motor problems

[treepotato]

Just wondering if anyone here has had this problem or could guide me in the right direction. I have a 40 horse evinrude that is very tough to get started when it is cold. I will usually spend 5-10 minutes of cranking choking cranking raising , lowering throttle with motor spitting and sputtering more and more until finally it will keep running. When it keeps running for about 5 minutes and gets warmed up it will run like a charm the rest of the day, and even after shutting it down for several hours it will start right up as soon as the starter tuns over once but let it set overnite and your back at the beginning. This is very frustrating especially when people are waiting to put their boats in behind me and I can't do anything until I can get backed off the trailer! A friend said it sounds like I need a new fuel pump, I don't know. I just wanted to throw this out here and see if there was any one here with any ideas that could help the poor old treepotato out . Thanks , You guys are great!!.............treepotato

[JimmyS]

Tree Potato, I am not a pro on outboards but it sounds like your carb. adj. is too lean. Open your low speed adj. screw counter clockwise about a half turn and see if that helps.Hope it works for you. Good Luck! Jimmy S.

[Barnacle Bill]

TP, what year and make is your motor?

[labill]

Just wondering if anyone here has had this problem or could guide me in the right direction. I have a 40 horse evinrude that is very tough to get started when it is cold. I will usually spend 5-10 minutes of cranking choking cranking raising , lowering throttle with motor spitting and sputtering more and more until finally it will keep running. When it keeps running for about 5 minutes and gets warmed up it will run like a charm the rest of the day, and even after shutting it down for several hours it will start right up as soon as the starter tuns over once but let it set overnite and your back at the beginning. This is very frustrating especially when people are waiting to put their boats in behind me and I can't do anything until I can get backed off the trailer! A friend said it sounds like I need a new fuel pump, I don't know. I just wanted to throw this out here and see if there was any one here with any ideas that could help the poor old treepotato out . Thanks , You guys are great!!.............treepotato

Treepotato....it does sound like it's not getting enough gas. Do you run the gas out when you take it out of the water? If so, is it difficult to get the bulb pumped tight when you're ready to launch? You can check your fuel pump by disconnecting the fuel line inside the motor cowling. (disconnect your plug wires so she wont fire up) If it's good, you will see a good flow from the fuel line when you turn 'er over, but make sure the fuel is caught in a container and not on or in the motor. If you have a filter on the line, that's a good place to disconnect to check fuel flow, and also check the filter for any restriction, and check to see if your choke is closing fully.

[Barnacle Bill]

TP, what year and make is your motor?

Woops, I'm having a lousy day. What year is you Evinrude? What I'm after is, do you know if it has a standard buttefly type choke or an enrichner?

[papasage]

when the motor wantcranc try manualey chocking it if it is the butterfly type choke . it might be not closing the flaps all the way . a frind of mine had that probablem and all it needed was a little ajustment . knowing the year and brand will help

[Shellback]

Later model motors have an electric controled enricher for starting verses a choke. If that's not working, you'll have a tough time starting. You should hear the solenoid click when turn the key to the choke position. Let us know what year the motor is.

[treepotato]

Wow, thanks everyone for such a quick response! It is a "93" evinrude 40 horse. It mixes gas & oil automatically, And yes I do hear the solenoid click when the key is turned. Im not sure what type choke it has but Im getting ready to go have a look right now. You guys have already given me some promising places to start looking and I sure appreciate it!! .............treepotato

[treepotato]

Treepotato....it does sound like it's not getting enough gas. Do you run the gas out when you take it out of the water? If so, is it difficult to get the bulb pumped tight when you're ready to launch? You can check your fuel pump by disconnecting the fuel line inside the motor cowling. (disconnect your plug wires so she wont fire up) If it's good, you will see a good flow from the fuel line when you turn 'er over, but make sure the fuel is caught in a container and not on or in the motor. If you have a filter on the line, that's a good place to disconnect to check fuel flow, and also check the filter for any restriction, and check to see if your choke is closing fully.

labill, thanks for the response! No I have never ran the fuel out, I usually just pull it up on the trailer and shut it off. And yes it is very difficult to get the bulb pumped up tight, as a matter of fact I can never get it pumped up tight. I can pump it and pump it and it never really gets tight. Sometimes I wonder where all that fuel is going that I keep pumping. On my oil reservoir the bulb always stays very tight but the bulb for the fuel tank is always spongy, Hummmm....Thanks .......treepotato

[Barnacle Bill]

TP, turn the key on but do not start. When you push the key in for choking you should here a click coming from the motor. If you don't hear it, you have an electrical problem or a bad enrichner. If you do here it clicking, there is a hose coming from the enrichner to the top carb. Remove it from the carb and test again. You should get a stream of gas from the hose.