majordadsage
New member
I have a 1998 25hp 4 stroke BigFoot. I bought it in December 2006 to put on my Tracker Pro Team 175. I bought it on line from a dealer in New York; I live in Indiana. The motor has always seemed to be "cold natured" and hard to start when I first get to the lake. It would crank but wouldn't fire. After I once got it going, it was fine for the remainder of the day?? I took it to Bass Pro and they rebuilt the carburetor and that certainly helped it run better but it didn't solve the starting issue. This year I started spraying some carb cleaner in the intake prior to launching the boat. That helped a bunch and it would fire right a way.
The past few times I have been on the lake, I have had issues with it not starting after we had been fishing for a while. The solenoid would click but, the engine wouldn't crank. It got so bad that I decided to buy a new solenoid. I put it on this past weekend. After installing the solenoid I hooked up the hose and put the "ear muffs" on the motor. It started right away. That was the first time ever since I had owned the motor that it started the first time it fired. It was pretty warm outside and I thought that probably made the difference. Well, we went fishing this morning and it was 56 deg at the lake before sunrise. I tried to start the motor before I put it in the water and it started the first time.
I am telling you all of this because I think the old solenoid was pulling down the starting voltage enough to affect the spark and preventing the engine from starting. It works great now.
I wanted to share this info so that if someone else has an engine that is "difficult" to start when you first get to the lake, it might be the solenoid. I checked the spark on the plug a couple of years ago and it had spark. I thought it must be something else; well, it was the spark and it just wasn't enough spark to fire the cold engine.
I did so many searches on this problem but never found an answer. I hope that this info helps someone else.
If you have questions, you can email me and [email protected].
The past few times I have been on the lake, I have had issues with it not starting after we had been fishing for a while. The solenoid would click but, the engine wouldn't crank. It got so bad that I decided to buy a new solenoid. I put it on this past weekend. After installing the solenoid I hooked up the hose and put the "ear muffs" on the motor. It started right away. That was the first time ever since I had owned the motor that it started the first time it fired. It was pretty warm outside and I thought that probably made the difference. Well, we went fishing this morning and it was 56 deg at the lake before sunrise. I tried to start the motor before I put it in the water and it started the first time.
I am telling you all of this because I think the old solenoid was pulling down the starting voltage enough to affect the spark and preventing the engine from starting. It works great now.
I wanted to share this info so that if someone else has an engine that is "difficult" to start when you first get to the lake, it might be the solenoid. I checked the spark on the plug a couple of years ago and it had spark. I thought it must be something else; well, it was the spark and it just wasn't enough spark to fire the cold engine.
I did so many searches on this problem but never found an answer. I hope that this info helps someone else.
If you have questions, you can email me and [email protected].
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