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Tohatsu 15HP suddenly shut down

M

max366

New member
My 2001 15HP 4 stroke was running fine at 90% throttle and then it just stopped running. When it first quit, I pulled the starter rope and the engine would try to start and sputter and quit. Got a tow and after 10 min while being towed it started right up and ran fine at 30% throttle until it quit after 3/4 mile. Then it started up immediately and got me home. Sounds like water in the gas to me but my clear in line filter shows no water or contaminants. Any ideas? Crap in the bowl?
 
Could be a lot of things. Probably lack of fuel or contamination of fuel. Do you run a water separator? Is the gas fresh? Was fuel being delivered to the carb? Is it OK now?
 
Thanks for the reply. I run an in-line 10 micron filter but no water sep. Mix of old gas and new, about 70% new. Hard to know if the gas was delivered to the carb- I had to worry about drifting onto rocks! I plan to change the gas today and see ho w that works.
Is it possible crap is plugging off the main jet and after it quit, the crap settled and allowed the engine to run?
I suspect that since it restarted quickly, it's probably not electrical- sound reasonable to you?
 
Thanks. The rocks were getting close so I didn't notice whether the primer bulb was collapsed! It started right after it quit, but died. Tried multiple times to get it running but it would die and wouldn't run smoothly - had to sit for 10 min before it started and ran. The second time it quit it restarted first pull and ran fine for another 10 min until I got to the dock.
I'll try what you suggested to see if there's water in the gas- at least to know if that's the culprit. I had Seafoam in the gas to help it runs smoothly- great stuff. I like the idea of running it into the carb to clean it out.
 
Again, thanks for all the prompt and helpful responses. I may have found the issue- drained a quart of gas from the area where the fuel pick up is and there was clearly water in the bottom of the bottle after it settled. Not much, but if there's any free water showing in the gas that the ethanol did not absorb, it must have been quite a slug of water in the tank. Will drain the tank and replace the fuel. I'm going to do the seafoam treatment anyway....
 
max366 said:
My 2001 15HP 4 stroke was running fine at 90% throttle and then it just stopped running. When it first quit, I pulled the starter rope and the engine would try to start and sputter and quit. Got a tow and after 10 min while being towed it started right up and ran fine at 30% throttle until it quit after 3/4 mile. Then it started up immediately and got me home. Sounds like water in the gas to me but my clear in line filter shows no water or contaminants. Any ideas? Crap in the bowl?
Click to expand...
How often do you have to crap in the bowl............? Lol
 
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