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THANKS - C-Hawk Man and Honda Dude (and others)

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GoodChance

New member
I stumbled across this great forum while researching a problem with my newly aquired 2005 Honda BF225. The motor had just 150hrs on it when purchased from a rich guy in Ft. Lauderdale. Fortunately he had it professionally maintained each year with the basics but I still inherited a few problems.

The biggest issue was an inability to reach anywhere close to 6000 rpm and I was turning a rather small 14" prop (boat is a 23 Potter SeaCraft). And the boat seemed very sluggish at all throttle movements. The motor would periodically "cut-out" at low rpms and fuel burn was about 50% higher than I would have expected. And since the WOT rpm was just 5,250, my top speed was just 33 mph. In short, the motor was an absolute "dog".

After reading old threads from this site and information offered by C-Hawk and Honda Dude, I purchased a heated oxygen sensor, 2 new thermostats, 6 new NGK plugs (the old plugs were wrong part numbers), changed all the fuel filters. Parts arrived this past Tuesday and I had everything installed in 2 hrs.

Ran it last night for the first time and WOW!! Huge difference. Motor starts right up; idles extremely well; WOT is now 6100 and top speed is 41.4 mph. Cruise of 4400 rpm (prior to V-Tec kicking in) is 29 mph. And VERY responsive to the throttle. Feels and runs like a totally different motor.

Again ....... THANKS to this site, I was able to save myself hundreds/thousands of dollars and get my engine running as designed. Thanks guys.
 
GoodChance said:
I stumbled across this great forum while researching a problem with my newly aquired 2005 Honda BF225. The motor had just 150hrs on it when purchased from a rich guy in Ft. Lauderdale. Fortunately he had it professionally maintained each year with the basics but I still inherited a few problems.

The biggest issue was an inability to reach anywhere close to 6000 rpm and I was turning a rather small 14" prop (boat is a 23 Potter SeaCraft). And the boat seemed very sluggish at all throttle movements. The motor would periodically "cut-out" at low rpms and fuel burn was about 50% higher than I would have expected. And since the WOT rpm was just 5,250, my top speed was just 33 mph. In short, the motor was an absolute "dog".

After reading old threads from this site and information offered by C-Hawk and Honda Dude, I purchased a heated oxygen sensor, 2 new thermostats, 6 new NGK plugs (the old plugs were wrong part numbers), changed all the fuel filters. Parts arrived this past Tuesday and I had everything installed in 2 hrs

Ran it last night for the first time and WOW!! Huge difference. Motor starts right up; idles extremely well; WOT is now 6100 and top speed is 41.4 mph. Cruise of 4400 rpm (prior to V-Tec kicking in) is 29 mph. And VERY responsive to the throttle. Feels and runs like a totally different motor.

Again ....... THANKS to this site, I was able to save myself hundreds/thousands of dollars and get my engine running as designed. Thanks guys.
Click to expand...

Good for you-those guys did the same for me, the time and money I saved was huge.

Your numbers are similar to mine, what prop did you switch to? I am leaning to a 4 blade, I hear that will help with stern lift, and cruise economy.
 
I am running a 14"p Mercury Enertia. It was highly recommended by PropGods. Like you, I also felt that a 4-blade wheel would be beneficial but Ken told me that I didn't have enough weight on the rear of the boat with a single BF225 to neccesitate a 4-blade prop and suffer some reduced-speed.

I am very happy with the Enertia. It's one of Mercury "Premier" props
 
GoodChance - here are are a few other suggestions for happy boating...

1. Call Honda Service Center and see if the warranty work was done on the exhaust tubes IAW service bulletin #56.

2. Invest in the official Helm Shop Manual for the 225. It will be in the $115 - $120 range, but worth every penny in saving time and money.

3. Learn how to properly shunt the service connector and read any fault codes stored in the ECM's EPROM.

4. That engine is hardly broken in (if that), so run it hard as often as you safely can for the next 100 hours.

5. Be religious about changing the oil and filter every 100 hours.
 
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