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I'm SO Stupid!

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Lisa

New member
I'm a middle-aged female who loves to fish and know nothing about motors. There, that's my disclaimer up front.

I did the stupidest thing and need some help/advice on it.

About two weeks ago I got my boat ready to go fishing for the first time this season. It has a 1995 Evinrude 30 hp on it. My friend was coming over and we were going to take off for a good day of fishing. I charged up the batteries and added Stabil Marine and oil to my near empty gas tank. I wasn't thinking right because I was rushing and decided to turn over my engine to make sure it would start. It did and I turned it off quickly. We left my house and I got gas on the way to the lake.

So we get out on the lake and immediately I am having problems with it running. It is acting fuel starved and I realize the stupid thing I had done. It ran like crap the whole day and when I took it out of the water I brought it to a nearby boat repair place. The mechanic there told me I just needed to flush out the float bowl and it would be fine. I asked him what he would charge me to do it. He told me he was real busy and wouldn't be able to get to it right away. I told him that was fine, I didn't mind waiting a little bit for it.

I called yesterday to ask when it may be got to since it's been a few weeks now. A woman answered and told me that he thought it needed a car cleaning now. I asked her why? and heard her talking to him while she had the phone covered up. I asked her if I could talk to him and she said he could call me back when he wasn't so busy. I asked her if I should just call him on Mon morning , and she said that would be fine.

I know I flooded the enigne with just about straight oil and Stabil in my stupidity. Does that mean the carb has to be broken down and cleaned? How would the mechanic know that flushing the bowl, like he told me, wasn't enough if he didn't actually do that yet?

All advice appreciated,
Lisa
 
I'm really hoping I get some help with this situation.

Is there anything I can do myself to fix what I already did?
 
Go get your boat..... All you need to do is to remove the drain screw at the front bottom portion of the carburetor float chamber to get that heavy oil out of it, then with the fuel primer bulb pump some fuel thru it until the regular fuel/oil mixture shows up. Put the drain screw back in and off ya'go.

Lesson learned I hope... put a gallon or two of gas in first, then add the oil. Putting oil in first loads up the pickup and carburetor with pure oil.
 
Joe thanks for your reply and direction to correct the problem!

I had a feeling something fishy was going on here and that's what prompted me to post. One time during a routine motorcycle inspection, I had the guy tell me I needed new brake pads. Luckily I knew where the brake wear indicators were and saw my pads were almost full. Some people really try to take advantage of women, and guys not in the know too.

Lesson learned! I've had this boat for five years and this was a first. I think I just wasn't thinking and got rushed by my friend coming over. If you ever have any nuring questions, PM me. I would love to return the favor someday.

:)
 
Will do! I won't be able to check it out until next week due to work. But, I will post my results.

Thanks Again!
 
Another thing about mixing the oil & gas while filling up the gas tank.
The filling opening is at one end. Pickup tube is at the opposite in metal 6 gallon cans.

I always DO or REQUIRE the person to aim the metal nozzel AGAINST the side of the tank facing the pick up tube end of the tank. That creates a strong, swirling, churning, mixing of the entire tank load.

As stated. ALWAYS put in the oil then 1 gallon. Hand shake the stuff in a comfortable swirling motion. Then fill it up

A dead give away to a NOT well mixed oil & gasoline, is a LONG smoky startup. I have almost no smoke on startup. Hot or cold engine.


So much to learn. So little places to teach each new person............Man or woman makes no difference.

A stupid person keeps repeating the same mistake over & over.
 
I usually fill it up near my house and then ride it the hour or so to the lake. Would that be enough fuel/oil mixing?

Kim, I don't drain the float bowl. I relay on my fuel additives for the winter. The motor has always run great for me before my mistake.
 
Hi Kim

You rolled draining the carb float bowl & flush it with tap water together. I know what you mean. but Lisa may try to flush the bowl with water.

So may someone else new to boating.
 
Lisa

You can elimanate ALL Ethanol problems year around............See if any gas station sell 0% Ethanol gasoline. No ? See if a marina sells 0% .

It ..0% is WELL WORTH the extra cost. The cost of NOT using any stabilizer during summer or winter will pay for the difference. Mileage & power & starting is always better.
 
I live in Missouri, but fish in Illinois, where the ethanol percent is higher than my state. I was warned about winterizing with that gas and the water content in it ruining motors. That's why I always add Stabil Marine. I was advised it would take care of the ethanol issues. I use the Cabela's Synthetic TCW-3 oil. I heard it was good stuff, made by a good company? I buy a big jug of it when it goes on sale.

How do you flush with tap water? I figure I can locate the drain screw when I'm looking at the motor. I think I will go pick it up Monday morning.
 
Thanks! I will add that to my winterizing list. I think I need to educate myself more about my motor. I really want to baby her and have her stay around for a long time!
 
cyclops2 said:
Another thing about mixing the oil & gas while filling up the gas tank.

As stated. ALWAYS put in the oil then 1 gallon. Hand shake the stuff in a comfortable swirling motion. Then fill it up
Click to expand...

If that pertains to my statement of Post #3... What I stated was (copy/paste) "Lesson learned I hope... put a gallon or two of gas in first, then add the oil. Putting oil in first loads up the pickup and carburetor with pure oil.
 
Hi All~

I wanted to update you on the situation. I went today and got my boat and brought it to my regular mechanic, closer to home.

The other guy I asked about ended up flushing the float bowl anyways and told me I needed a new water pump/Impeller. This was told to me the next time I called.

It has been three years since I replaced the impeller and I did notice the motor seemed sluggish to start peeing on the lake. This seemed reasonable to me. However he quote me $65 more for the job than I had paid with my mechanic.

I called my mechanic who amazingly quoted me the same price for the job as it was 3 years ago.

I have been sick here and unable to do anything between that and my work schedule, but today I got my baby out of there and brought it to my regular solid guy.

The other guy charged me $65. $45 was for the labor to flush the bowl and the rst was for two spark plugs and shop parts. He wasn't in today for me to ask about it, so I just bit it and paid. I couldn't get my boat outta there FAST enough!

This forum has given me courage however to look into doing more things for myself, like changing the water pump kit. If I wasn't so anxious to just get on the water, I would try it now.

Thanks for all the help here and suggestions! I think I will be having more questions down the road and look forward to your replies!

My Best!
Lisa :)
 
There`s a app for smart phones called Pure Gas that lists stations with ethanol-free gas.
cyclops2 said:
Lisa

You can elimanate ALL Ethanol problems year around............See if any gas station sell 0% Ethanol gasoline. No ? See if a marina sells 0% .

It ..0% is WELL WORTH the extra cost. The cost of NOT using any stabilizer during summer or winter will pay for the difference. Mileage & power & starting is always better.
Click to expand...
 
The flushing of the carb was a pack of lies from the mechanic in the first place.
if you started the engine and it ran for more than 15 minutes then the carb bowl would of been flushed by
the fuel in your tank anyway !!!!!!!!!!!
WHAT YOU REALY DONE WAS FOUL THE PLUGS WITH TOO STRONG AN OIL/STABIL MIXTURE.
nothing more than just a plug fouling.

to fluch the carbs you just undo a screw on the b ottom of carb and squeeze the fuel bulb till juice comes out.
this would of automatically been done if engine was running by itself.

This means all you done realy was winterize the fuel system on the engine by gumming it up with the stabil !!!!!
if you had taken out the plugs, cleaned them and made sure the gap was right on the plugs it would of been fine.
The impeller could and probably did need to be changed due to starting up out of water
( I presume this is what you done when you ran it to make sure it started).
just a few seconds can destroy a waterpump impeller with no water around it !!!!!!!!!!.

check to make sure the gap is set right on the "new plugs" just becausethey are new dont mean a thing,
gap them yourself to make 100% sure.

hope you get it all going good again.

phill
 
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