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Honda 2004 BF150 problems when rough offshore

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bluewaterworth

New member
Hey guys! I am new on here and am hoping that someone might know what is going on because my mechanic does not.

I have a pair of 2004 Honda BF 150s with 400 hours on my WorldCat. When I first got the boat, I had some bad fuel in my starboard tank that caused some problems with the starboard motor. I changed all the filters and a sensor and it fixed the issue for a few trips. Here is the kicker...

When I am on the river or when the ocean is calm, the boat runs perfectly. If it gets rough and the boat becomes weightless while going over a wave my starboard motor will cut out and pick back up the second we land. In addition to this, the motor will continue to drop in WOT rpm as the day goes on. Eventually, the motor will only do 3200rpm causing me to slow way down and work the port motor wide open just to stay on plane. NOW this is even more strange... Once I get back to the dock and the boat sits for a few hours I will go to run it and it runs perfect! 5700 rpm both engines doing 38kts.

I have run over 400 gallons through the tank, I have changed the fuel lines and bulbs, and I don't know what to try next. No alarms and shes peeing fine. Just changed the impellers too.

Any Ideas? I fish 100 miles plus offshore.. took me 6 hours to get home because of this on Saturday.

Thanks!
 
Sorry no one has replied earlier.

A couple of things come to mind.

First, drain your VST. Water may have accumulated in there, and gets sucked into the fuel rail when the going gets rough. The procedure should be in your owners manual, but not entirely sure of that. If you have an on board fuel/water separator, make sure that there is no water in there. Same if you have an external fuel/water separator - drain it.

Second, you need to make sure that your breather tube to your tank is completely clear. Run a long piece of string cleaner or 400 lb. mono through it several times.

Third, you may still have water in that starboard tank, and when you are bouncing around, it's getting sucked into your fuel system. The way to check is to pull the boat, raise the bow, tilt it to one side or the other (I use a floor jack on the trailer axle), open up one of the hatches on the tank - either the fuel pick up hatch or the fuel level sender hatch - snake a hose down to the lowest point in the tank, and pump out about 5 gallons of liquid. Let it sit for an hour or two, and see how much water is in there. I use an after market inline fuel pump to do that chore. If significant amounts of water, you should pump out more to make sure you got it all.
 
You could also consider carrying a portable fuel supply and connecting it when the problem occurs, if it fixes it the the issue is with the main tank, if not then clean out the vapor separator as a starting point. I could also be electrical but you need to rule out one thing at a time and as Chalk said, start with the fuel system
 
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