WON'T STAY RUNNING

Post by **Brampton Mike** » Mon Mar 19, 2007 5:29 am

Posting for a friend.....he has an I/O 87 Merc 140 which starts and idles fine....when it is put into gear it dies..........any ideas???? Thanks........Brampton Mike

Post by **IanD** » Mon Mar 19, 2007 6:40 am

Sounds like a fuel line blockage. Remove the line and blow it out.
with a line block, there is usually enough fuel getting through to start and idle but when you accelerate, the motor gets starved.

Post by JP » Mon Mar 19, 2007 11:01 am

Could be a blockage, but more sounds like a very dirty carb.. We also see alot of worn out float kits and the engine actually floods because the float does not swith off the flow of gas to the engine. You know this is the problem if there is a strong smell of gas after the engine starts and if it stalls if you throttke up. If this is the problem it is an easy fix, get a carb kit and float and clean the fuel system and you should be good.
Cheers
JP

Post by **waynerb66** » Mon Mar 19, 2007 7:33 pm

I had exactly the same problem with my motor. It had only been started once a year for the past five years when I bought it. So you can imagine how dirty the carb was. I had exactly what JP said to do done to it, along with new seals. And the tech at the Yamaha shop said it started on half a pull. I have to take his word for it because I bought it in October and winterized it and put it away. Hopefully I will be able to test that out soon.

Post by **mikemicropterus** » Tue Mar 20, 2007 9:31 am

The guy said I/O, if this is the first time you have started it this year and you did not stabilize the fuel then the culprit is bad fuel. To re&re an I/O carb and rebuild it is not in the capacity of your regular owner. What I suggest is you continually keep the motor running by using the throttle and acclerator pump circuit which is incoprorated in the carb. PUMP and PUMP, short, sharp, motions with the throttle not full movement of the throttle. This may keep the motor running until it can run the bad gas through and get some volatile fuel in the carb. What usually happens is there is enough gas to keep the motor running with no load and when the throttle is used to increase rpm and load increases the engine stalls as the bad gas is pulled from the flaot bowl. Now if there is a restriction it will be very noticeasble becasue the accelerator circuit inthe carb will go dry and you will get no fuel at all going through the accelerator cicuit when you pump the throttle.

What I believe is happening is the fuel in the bowl is bad and the fuel from the line is combustible so that is what the engine is running on. I am goinmg to have to ASSUME that the motor ran fine last year and that this condition just happened. If that is the case then it is a bad fuel situation and not a blockage. If it is a blockage how does the fuel get to the carb to get the engine running.

Now if you have not winterized the motor properly over the past few seasons or you just bought the boat last year and over the past few seasons it has not idled as well and was hard to start when warm then the carb will have to be removed and rebuilt by a professional or the carb swap is an avenue. Just go buy an after market carb and most of the adjustments are already done. Most of the time all that is needed is adjustment of the choke. This is not something you want to tackle if you don't have the tools and the experience.

Hope this helps and PM if you need more assistance.

Post by **Brampton Mike** » Tue Mar 20, 2007 2:54 pm

Thanks all but it is not a carb problem...any other ideas???

Post by **TLunge** » Wed Mar 21, 2007 11:36 am

Woah, you guys are way off, It's a stiff or seized shift cable, the one that goes to the drive, or something binding in the lower shift linkages
TLunge

Post by **Brampton Mike** » Wed Mar 21, 2007 2:20 pm

Sorry wrong again...it goes into gear but stalls out!

Brampton Mike

Post by **waynerb66** » Wed Mar 21, 2007 2:24 pm

Mike you need to bring that boat in before the softwater arrives. Because if you wait til it's too late, Those places will be booked tight with people getting there engines ready for spring.

Post by **ady** » Thu Mar 22, 2007 6:38 am

plugs, leads and coils. A week ignition system will work with no load but fail as soon as you put a load on it.

Post by **mikemicropterus** » Thu Mar 22, 2007 8:42 am

If it stalls going into gear there is a shift interrupter that grounds the igntion as you put it into gear, if that is not adjusted properly or sticks it will shut the engine down as you put it into gear. If it goes into gear and then stalls as throttle is applied and you are sure it is not fuel related then it has to be ignition, and ady is correct that a bad condensor will cause stalling under load.

Post by **furious** » Thu Mar 22, 2007 2:28 pm

I had the same thing a few years ago with my Johnson 150. It would idle fine but as soon as it went into gear it would stall. It turned out to be a loose screw on a throttle cable under the cowling. It was fixed in like 10 seconds and didn't require any parts.

Post by **furious** » Thu Mar 22, 2007 2:28 pm

I had the same thing a few years ago with my Johnson 150. It would idle fine but as soon as it went into gear it would stall. It turned out to be a loose screw on a throttle cable under the cowling. It was fixed in like 10 seconds and didn't require any parts.