Hi, my first post here, but I have been fighting it for the past week without luck.
Long story short. I have MFS4CD 2012 (I don't actually know what the "D" stands for in the model, as I can't seem to find it online). It was working good, ran out of fuel, refueled it almost instantly and after the refueling it worked for a minute or two on idle and died every time when adding any amount of throttle. After cleaning the carb, it doesn't even try to start now.
I got it bundled with a 2nd hand boat I bought from Greece 3 seasons ago, using it as a secondary motor. I use it quite a lot, because my main 2 strokes 40 hp Yamaha '85 eats the fuel like crazy, so the smaller one fits me well for short distances and I was quite happy until now.
At the beginning of the season (June), I put the boat in the sea and the engine could hardly start, sputter and die in a few seconds. I brought it to the local mechanic, knowing it is most probably a clogged carburetor (which was not cleaned before). He cleaned it for 130 EUR and it was running great again. 3 weeks later I was using it and ran out of fuel in the middle of my trip, using only the internal tank, as I don't have an external one for this motor (saw the fuel level was quite low, but forgot to refill it when disembarking). No biggie, I had fresh gasoline with me with stabilizer added, because it was my last week at sea before winterizing. Surprisingly, after refilling I had trouble starting the engine. After quite a lot of tries it could start idling, but as soon as I touched the throttle, the engine died. I looked at some YT videos and read quite a lot of info online, as well as here about carb cleaning, so decided to do it myself. I disconnected all the tubes, removed the carb quite easily and brought it home for cleaning with a brand-new carb cleaner spray. What I did:
1. Inspected the carb tray : was pristine
2. Inspected the float with blowing, it could freely close and open, looks parallel to the body upside down
3. Removed the jet, cleaned the holes with spray and a very thin wire (they looked clean)
4. Removed the main jet (both parts: the screw and the jet itself underneath) saw that the jet has a very tiny hole at the tip, which sprays the fuel into the carb. Inside there is something like plastic or rubber around the hole to make its diameter smaller. It was so tiny, I had to clean it with a metal "hair" from a metal brush. I don't know if it needs to be like that, but I was careful not to enlarge the hole. Sprayed some more carb cleaner in every hole and in the jets.
5. Put the carb back together and back into the outboard. Not a hard job, so I was confident it will star right away.
6. Tried staring with the fuel tank cap opened in case the valve is not working properly.
Unfortunately, when I tried to star it it doesn't even try to start. On the 3-4 the pull there was only a pop from the exhaust and that's it after that nothing. Choked or not, with little throttle or full throttle - nothing. It is like it doesn't even try to start.
Today I tried troubleshooting again, so I did:
1. topped up the fuel to the max,
2. checked the fuel pump while disconnecting after the fuel filter: it squirts fuel with every pull
3. Changed the fuel filter just in case
4. Cut around 1 cm from the line between the pump and the filter, because I saw the rubber was hard at the place where the filter gets in, so it was damp with gasoline. Thought it might suck air from there.
5. The new filter is almost clear, so I can see the fuel inside and I see that the fuel doesn't fill it all, there is always a small air pocket on the very top of the filter. The fuel level's upper rim in the filter is the same level as the upper part of the carb's pan, so I guess that's normal?
6. Tried blowing a few times into the air tank to "prime" the system faster.
7. Checked the spark plug (but don't have tools to check for a spark). The plug was never changed by me until now, so it was quite oily and black, so I cleaned it with a 240 sandpaper gently.
8. The carb pan is getting full of fuel, because it drains out when I unscrew the drain screw.
No luck, so I
9. Opened the carb again, the jets and the float all looked good
10. Reasembled, tried again and still nothing.
Tomorrow I plan to:
1. Put a new spark plug, which I ordered today
2. Remove the pilot pin and see if I can clean it, because I did't do that in my previous attempts.
I ran out of ideas and I need some help.
Long story short. I have MFS4CD 2012 (I don't actually know what the "D" stands for in the model, as I can't seem to find it online). It was working good, ran out of fuel, refueled it almost instantly and after the refueling it worked for a minute or two on idle and died every time when adding any amount of throttle. After cleaning the carb, it doesn't even try to start now.
I got it bundled with a 2nd hand boat I bought from Greece 3 seasons ago, using it as a secondary motor. I use it quite a lot, because my main 2 strokes 40 hp Yamaha '85 eats the fuel like crazy, so the smaller one fits me well for short distances and I was quite happy until now.
At the beginning of the season (June), I put the boat in the sea and the engine could hardly start, sputter and die in a few seconds. I brought it to the local mechanic, knowing it is most probably a clogged carburetor (which was not cleaned before). He cleaned it for 130 EUR and it was running great again. 3 weeks later I was using it and ran out of fuel in the middle of my trip, using only the internal tank, as I don't have an external one for this motor (saw the fuel level was quite low, but forgot to refill it when disembarking). No biggie, I had fresh gasoline with me with stabilizer added, because it was my last week at sea before winterizing. Surprisingly, after refilling I had trouble starting the engine. After quite a lot of tries it could start idling, but as soon as I touched the throttle, the engine died. I looked at some YT videos and read quite a lot of info online, as well as here about carb cleaning, so decided to do it myself. I disconnected all the tubes, removed the carb quite easily and brought it home for cleaning with a brand-new carb cleaner spray. What I did:
1. Inspected the carb tray : was pristine
2. Inspected the float with blowing, it could freely close and open, looks parallel to the body upside down
3. Removed the jet, cleaned the holes with spray and a very thin wire (they looked clean)
4. Removed the main jet (both parts: the screw and the jet itself underneath) saw that the jet has a very tiny hole at the tip, which sprays the fuel into the carb. Inside there is something like plastic or rubber around the hole to make its diameter smaller. It was so tiny, I had to clean it with a metal "hair" from a metal brush. I don't know if it needs to be like that, but I was careful not to enlarge the hole. Sprayed some more carb cleaner in every hole and in the jets.
5. Put the carb back together and back into the outboard. Not a hard job, so I was confident it will star right away.
6. Tried staring with the fuel tank cap opened in case the valve is not working properly.
Unfortunately, when I tried to star it it doesn't even try to start. On the 3-4 the pull there was only a pop from the exhaust and that's it after that nothing. Choked or not, with little throttle or full throttle - nothing. It is like it doesn't even try to start.
Today I tried troubleshooting again, so I did:
1. topped up the fuel to the max,
2. checked the fuel pump while disconnecting after the fuel filter: it squirts fuel with every pull
3. Changed the fuel filter just in case
4. Cut around 1 cm from the line between the pump and the filter, because I saw the rubber was hard at the place where the filter gets in, so it was damp with gasoline. Thought it might suck air from there.
5. The new filter is almost clear, so I can see the fuel inside and I see that the fuel doesn't fill it all, there is always a small air pocket on the very top of the filter. The fuel level's upper rim in the filter is the same level as the upper part of the carb's pan, so I guess that's normal?
6. Tried blowing a few times into the air tank to "prime" the system faster.
7. Checked the spark plug (but don't have tools to check for a spark). The plug was never changed by me until now, so it was quite oily and black, so I cleaned it with a 240 sandpaper gently.
8. The carb pan is getting full of fuel, because it drains out when I unscrew the drain screw.
No luck, so I
9. Opened the carb again, the jets and the float all looked good
10. Reasembled, tried again and still nothing.
Tomorrow I plan to:
1. Put a new spark plug, which I ordered today
2. Remove the pilot pin and see if I can clean it, because I did't do that in my previous attempts.
I ran out of ideas and I need some help.