Simp Posted February 11, 2011 Posted February 11, 2011 Hey guys I could use some input. Went out with a buddy today to prefish our first club tourney of the year. It's bitterly cold like 15-20 degrees and the motor woudn't fire. It would just shake once and make a beep sound sometimes. I switched the batteries out with my bigger trolling battery and while the shake was bigger no change. The motor has been ran at least twice a month this winter on a power plant lake and hasn't sat all year. We called up one of our friends and was telling him about it and he said that he had a similar issue and it was the spark plugs, Any suggestions? Quote
Super User Fishing Rhino Posted February 11, 2011 Super User Posted February 11, 2011 Could be the plugs. Could be the gasoline. Today's gasoline goes bad in a short time, even with the fuel stabilizers added. Change the plugs. Try fresh fuel and see what happens. I have a lawnmower that will not start in the spring even though I use Stabil in the fuel. Drain the gasoline, put in fresh fuel and it will start on the first pull. For better advice from those in the know, what make, year and horsepower is the outboard? Quote
Simp Posted February 11, 2011 Author Posted February 11, 2011 It's a 87Merc 60hp electric start. Quote
CFFF 1.5 Posted February 11, 2011 Posted February 11, 2011 Do you run the gas out of the motor after every time you take it out? You could gummed up the carbs and may need to get them cleaned up. Quote
ptomacbass Posted February 11, 2011 Posted February 11, 2011 I'm by no means a pro, but sometimes if your steering wheel is turned all the way to one side, motor is trimmed a little too high, or some other simple thing is done, the motor may not start well. Also, older engines don't start very quickly in the cold, especially Johnsons. Try turning the key and pushing in (may only be a push prime for Johnsons) a couple times. Hold like this for 10 or so seconds and then ease down on the fast idle. Doing this it takes only 2 or 3 turns of the key to start my Johnson GT 150 in sub freezing weather. When did you last run the motor? Quote
Simp Posted February 12, 2011 Author Posted February 12, 2011 Hey guys took it to a mech that I've had work on it before. It ended up having a couple things that went wrong with it since the last outing a couple weeks ago. So of course we had to pay more then what you want but I should have a working engine for my tourney Sunday. I had to work tonight so I couldn't test it myself yet. I may take her out briefly tomorrow to make sure I'm all good. What a stressful 24hr peroid and still so much to do tomorrow. Quote
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