Hi all, I've lurked around here for a while and have read many old threads in an effort to try and understand what the issue is with my Honda 90.
Thanks to everybody on this site that takes time to share knowledge and experiences with regards to all kinds of motor issues. There is a wealth of information on these boards.
The issue with my motor has been intermittent. The sea trial went great and the motor ran well as we cruised around for an hour or so at 4200 rpm's which is about 25-28mph depending on conditions and how much weight/gear is in the boat. Fast forward to a trip or two later and the boat fires right up, idles well, and does fine under low load up to planing speed somewhere around 12+ mph. The motor trys to plane at 3400 rpm's give or take but when this issue is happening it just digs, bow lifts and won't climb over the bow wake. It doesn't stall, sputter or sound like it is missing. I back off the throttle at this point because it is clear that something is not right. I don't know how to describe it other than, "the motor gets louder than normal but doesn't have power". However, I do not believe the culprit is cavitation.
For example, we head out of the bay and the boat struggles to plane. We call a few friends, look some things up online to no avail. Motor is still running fine at idle and low rpm/load. Out of nowhere my buddy pumps the fuel bulb and then boom we are good to go. Boat gets up planes really easily and we run trouble free 5-6 miles up the coast to fish and the boat ran well the rest of that trip.
I was thinking there must be a fuel restriction sense when he hit that bulb it "appeared" to make a difference that time. Next trip the motor ran well for about 4-5 hours until the end of the day when the wind picked up and it was time to head in, lol. 10mph back to the ramp and unfortunately priming the bulb did not fix the issue this time. I thought it was a spun hub so bought a new prop. The following trip with the new prop on the boat ran well again. I was thinking "cool must have been that old rubber hub was worn out/heating up" etc.. Went to a Flo-torq II hub kit with a quick silver prop. Boat ran well out of the bay so we made bait. After making bait we ran a couple miles north to some fishing grounds and made a few drifts. Probably fished for an hour or so with motor idling. Once it was time to head in...same thing, no power to plane and heading in at 10 mph.
I was thinking maybe some kind of fuel restriction so I swapped the fuel water separator, checked fuel lines and vent from tank to motor. They aren't cracked and when I pulled off the fuel lines they weren't deteriorating on the inside. Fuel itself looks good from what I can tell. I had my buddy drive the boat while I primed the fuel bulb but this didn't work either. I pulled the plug wires, while the boat was in the bay idling, one at a time and all 4 cylinders responded the same. Plugs don't look fouled. Was thinking maybe heat issue but 2 trips ago we trolled for 2-3 hours offshore at 5-7mph. Trolling didn't produce so we decided we'd be better off to look inshore. We were 8.5 miles off shore at that time and we ran back in at a comfortable 25-26 mph 4200 or so rpm's. If it was a heat issue wouldn't the motor have already been hot by then? Same day after fishing inshore for a little bit we had the power restriction again on the way in.
Sorry for the long post, just trying to illustrate how the issue is intermittent.
Anyway, thank you very much for any ideas or advice you all can share.
-Tim
Thanks to everybody on this site that takes time to share knowledge and experiences with regards to all kinds of motor issues. There is a wealth of information on these boards.
The issue with my motor has been intermittent. The sea trial went great and the motor ran well as we cruised around for an hour or so at 4200 rpm's which is about 25-28mph depending on conditions and how much weight/gear is in the boat. Fast forward to a trip or two later and the boat fires right up, idles well, and does fine under low load up to planing speed somewhere around 12+ mph. The motor trys to plane at 3400 rpm's give or take but when this issue is happening it just digs, bow lifts and won't climb over the bow wake. It doesn't stall, sputter or sound like it is missing. I back off the throttle at this point because it is clear that something is not right. I don't know how to describe it other than, "the motor gets louder than normal but doesn't have power". However, I do not believe the culprit is cavitation.
For example, we head out of the bay and the boat struggles to plane. We call a few friends, look some things up online to no avail. Motor is still running fine at idle and low rpm/load. Out of nowhere my buddy pumps the fuel bulb and then boom we are good to go. Boat gets up planes really easily and we run trouble free 5-6 miles up the coast to fish and the boat ran well the rest of that trip.
I was thinking there must be a fuel restriction sense when he hit that bulb it "appeared" to make a difference that time. Next trip the motor ran well for about 4-5 hours until the end of the day when the wind picked up and it was time to head in, lol. 10mph back to the ramp and unfortunately priming the bulb did not fix the issue this time. I thought it was a spun hub so bought a new prop. The following trip with the new prop on the boat ran well again. I was thinking "cool must have been that old rubber hub was worn out/heating up" etc.. Went to a Flo-torq II hub kit with a quick silver prop. Boat ran well out of the bay so we made bait. After making bait we ran a couple miles north to some fishing grounds and made a few drifts. Probably fished for an hour or so with motor idling. Once it was time to head in...same thing, no power to plane and heading in at 10 mph.
I was thinking maybe some kind of fuel restriction so I swapped the fuel water separator, checked fuel lines and vent from tank to motor. They aren't cracked and when I pulled off the fuel lines they weren't deteriorating on the inside. Fuel itself looks good from what I can tell. I had my buddy drive the boat while I primed the fuel bulb but this didn't work either. I pulled the plug wires, while the boat was in the bay idling, one at a time and all 4 cylinders responded the same. Plugs don't look fouled. Was thinking maybe heat issue but 2 trips ago we trolled for 2-3 hours offshore at 5-7mph. Trolling didn't produce so we decided we'd be better off to look inshore. We were 8.5 miles off shore at that time and we ran back in at a comfortable 25-26 mph 4200 or so rpm's. If it was a heat issue wouldn't the motor have already been hot by then? Same day after fishing inshore for a little bit we had the power restriction again on the way in.
Sorry for the long post, just trying to illustrate how the issue is intermittent.
Anyway, thank you very much for any ideas or advice you all can share.
-Tim