nw-oldboat
New member
Hi all,
I have a 2007 4hp 4-stroke Tohatsu (I think it's a MFS4B) that I use to motor my 25' Coronado sailboat out to the lake that's a mile away.
It starts on the first or second pull when it's cold, every time, and runs great! Then, I motor a mile out to the lake, kill the motor, and sail for a few hours. The outboard sounds great - no issues.
The last two of times I've sailed the boat, I've had problems when I'm motoring back from the lake. The outboard starts after 1 or 2 pulls, but sounds different. Instead of the sharp tatata sound you'd expect from the outboard, it's a duller and quieter-sounding dadada. And when I try to run the outboard at low throttle (as apposed to medium), it dies after a couple of seconds and won't start. I try everything - a combination of high and low throttle, choke in and out - but nothing.
Then, I get a tow back to the marina, and try to start the outboard the next day, and it's back to normal.
I've already cleaned the carburetor with carb cleaner, and the fuel filter looks ok (there is a pretty big air bubble in it, but I read that this is normal). I'm at my wit's end - most problems with motors like this seem like they should be all-or-nothing, not intermittent!
One thing that could be affecting it is that the boat tips when I sail, maybe 30 degrees either direction, which also tips the outboard. Could this be enough of of an angle to mess up the outboard?
I have a 2007 4hp 4-stroke Tohatsu (I think it's a MFS4B) that I use to motor my 25' Coronado sailboat out to the lake that's a mile away.
It starts on the first or second pull when it's cold, every time, and runs great! Then, I motor a mile out to the lake, kill the motor, and sail for a few hours. The outboard sounds great - no issues.
The last two of times I've sailed the boat, I've had problems when I'm motoring back from the lake. The outboard starts after 1 or 2 pulls, but sounds different. Instead of the sharp tatata sound you'd expect from the outboard, it's a duller and quieter-sounding dadada. And when I try to run the outboard at low throttle (as apposed to medium), it dies after a couple of seconds and won't start. I try everything - a combination of high and low throttle, choke in and out - but nothing.
Then, I get a tow back to the marina, and try to start the outboard the next day, and it's back to normal.
I've already cleaned the carburetor with carb cleaner, and the fuel filter looks ok (there is a pretty big air bubble in it, but I read that this is normal). I'm at my wit's end - most problems with motors like this seem like they should be all-or-nothing, not intermittent!
One thing that could be affecting it is that the boat tips when I sail, maybe 30 degrees either direction, which also tips the outboard. Could this be enough of of an angle to mess up the outboard?