HONDA BF225 cranks but will not start

Good Afternoon,
As usual with a boat I am completely confused. I have twin BF 225's and just pulled it out of the water last week and both engines ran fine. Today I tried to start the port engine and it cranks, shows plenty of voltage but will not start. Actually doesn't even act like it wants to. Just to be sure I went ahead and changed the high pressure fuel filter, the low pressure filter and changed the oil which was the original reason for pulling it. Checked everything again and still cranks but no start. I checked the kill switch but it is a single kill switch for both motors and the Starboard motor starts and runs fine. Any help as to where to start on this thing to figure it out would be great. I have the shop manual but it doesnt help much and I am lost as to where to start trouble shooting this. Nothing changed from when it ran to put it on the trailer until today when I originally tried to start it and it ran fine last week to put it on the trailer.

Thanks
Bill

First thing I would check is if you can hear the HP Fuel Pump for three seconds when you turn the key from off to ignition without cranking the engine. Also maybe pull one spark plug, connected and grounded and check for spark while cranking...

Thanks for the help first of all. The HP fuel pump does run but when I pulled a plug and grounded it there was no spark when cranking

Sounds like you have already narrowed it down to no spark.

With ignition in run, check for battery voltage at a coil connector on the yellow/bl wire.
If no volts there, check for volts on both sides of the 15 amp fuse that feeds that yel/bl wire. If no volts there, check for volts both sides of the 30 amp fuse that feeds the main relay via the white/yel wire.

Those are some basic first checks to see if the coils are getting volts.

I'll stop there and tell you that I don't work on these big boys and I'm looking at a pdf version of the wire diagram on my phone and it can be difficult to read.

If you have the shop manual then you may be able to figure it out from there since the wire diagrams are in the back.

What year is your 225?

"Just in case"


I spent a very long weekend trying to change the HP fuel filter. The IAB vacuum diaphragm bolts that need to be removed to access the filter seemed like they were welded shut.

After many hours trying to unstick the bolts I finally gained access to the filter. In my haste to put everything back together I installed the filter backwards. Engine would crank strong but not start. Fixed filter and engine ran like a top.


fyi - Never was able to free the diaphragm bolts. Removed the intake manifold cover to gain access to the filter.

You're not the first and won't be the last , at least you discovered your mistake quickly, good job!

Those two phillips head screws that hold the IAB diaphragm in place are a real PITA. Take the time to get them out and replace them with hex-head or Allen head bolts.

Use PB Blaster liberally, and fit in the right size phillips-head screwdriver, and tap the end of the screwdriver with a small hammer a bunch of times. Repeat until you can get them loose. If you have a small impact driver that you can get in there, that would likely work well. If push comes to shove, remove the entire intake manifold cover to get to those screws.

Thank you for the advice chawk. I will follow that plan the next time the boat is pulled from the wet slip.