Fuel leak?

[Ron Burgundy]

Yesterday morning...

9:30 am - Head out to the boat with ten gallons of gas and a quart of 2 stroke oil. Fill up gas tank and oil injection tank to the top. Start the motor to let it idle for a few minutes just to get it warmed up for later.

9:45 am - Go iside eat breakfast, run to the store for some snacks, drink, and sandwiches for our family outing to the island.

10:30 am - Finish loading the boat up with wife and son and our beach gear.

10:35 am - Turn the ignition key...motor starts then dies...try again...motor starts then dies. Maybe I need to squeeze the primer bulb again. I do that then notice that there is some fuel in the water around my motor. Not much, but I can see that 'oil slick'

10:40 am - I really don't want to scrub this trip. We have been waiting all weekend and my son has his spiderman outfit on. I think that maybe somehow I flooded the engine.

10:42 am - I turn the key...run the throttle up to about 2500 RPM to clear out the flooded fuel in the in the motor. Let it run at that RPM for a minute or two then drop it back down to idle. It idles fine and I don't see any more fuel in the water.

10:45 am - We shove off and the motor idles good...then we motor out to the island at 4250 RPM...no issues.

2:30 pm - Come back home...hook up the muffs to flush the engine...no problem starts fine...

Should I be concerned? Did I flood it by priming to much? Do I have a stick float in the carb? Anything else?

[jrolin1]

Probably not. I would remove the cowl and pump the bulb tight to see if there were any leaks. Sometimes 2 strokes and temperamental. Did you give it any gas when you were cranking it?

[lakerunner696]

Probably not. I would remove the cowl and pump the bulb tight to see if there were any leaks. Sometimes 2 strokes and temperamental. Did you give it any gas when you were cranking it?

Was the motor tilted?If so it could have just spilled from carb. It could have a stuck float if not. When I had my Honda I had a carb float stick and fuel overflowed into the lake or ground. I pulled the drain at bottom of the bowl and using canned air I blew it out. Lucky it worked and dislodged the debris.

[yellowk9]

The way your narrative was going I thought you were going to say you ran out of fuel in the middle of the ocean I guess things could be worse The only 2-stroke I have experience with is a 25 hp tiller on my flat bottom. I can tell you it's not uncommon to have small fuel leakage out of the carb when tilting the motor.

[Ron Burgundy]

Was the motor tilted?

It was tilted for about a week prior to 9:30 am last morning. I then tilted it down to start it...it started fine, and I ran it for a few minutes before shutting it off and eating breakfast...let it set for an hour or so, and then came back. This is when it acted up.

Probably not. I would remove the cowl and pump the bulb tight to see if there were any leaks. Sometimes 2 strokes and temperamental. Did you give it any gas when you were cranking it?

Good idea. Initially I didn't give it any gas. I don't usually need to. After a couple failed attempts (the motor fired up, but then died after a couple seconds) I started it without giving it the gas, but then immediately after it fired up I gave it gas and brought it up to about 2500 RPM.

The way your narrative was going I thought you were going to say you ran out of fuel in the middle of the ocean I guess things could be worse The only 2-stroke I have experience with is a 25 hp tiller on my flat bottom. I can tell you it's not uncommon to have small fuel leakage out of the carb when tilting the motor.

lol...yeah it was a little dramatic without much of a finish. I was a little nervous heading out, but I figured "It's only the Gulf of Mexico. What could go wrong?"

[GregF]

You probably just flooded it. If it doesn't happen again I would not spend a lot of time worrying about it.

You don't need a lot of fuel/oil mix on the water to leave a pretty big slick.

Even my 4 stroke drops a little oil slick sometime. The manufacturer swears it is coming from the idle port on the leg because I idle around too much.

[badmoonrising]

I would pump the primer bulb and look for any fuel leaks, but I agree you probably flooded it. Don't do this again

[Ron Burgundy]

I would pump the primer bulb and look for any fuel leaks, but I agree you probably flooded it. Don't do this again

LOL...ok

Could filling the gas and oil tanks up too much cause this.

[badmoonrising]

Yep. If you overfill the tanks, and the tank swells in that Florida heat and vent fuel out of the vent hose. Also the boat rocking will force fuel out of the vent if the tank is way over full.

Don't overfill your tank either

[Ron Burgundy]

Yep. If you overfill the tanks, and the tank swells in that Florida heat and vent fuel out of the vent hose. Also the boat rocking will force fuel out of the vent if the tank is way over full.

Don't overfill your tank either

I think I did overfill. I see how this could cause it to spill into the water, but could this also cause the engine to flood?

[badmoonrising]

Flooding is caused by either carb issues or operator error

[GregF]

You can also leak oil when it is tilted if the oil tank is too full

[Ron Burgundy]

I went over to the boat today, and pulled of the cover. I pumped the primer ball a couple times and found my leak. Fuel is leaking from the fuel filter. It looks like it is coming from a bad o-ring seal. I didn't want to stay outside to disconnect it because it felt like about 105 degrees outside.


I'm not very experienced with outboard repair, but this seems like a simple job. I think all I need to do is unscrew the one bolt holding it on. Then unscrew the filter cup, and replace the o-ring. I should probably replace the fuel filter while I am working on it too. Any thoughts?

[curtiscapk]

Look how far you have come grasshopper!

Perfect plan

Maybe you can come up to MO and do a ring job on mine.....

[Ron Burgundy]

Maybe you can come up to MO and do a ring job on mine.....

Sicko



lol