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Bf15 won’t start now, no green light

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woolybass

New member
Greetings, I am new here but I have seen some excellent advice lately. Here is my situation I have a 15 horse long shift manual start that will not start now. It started last week but it would not idle down I had cleaned the carburetor several times with no success. Purchased a new carburetor installed it started right up ran great ran it up ran it down ,idled for a long time it was beautiful. Had it in a 35 gal barrel, it was not peeing a lot but dribbling out of the hole. I was using the stop button on the control shift to turn it off, started it again ,ran it, turned it off. Now it will not start at all. There is no green light coming on now when I try to start it, dang. I have tested the ignition coil and the CDI unit according to the specs in the Seloc manual and the numbers seem way off. I am wondering have I damage something by using the shut off switch, is there a simple remedy, or do I need some new parts? Any insights from you fellows will be greatly appreciated. Thank you.
 
Hi,
There's no way you could have damaged the ignition system by using the stop button or kill switch.

We need more info to help you sort this out. What year is the outboard? You might want to list the "frame number" if it's there.

In the meantime, some basic checks would be to verify that your fuel tank vent is open and clear. Does the primer bulb pump up and get hard quickly? Does the bulb stay hard? Is the choke working properly? IE: does it shut and open all the way?

I know this might sound simplistic but it's easy to overlook some small thing when you're worrying about "major catastrophe"....which I don't think you have at all.

When diagnosing a "no start", it's important to isolate what is missing for the engine not to start. On these outboards it's usually spark or fuel. If you can verify spark... or the lack of spark...it narrows it down significantly.

The most primitive but very effective way to check spark is to remove a plug wire from the plug and insert a #2 Phillips screwdriver into the wire socket. While a helper pulls the engine over, hold the shaft of the screwdriver about 1/8" from the plug tip or a shiny piece of grounded metal. The spark on these is fairly faint during cranking so doing this in the dark or with a small blanket thrown over your head and the outboard will make it much easier to see. Don't forget to disable the kill switch when doing this.

Question: does this outboard have a black, rubber cylinder attached to the engine oil dipstick tube? The cylinder is approximately 2" in diameter and about 3 1/2" long.

Get back to us with those answers and anything else you find.
 
I would add that since you were not peeing water from the tell tale with a solid stream, you also need to replace the impeller. I would recommend the impeller, plus housing.
 
The serial plate says BAAL 1101108, I think it is an 89 or 90. We have enough spark at both cylinders to zap my son, there is plenty of fuel getting to the carburetor the excess is dripping out the back down the tube. The bulb is currently placed into a gas can so there is no back pressure or vacuum being developed. After pumping up the ball and pulling the starter a few times the greenlight will start flashing now. There is no black rubber bulb anywhere near the new dipstick, but there is plenty good clean oil . There is no wiring information from the Seloc manual that would help me to trace the wiring. Do I need be concerned about the odd readings on the coil and cdi? Again, thanks.
 
It is a 1989. Bf15AK

Even if the motor needs and impeller, it will still start and run, at least for a few minutes, before it heats up.

The fuel should not flow out of the carburetor. The squeeze bulb should get hard after a few squeezes, and the carb should not overflow, even if the bulb is squeezed pretty darn hard.

It sounds like you might be flooding the motor. You might have to take your new carb apart and make sure there is no debris stuck in the float valve area. If there is some debris, flush you fuel system into a glass jar to see if there is any more in the lines. Before you reinstall the carb, just connect it to the fuel line, hold it level and have someone squeeze the fuel bulb. If it does not overflow, then install it. If it does overflow, then you have more work to do. At least you do not have to take it back off of the motor.

Just a thought.............

Mike
 
If there's enough spark to zap someone, then you don't need to worry about any CDI or coil readings.

Hondadude has told you what should be done. Follow his instructions.

Good luck.
 
You guys are great. While checking out my carb and the float situation, trying to figure out how the gas was going thru the bowl, I realized I had loosened the screw at the bottom of the bowl. Once I tightened up that I was good to go. I think I confused it for and air idle mixture screw. As I said I’m relatively new at this. So once I get the impeller and new housing in stalled I’ll be ready to hit the lake and test out my big motor that has a tendency leave me stranded. It is an E-Ficht, nuff said. So, thanks again. If you guys were here I take you out for a beer .

jeff
 
Alright! Glad you got it going.
E Ficht? Never heard of THAT one!
Anyway, keep using that screw on your Honda carb to keep the gunk drained out and THAT outboard will ALWAYS get you home!
Way to go Jeff!
 
E Ficht? Evinrude Ficht would by my guess. I had one of those. Best day of my boating career was when my 150 HP Ficht finally blew up and I replaced it with a Honda BF150
 
Ficht was German technology that was centered around direct fuel injection into the cylinders. OMC partnered with them to produce the EVinrude Ficht motors.

FRom a past boats dot com article:

QUOTE

..." The FICHT fuel injection system consists of four primary components: injectors, oiling system, electrical system and an engine management system that controls it all. A fuel injector with an internal electric solenoid pump is located over each cylinder head. The sophisticated engine management unit activates the pump to inject bursts of fuel directly into the combustion chambers at rates of up to 100 times per second. This rapid pumping pressurizes the fuel to approximately 250 pounds per square inch, which helps atomize the fuel for a complete burn. The ECU regulates the amount of fuel injected into the combustion chambers according to engine rpm.
Should an injector become clogged with debris, it can be unthreaded from the cylinder head and cleaned for reuse. Conventional injectors, on the other hand, are generally thrown away and replaced with new ones when they get clogged, which can get costly.
One of the greatest improvements FFI offers over the conventional carbureted two-cycle engine it is replacing, is that it puts fuel into the combustion chamber after the exhaust ports close so that unburned fuel can't escape with the engine's exhaust. This is how OMC reduces hydrocarbon emissions by approximately 80 percent to meet new Environmental Protection Agency standards. Naturally, by burning the entire fuel charge rather than wasting some of it, an engine will clearly perform and respond better, too.
Nor does it take a rocket scientist to also realize that if raw fuel isn't being lost out the exhaust port, fuel economy will improve, too. And that is one of the strongest advantages of FFI over conventional two-cycles. OMC claims that at trolling and cruising speeds you can see as much as an 80 percent increase in fuel efficiency, and 10 percent at wide open throttle, for an average of approximately 35 percent overall. This fuel savings helps offset the added cost associated with an FFI system....."

UNQUOTE

When those Ficht outboards ran well, their fuel economy was excellent. The problem (as related to me by a mechanic ) was that they ran too lean and some suffered catastrophic engine failure (the 175 HP's especially) I had a 150 Hp------ I made thousands and thousands of dollars of repairs during ownership (rectifier, stator etc. ). They hated to be run at low RPM's. The power head of my 150Hp Ficht finally blew up,puncturing the cowling with hot pieces of hot metal.
 
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Ahhh, ya vol! German precision!

"Und for maximum performance you must shim und balance der overhead weight sensors".

You betchya!

Danka for the explanation.
 
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