sierra_boater
New member
Hi folks, my mechanic is baffled by this one and we can’t find the cause. We need ideas.
Basically (and I’ll go into detail below) the motor seems to have no issues at sea level/mild temps, which is where the mechanic is at, and it runs fine for him. But when I bring it home, around 5000ft and water & air temps in the high 30’s, it’ll start, I back off the trailer, it stalls (usually when shifting back to neutral from reverse) and absolutely will not start again. It’ll turn over and sound normal, but won’t start. I take it back to mechanic and it starts over and over again.
It just had a massive service, including plugs, filters, timing belt, new flywheel and stator, impeller, all oils changed, new primer bulb and external fuel lines. We’ve checked for fault codes (none), checked fuel pressure (fine), and everything under the cowling looks more or less good condition and well maintained. We’ve checked safety cut off switch, and it’s not that. Driving us crazy!
Longer story is:
I’ve owned the boat about 8 months. I used it constantly through the summer, put dozens or even 100 hours on it and it ran flawlessly. I had the change the starter solenoid at one point, that’s all.
Recently I took it to Mexico for a week and ran it 8-10hrs a day, no issues. The day after I returned home I went to our local lake at 5000ft freshwater through it. It was the first time since I’ve owned the boat that I’ve used it in the cold (45 degree water, 40 degree air) which may or may not be relevant, though you’ll see a pattern emerges). It started straight up, I backed off the trailer, it stalled (while shifting from reverse back to neutral) and wouldn’t restart. Turned over and sounded normal but wouldn’t catch. It just so happened that I had it booked in for a major service a few days later - first one since I’d owned it, and a big list since I didn’t know the boat’s history and wanted to cover everything.
So I drop it off for the big service (sea level and mild temps) and mention to them “oh hey, and now it won’t start, if you could look at that too”. The only clue I gave them was that on the last day in Mexico and had used a little Mexican gas for the first time, and maybe it was bad I said. Just a guess.
The first thing they tell me is “it started fine for us”. They did the big service listed above - and also found a damaged stator with magnets missing, and replaced that. They said the the gas seemed fine and the boat was running great. One piece of concerning news though was that the motor had 3500hrs on it!!! Wow! But seemed well maintained. Regarding the non-start issue, we figured it was a fluke - maybe bad fuel or a clogged filter or whatever.
I was stoked to have the boat back freshly serviced. Went straight back to my local lake (at altitude, and cold) and it starts but doesn’t sound very good - kinda chugging a bit - back off the trailer, it’s stalls (again i think when going from reverse back to neutral) and then cranks but won’t start. I was pissed.
I drove straight down the hill back to mechanic. As I’m standing there it starts and restarts for them over and over. They put in gear forward and back (in a trough) and it was fine. The screwed in a gauge to check fuel pressure (high pressure pump I think, with the Schroeder valve ) and it was good they said (i wanna say 30-40psi but don’t recall exactly). Checked fault codes and found none. They bled a lot of fuel through primer bulb to be sure, saying maybe there was an airlock from the new fuel lines and primer bulb they installed. And sent me home. I stopped at a lake near the mechanic at similar altitude and mild temps. Boat started and restarted to all my testing. And I zoomed around the lake and it sounded beautiful! Better than before the service for sure - less vibration, maybe from the better balanced flywheel and stator. I was stoked!
Drove home, and just to be sure I stopped at my local alpine lake and guess what… boat backed off trailer and stalled and wouldn’t restart. BUT…… I went fishing a couple hours with the electric trolling motor. Every half hour I’d try and restart the Bigfoot - double checking everything like cutoff switch, priming the bulb, trim up and back down, and other random things. Nothing. When I was done fishing I headed back to ramp with the trolling motor, and before I took the boat out I tried the motor one last time. IT STARTED!!!! WTF? I zoomed around the lake and it felt and sounded GREAT! I docked at the ramp, turned engine off, went to get truck and trailer, and when I went to start motor to drive boat onto trailer… it WOULDN’T START. Cranked like always but wouldn’t start.
ok I’m nearly at the end. I went home quite frustrated and the boat got snowed in for about a month. Last week I got it out and drove down to the lowlands to the mechanic. He is also very frustrated at this time. A few days later he called me - “started for us just fine, every time, all week, and idled for hours.” He was out of ideas.
I just picked the boat up today and went to my alpine lake … it started, backed off trailer, stalled, wouldn’t restart. Same thing every time.
The weird thing is there’s a pattern, except the one day on the alpine lake it didn’t eventually restart and ran great… and then minutes later wouldn’t restart.
HELP! Please! I just dropped thousands on a big service, and the motor used to run flawlessly. It’s got a lot of Horus but it’s in great shape - good compression and spark the mechanic said- and I have a lot of fun with it and it kills me it’s not reliable now! Any thoughts appreciated.
Basically (and I’ll go into detail below) the motor seems to have no issues at sea level/mild temps, which is where the mechanic is at, and it runs fine for him. But when I bring it home, around 5000ft and water & air temps in the high 30’s, it’ll start, I back off the trailer, it stalls (usually when shifting back to neutral from reverse) and absolutely will not start again. It’ll turn over and sound normal, but won’t start. I take it back to mechanic and it starts over and over again.
It just had a massive service, including plugs, filters, timing belt, new flywheel and stator, impeller, all oils changed, new primer bulb and external fuel lines. We’ve checked for fault codes (none), checked fuel pressure (fine), and everything under the cowling looks more or less good condition and well maintained. We’ve checked safety cut off switch, and it’s not that. Driving us crazy!
Longer story is:
I’ve owned the boat about 8 months. I used it constantly through the summer, put dozens or even 100 hours on it and it ran flawlessly. I had the change the starter solenoid at one point, that’s all.
Recently I took it to Mexico for a week and ran it 8-10hrs a day, no issues. The day after I returned home I went to our local lake at 5000ft freshwater through it. It was the first time since I’ve owned the boat that I’ve used it in the cold (45 degree water, 40 degree air) which may or may not be relevant, though you’ll see a pattern emerges). It started straight up, I backed off the trailer, it stalled (while shifting from reverse back to neutral) and wouldn’t restart. Turned over and sounded normal but wouldn’t catch. It just so happened that I had it booked in for a major service a few days later - first one since I’d owned it, and a big list since I didn’t know the boat’s history and wanted to cover everything.
So I drop it off for the big service (sea level and mild temps) and mention to them “oh hey, and now it won’t start, if you could look at that too”. The only clue I gave them was that on the last day in Mexico and had used a little Mexican gas for the first time, and maybe it was bad I said. Just a guess.
The first thing they tell me is “it started fine for us”. They did the big service listed above - and also found a damaged stator with magnets missing, and replaced that. They said the the gas seemed fine and the boat was running great. One piece of concerning news though was that the motor had 3500hrs on it!!! Wow! But seemed well maintained. Regarding the non-start issue, we figured it was a fluke - maybe bad fuel or a clogged filter or whatever.
I was stoked to have the boat back freshly serviced. Went straight back to my local lake (at altitude, and cold) and it starts but doesn’t sound very good - kinda chugging a bit - back off the trailer, it’s stalls (again i think when going from reverse back to neutral) and then cranks but won’t start. I was pissed.
I drove straight down the hill back to mechanic. As I’m standing there it starts and restarts for them over and over. They put in gear forward and back (in a trough) and it was fine. The screwed in a gauge to check fuel pressure (high pressure pump I think, with the Schroeder valve ) and it was good they said (i wanna say 30-40psi but don’t recall exactly). Checked fault codes and found none. They bled a lot of fuel through primer bulb to be sure, saying maybe there was an airlock from the new fuel lines and primer bulb they installed. And sent me home. I stopped at a lake near the mechanic at similar altitude and mild temps. Boat started and restarted to all my testing. And I zoomed around the lake and it sounded beautiful! Better than before the service for sure - less vibration, maybe from the better balanced flywheel and stator. I was stoked!
Drove home, and just to be sure I stopped at my local alpine lake and guess what… boat backed off trailer and stalled and wouldn’t restart. BUT…… I went fishing a couple hours with the electric trolling motor. Every half hour I’d try and restart the Bigfoot - double checking everything like cutoff switch, priming the bulb, trim up and back down, and other random things. Nothing. When I was done fishing I headed back to ramp with the trolling motor, and before I took the boat out I tried the motor one last time. IT STARTED!!!! WTF? I zoomed around the lake and it felt and sounded GREAT! I docked at the ramp, turned engine off, went to get truck and trailer, and when I went to start motor to drive boat onto trailer… it WOULDN’T START. Cranked like always but wouldn’t start.
ok I’m nearly at the end. I went home quite frustrated and the boat got snowed in for about a month. Last week I got it out and drove down to the lowlands to the mechanic. He is also very frustrated at this time. A few days later he called me - “started for us just fine, every time, all week, and idled for hours.” He was out of ideas.
I just picked the boat up today and went to my alpine lake … it started, backed off trailer, stalled, wouldn’t restart. Same thing every time.
The weird thing is there’s a pattern, except the one day on the alpine lake it didn’t eventually restart and ran great… and then minutes later wouldn’t restart.
HELP! Please! I just dropped thousands on a big service, and the motor used to run flawlessly. It’s got a lot of Horus but it’s in great shape - good compression and spark the mechanic said- and I have a lot of fun with it and it kills me it’s not reliable now! Any thoughts appreciated.
