a portable tank and your engine is misbehaving, the first thing you want to do is check to make sure the valve on your portable tank is fully open. If we had a dollar for every time our boats started sputtering and running rough because we forgot to open the fuel vent on our portable fuel tanks, well, we’d have quite a few bucks rolling around. Read on to find out about some steps to take when your outboard’s got an attitude problem. Some problems can even be solved with the twist of only two fingers. So, what should you do when your outboard engine is puttering instead of purring? Luckily there are some common reasons outboard engines act up, and most of the solutions don’t involve getting an expensive mechanic involved. Still, there are others of us out there that have older, more temperamental outboards and, believe it or not, even relatively new outboards can act up at times. They’re so dependable, in fact, that we often take their reliability for granted. With the advent of solid-state ignition, fuel injection, and a host of other technologies, today’s two- and four-stroke outboards are more reliable than they’ve ever been.
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