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Honda 9.9 will not start

R

Ron haggard

New member
I have a 2008 honda 9.9 4 stroke with electric start and auto choke. The motor sit for about 4 months and gas was not drained out of it. I'm sure the carb needs to be rebuilt. My question is this something that's hard to do?
I did drain the old gas out and added new gas with seafoam. It will not start unless I give it a little shot of starting fluid. Then it will not ldle I have to run it a half throttle. As soon as you let off it dies. And will not start again unless you use starting fluid. Any help would be appreciated. Ron
 
Hi Ron....Sorry you're having problems. But, hopefully you can get that carb cleaned out and be back up in no time.

In this reply I just wanted to say PLEASE>>>>DO NOT>>>>USE ETHER>>>(starting fluid)>>>>on this engine!!!

Each "small amount" of starting fluid applied....causes a "small amount" of cylinder component damage.

Starting fluid works when gasoline won't because of one thing and one thing ONLY....

....It is EXPLOSIVE!

That "explosiveness" is where you get the added OOMPH that "KICKS" the engine into action. But the metals in the cylinder were NEVER meant to take the "SHOCK" that ether gives when ignited.

Yes, gasoline ignites and begins to burn in a rapid manner but in a physics sense it is pretty slow. The spark plug fires and a "flame front" starts burning in the cylinder in a very uniform and predictable way. Sort of like a prairie fire slowly marching across the landscape.

Ether, on the other hand, simply EXPLODES in comparison. And, near the pint of ignition, powerful, localized shock waves are produced that can...and WILL... "crater" tiny sections of metal from the piston crown...valve edges, seats and faces....compression rings....cylinder wall.

Ether may be good in an EMERGENCY situation....but it is wise to limit it's use to JUST THAT!

Ok....said my piece.....

If you want to know what to use INSTEAD of ether...I will be glad to give you a couple of ideas.

If you have any other questions about cleaning your carb after visiting the link Mike sent you....feel free to ask.

Good luck.
 
Ok, I cleaned the carb today. Once I got it apart it was as clean as it could be. No build up, no gunk or any thing. I still still used two cans of carb cleaner and put it back together. Still will not start on it's own. I think my next move is to replace the fuel line and pump bulb. It pumps up hard but after turning the motor over for about ten seconds the bulb is only half firm. Any thoughts?
 
Funny I have the same with my BF50. I also thought I had starting issues. I can't explain (but would love to know why) my priming bulb also goes slack after a few rotations of the motor.
I now turn the motor a few times repump the bulb and wiggle the choke until the engine fires/ splutters. I then choke down turn the motor over again and wooptie she catches. I then give her a rev or two to make sure it's all good and no problems. give it a go.
if there are any better start up tricks out there I would also love to hear them.
 
Make sure your bulb is laying with the arrow that is molded into it horizontal or, even better, have it pointing slightly up...not down. The check balls in those bulbs can be sensitive to the way they are "oriented" and can siphon fuel back to the tank if they don't seal. They go bad and old bulbs should be replaced every few years.

It sounds to me though like both of you have fuel lines or connections BEFORE the bulb that may be sucking air. Since the "leak" is on the suction side of the primer, you can have air enter the line but you won't see any fuel leaking. Also...air molecules are much smaller that gasoline molecules so a small enough hole can pass air but not leak fuel as a result. If your line is old....replace it and use teflon tape to obtain an air tight seal on any pipe threads on fittings.

Other possibilities for the bulb going soft would be:

a crack in the fuel pick up tube inside the tank. Empty the tank and have a look.

a partly clogged or stuck closed fuel tank vent. Run the outboard with the fuel cap off and see if there is a change.

crap in the bottom of the tank that ends up inside the primer bulb...sticks to check valve...and keeps it held open.
empty the fuel tank and look for "crud" in the bottom.

That's all I can think of at the moment.

Did you;
do the accelerator pump circuit "squirt check" out the back of the carb? 6 ft. MINIMUM?
Did you physically remove the idle set screw and clean the passages?
Making sure carb spray would come out of the orifices at the top of the rear of the carb barrel?
Make sure the passages or "tunnels" in the bottom of the float chamber were clean and would easily pass cleaner?
 
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