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neglected kicker

H

hard_way

New member
I've taken the boat in for two years to be winterized and stabilized. This year the 9.9 4 stroke kicker won't fire. i pulled the plugs and discovered they look really bad. Come to think of it, it ran rough all year last year too. It required alot more choke alot more often. So I'm thinking all the attention went to the other motor and I now have a really upset motor.

I found a line off above the carb and replaced it, put in two new plugs. When I pump the bulb gas comes squirting out of the top of carb. pull the cord, same thing. took that metal plate off the top of carb and noticed the gasket actually looks like it was meant to allow gas out up there.

Still won't fire, where do I look next? thanks in advance
 
Don't you love 4 strokes - this one has let you know loud and clear that you can't treat them like a 2 stroke and get away with it. They require three to four times more attention or they will quickly turn into an expensive problem.

It sounds like a carb rebuild is in your future. Hopefull the spitting gas is simply because the float valve is all gummed up and not because you have gummed the reeds as well (which is not the end of the world but would easily double your repair costs).

It sounds like you are well past the "mechanic in a can" treatment.

After you have confirmed your spark is good (no sense looking at the fuel system if your ignition has an issue), the carb needs to be pulled, disassembled, cleaned, all the jets cleaned up and replaced if distorted, then a new set of gaskets and seals thrown in - with a good look at the reeds while the carb is off.

If you can do the work yourself, a carb kit goes for a little under 50 bucks.

If not you may really want to consider a totally new carb. They sell for about $160 and you could swap the whole thing yourself - a shop would probably charge you somewhat over $200 for a cleaning/rebuild plus parts....
 
signs and wonders! It let me off the hook this time. Apparently, after all the gas evaporated, my little tweek worked. I could only find DPR7EA9's in my little town Sat night (up from the DPR6.... that were in it) and it actually purrs, the choke wants off right away. Thanks for the advise Mr. Lamb, I'll be payin' alot more attention to the thing and pickin' up that manual as well.
 
The number one way to minimize fuel related issues, particularly with a 4 stroke is to ALWAYS run stablized gas.

Ideally you should run fresh, stablized gas each outing.

The question then arises - "why run stablizer if I always run fresh gas" - simply because (some) gas will remain in the carb, against the reeds, in the crank case etc

If stablized it will drastically lower the chance of it phase separating or gumming on you.

The addition of a product such as SeaFoam will also help keep the motor free of other "cooties".

4 strokes are pretty unforgiving compared to their 2 stroke cousins - so that prevention and maintenance list in the owners manual, which in years past was pretty much ignored, needs to be followed to the letter (at minimum) or you can quickly turn that "relatively new" motor into something that is "not worth fixing" due to costs...
 
I will look up the SeaFoam and stablize threw the season too. got all the literature on the big motor and just never got around to the kicker. Big mistake! that's comming too. It seems like the octane in the best gas seems to get a lower number every year as the price climbs. It's getting hard to find any w/o alcohol in it as well. So great advice as usual, thanks again. Off chasin' Halibut this week.

dw
 
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