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Tohatsu 98 wonbt idle

salty_breezes

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"This is getting old. I have a

"This is getting old. I have a 2007 Tohatsu 9.8 four stroke that will run at high RPM's, but will die at lower RPMs. It seems to run a bit rough at high RPM's, smokier that normal, but it runs. As soon as I lower the RPM's, it dies.

Carb problem, you say? Don't think so. I've taken it to a mechanic twice, opened it up and cleaned it out myself twice, including this past weekend. Looks fine; jets aren't clogged, nothing.

Fuel problem? Nope. Installed a water/fuel separator filter, always run the fuel out of the motor, never use old fuel, use 89 or 93 octane...

Just can't figure it out. Ideas?"
 
"As the engine is under warran

"As the engine is under warranty you should take it into an authorized Nissan/Tohatsu dealer and let them determine the cause of the problem. It may be a fuel system issue or it might be a bad ignition component. Regardless, the warranty is there to keep you from having to troubleshoot the engine yourself.

The most likely cause is a fouled carb port. You may not be able to see it, but an internal passage is probably plugged up. Cleaning the carb would involve taking it apart and soaking it in commercial carb cleaner for three hours. Any other form of cleaning is a waste of time."
 
"Yeah, I was highly disappoint

"Yeah, I was highly disappointed in the local dealer, who said he fixed it twice, and was wrong twice. Guess I'm going to have to go further down the road to find a good dealer. Know any good ones in SE NC?"
 
There are three dealers within

There are three dealers within 20 miles of you. Try

Company Stovhort Inc.
Address 6921 Market St.
Wilmington NC 28411
Phone 910-799-1277
Fax 910-799-1279
Distance Approx. 6 Miles

or

Company Blackbarry Enterprises Inc.
Address 4888 Coastal Dr.
Southport NC 28461
Phone 910-457-0667
Fax 910-457-6643
Distance Approx. 16 Miles
 
"Tohatsu Guru, Not to hijack

"Tohatsu Guru, Not to hijack this thread but I am having the same problems with my 8 four stroke and is now is the shop. Why are these motors so finicky? I want reliability (especially in a new motor) as I am sure everyone else does but this seems to be an ongoing problem that Tohatsu needs to address. I for one am getting rid of mine and getting a reliable motor a soon as possible. Again sorry for the hijack Justin."
 
""Finicky" That's

""Finicky" That's a relative term. Compared to engines of even five years ago today's small outboards are "less forgiving" of:

Stale fuel
Contaminated fuel
Carburetor fouling.

As a consequence of meeting EPA mandated guidelines, all small outboards, the brand isn't important, have smaller and smaller jets. IE The fuel delivery within carburetors is increasingly restricted and allows no room for sloppy maintenance or bad luck. It is common to all small current production outboards. You can switch to any other brand and roll the dice and have the same problem(s). There isn't a problem for Tohatsu to address as such other than re-writing the owners manuals to baby step people through "Outboard 101". Clean fuel, new fuel and running the carb dry after every use eliminates virtually all of these problems.

Here's one for you. About six months ago we sold a local a 4 or 5 hp. The next day the new outboard owner calls and said it ran fine for a couple of minutes and then wouldn't rev up. He brought it back in and we popped the carb bowl off and found....Imagine music here
Sand! Now how do you get sand in the carb of a engine the first time you use it? Survey says...He filled up the tank at a beach side gas station with blowing wind and therefore...blowing sand. It was on the nozzle of the pump and when he put it into the tank, it washed off into the tank and then a couple of grains lodged in the high speed jet. Freaky? Yes, but now all to common in terms of ease of fouling.

It's not going to get any better my friend. All you can do is filter your fuel through a screen as you are adding it to your portable tank. Water, trash of all kinds, are at record levels in your fuel and guess what? No one cares. The fuel stations will not take responsibility for their fuel quality because cars can digest the stuff that will choke your outboard to death. Add in that people want to store their fuel for months(1 month limit) further increasing their chances of contaminated fuel and there you have it.

Outboard reliability has never been better(all brands) and yet there are more fuel system complaints(all brands) than ever before. If it makes you feel better to think that Tohatsu is at fault then go ahead and buy another brand. Just don't be surprised to have the same problem occur with that one too."
 
"Just to add on to this for yo

"Just to add on to this for you guys: My 6hp 4-stroke 2006 dies at an idle too, if i start it cold and imediatly drop the thorttle it will die. This is deffinetly a fuel problem like Guru stated. If i rev it up intime whle it's sputtering out i can save it and keep the motor on. After running wide open for a while the motor will last on idle for about 10-15 mins then die.

I never found it to be a problem. The gas out there sucks. I changed an old 4hp carb to the 6hp carb and it still had the same problem being brand new. I don't really care about it, it hasn't really been a problem that interfered with my boating, only in the driveway at home when flushing it.

Tohatsu makes a great motor....I say this because I slam oyster bars all day long and the skeg and prop come back with hardly any damage. I'm never hesitant to make long runs (15-20 miles) with my 6hp because it will get me back."
 
"[i]My 6hp 4-stroke 2006 dies

"My 6hp 4-stroke 2006 dies at an idle too

This is not acceptable for me. I use my motor for trolling in the Columbia River. There are a lot of other boats around and we have lines and downrigger cables in the water while we are trolling. if the motor dies then all control is lost. Sure, my motor will get me to point A and back IF I used it for that purpose but I don't. These thing should just friggin idle, and idle and idle. Guess the Tohatsu's aren't good kicker motors if they have an "idle " issue, and yes it is an issue if a bunch of people are having this problem. I am not going to filter my gas before filling up. my Honda runs fine, at an idle too. So did my other outboards that I used for kickers as well as my friends kickers."
 
"All four-stroke engines are d

"All four-stroke engines are designed to idle for hours without cutting off. There is no idle issue problem other than what consumers cause through:

Incorrect maintenance
Bad fuel
Incorrect adjustment

In the end it all comes down to this: Consumer error. Sometimes that error is out of the consumers hands such as buying fuel that is contaminated. But generally the fault lies with errors such as:

Incorrect idle setting on the carburetor....Easily corrected by adjusting the carburetor to the correct RPM.(Four-strokes idle higher in neutral than two-strokes of the same size and we find that when consumers have adjusted the carburetor themselves they tend to set them too low for the load of the boat)

Dirty carburetor...Easily corrected by CORRECTLY cleaning the carburetor, using clean fuel and not using old, stale fuel.

Today's outboards have a garbage in, garbage out pattern of use. You will not get a good result unless you take steps to keep your fuel system in peak condition.

Rarely...And I do mean rarely, you may have an engine that has a defective part."
 
Try adjusting your idle to a s

Try adjusting your idle to a slightly higher idle on the screw above the Carb if you haven't. That usually works for me to keep it on longer. I use mine as primary power running wide open constantly on a light skiff in 12" of water thats why i haven't thought much of it. Everything else is outstanding.

Yamaha makes a more "kicker" style motor in 4 hp. But like I said these little things are champions at long wide open runs. My 06 probably has over 200 hours.
 
"Here's an example:

Toh


"Here's an example:

Tohatsu/Nissan/Mercury 4-stroke, 4 - 6 hp

The idle should be set so that the engine is at 1100 RPM when it is idling in gear.

Tohatsu/Nissan/Mercury 2-stroke 4-6 hp

The idle should be set so that the engine is at 850 RPM when it is idling in gear.

That's a 25% increase in RPM over what people inherently feels is correct...Hence, the majority of idle issue complaints with a "clean" carburetor are related to adjustment for load."
 
"Ron,

Give me your serial n


"Ron,

Give me your serial number and I will look up your engine to see what the service history is on it."
 
Solved part of my problem -- l

Solved part of my problem -- leaky o-ring on the connection between the gas tank and motor. I guess that's one more problem for the list -- motor won't run with no gas.
 
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