2004 BF130 won't start

What's up guys? New to the forum. Just bought a boat with a 130hp outboard. Guy took me on a sea trial prior to purchase and it ran great. Got it to the house took it out about 5 days later. Ran it for 30-45 min both at idle and up on plane (about 4400 rpm) with no problems... until I hit the sandbar. Took a bit to get free and the first couple times I tried starting it after were followed by overtemp alarms. Finally was able to get it to stay running and began idling back to the dock. After a couple minutes, went ahead and got back on plane with no issues and went straight to the dock (about 5 min ride). Docked it, trailered it, and brought it back to the house where I hooked it up to the muffs and started it back up. Engine ran for a while but then alarmed and shut down. Tried restarting with no luck. Put a piece of wire up the telltale and could tell there was some grit in it, but I've had no luck getting it to fire up since so I can't tell if it's peeing. It will turn over but won't fire up - just doesn't seem to have the oomph. The starter was pretty hot so I thought maybe I had burned it up with all the cranking but everything I've done with it has checked SAT (voltage checks at POS and S terminal and voltage drop checks on both POS and NEG sides). Even pulled the thing out and bench tested it. Solenoid engages and gear spins. Had the battery checked and it's good and voltages don't drop too dramatically when cranking (up around 9-10). Maybe the starter is going and drawing down the amps preventing crank but I just haven't convinced myself to spend the money on a new one yet. Pretty sure I've taken care of the simple things already. Lanyard is still in place but I went ahead and pulled the console to make sure the black/red wire on the ignition switch wasn't shorted to ground with key to ON. Checked to make sure shift linkage is pushing in the neutral safety switch. I can hear the fuel pump coming on when I turn the key to ON. I have +12Vdc on the ignition coils with key ON. I don't have a timing light but I took an extra spark plug and checked each wire individually for spark. Couldn't see any but I've heard this method isn't totally reliable. So I may or may not have spark. Any other suggestions?

try an open air gap spark test,you will need to purchase one at auto part store. You should get a lightning bright blue snap

If you are testing for spark, remove the spark plugs. That way the engine will rotate faster. Also, you must connect both spark plug wires of a particular coil to two grounded spark plugs or two circuit spark tester. Both leads have to be connected to complete the spark circuit.

If you have a compression tester, that would be a good time to check that too. If compression is much less than 200 psi, check the timing marks on the top of the engine to be sure the belt did not slip due to the quick stop when you hit the sand bar. It might not have slipped right away...letting you get home. The timing belt is probably ok, but always worth a check.

Like going to the doctor.....weight, height, blood pressure, etc first.

Drain the vapor separator into a glass jar to check first...if there is fuel in there (the pump does no good without fuel in the vapor separator) and second to see if there is water or debris in the fuel.

This motor needs good fuel and good spark plugs or it will not run. (This assumes that you have found the spark) There may have been junk in the fuel tank that got stirred up by the impact of the sandbar. Just trying to think of as many possibilities as I can.

Hopefully, your engine was installed with a pgmfi light (check engine light) on the dash. You may have a two or four pin red connector under the cover on the port side of the engine. If it is a two pin, take a paper clip and connect the two pins on the connector. Turn on the key switch and count the blinks of the check engine light. Let us know what that is. That might give some direction, although it is a pretty simple diagnostic system. If it has four pin, you should connect the light green/white with the black lead. If you do not connect the proper wires, it can fry the ECU.

There are many other things that could be checked, but that is a good start. Malakoff in this thread is running into similar problems with spark http://www.marineengine.com/boat-forum/showthread.php?434477-BF130-No-Start-Intermittent-Spark

Two more things.

1. When you finally get it to run, you probably need to change the water pump since the one you have is probably heavily scored by the sand from the sandbar. While the lower unit is off, it would be wise to remove the thermostat and use a garden hose up against the thermostat housing to backflush the engine. Look for good flow out of the water pick up tube in the lower unit. It you can have someone put their finger on the end of the pickup tube to block the water, you should get the engine to pee. If not, sometimes compressed air up the telltale indicator while the water is running can break up the clog. Sometimes not.
If you do not get it to pee, you will have to remove the hose from the fitting possibly even remove the vapor separator (vst) from the engine to clean out the cooling passage (black plastic ) on the back of the vst. Flush, backflush, clean until everything flows good.

2. If you are going to try to do a lot of repairs to this engine, I highly recommend purchasing the official Honda Repair Manual (available on ebay or Amazon) https://www.amazon.com/Honda-Marine...&ie=UTF8&qid=1479351356&sr=1-1&keywords=bf130
No cheap but much better than the Seloc or Clymers. The aftermarket manuals tend to give wrong information sometimes.

Hope that was not too overwhelming.

Mike

One last thing....if you do not have an owner's manual, you can download one for free from the Honda website. http://marine.honda.com/support/manuals/models/BF130

Just use your serial number for the correct one. It should have a wiring diagram at the rear of the manual.

hondadude,thanks for the thorough explanation did not want to type all that,johnny g

Thanks for the suggestions! Downloaded the owners manual and will be getting the repair manual. I haven't pulled the plugs and don't have a compression tester, but I did drain the vapor separator into a glass jar and gas looked good to me and a buddy of mine. I also loosened the nut where a pressure gauge would go and got a strong stream out of it with the key ON. My friend agreed with everyone about the spark being tough to detect using the method I tried and he is convinced it's the starter keeping it from firing up, so I guess I'll get one to see if that is the issue. I'm finding 31200-zw5-003 as the starter part number.

The motor has just under 200 hrs on it, so I'm also going to do what I believe is the service due. In addition to the fuel/water separator that I have on the transom, I also plan to replace the one under the cowl (16800-ZW5-003??). I also want to replace both the high and low pressure filters. Am I correct that the low pressure filter is 16900-SR3-004 and the high pressure is the "screen" (16911-zy3-010)? Is there also an o-ring to replace on the high side?

Other replacement pieces and parts will include a thermostat (19300-zv5-043), water pump kit (06193-zw5-030), plugs (NGK ZFR7F), and new oil, filter, and gear oil. Anything I am missing? Thanks again!

You have most everything correct.

The starter number is correct. You should probably order a new o ring that goes under it.

Unless the on board water separator is cracked or leaking, there should be no need to order a new one. It is simply a plastic bowl with a red ring inside that floats when there is water.

Also, the thermostat is not the correct thermostat for a 2004. They made a change over the years to a lower temperature thermostat.

Thermostat cover gasket, gear lube drain washers and oil drain washers should be ordered.

Be sure to only buy the NGK spark plugs. The motor will not be "happy" without them.

Here is a suggested list.....

Oh yeah! Be sure to only us 10w30 mineral based motor oil. Do not use Synthetic....especially with such low hours on it. It is barely broken in.

If you want to use a semi synthetic gear lube, like Mercury High Performance....that should work fine.

Mike

Thanks! Now to open up the wallet.

Oh, and do y'all recommend any particular place to order the parts from?

Many on this forum use boats.net. The prices are below retail but I don't know how much they sting you for shipping.

Mike

Durbin8,Starters usually need between 200-300 rpms to generate spark, Whats your tach reading while cranking?

Durbin8,you mentioned pulling water/fuel separator and dumping in a clear glass,let that sit overnight,see if fuel separates,it takes a while

I ended up replacing the starter back in November and it worked like a champ for about six months. Last month the motor would give a single click when I tried to start it, but if I kept bumping the key it would eventually crank. My first thought was I got a back starter that was already wearing out and by bumping the ignition I was eventually finding a good enough spot to get the engine to crank. The folks I bought the starter from were nice enough to give me a replacement. Once again, the motor started working great. A couple weeks ago, I took a short ride (30 min) to a local beach where I shut off the engine to unload everything. Tried to start it back up with no luck so I just set the anchor and we hung out for a few hours. Go to leave and it fires up. Get back to the house, it fires up. Took it yesterday and had the exact same results. Got to the beach and it didn't want to start. I pulled the cover and the starter was hot to the touch. Waiting an hour or so and it fired right up so I'm thinking I have a heat soak problem. Anyone agree or is something else going on? Are these motors supposed to have a heat shroud near the starter?