Starting after a long haul

[Little Joe]

I've noticed my 40hp Evenrude doesn't like me after I've trailered my boat a long way - 2 + hours on the road. It's normally a good starter/runner but when I trailer my boat for long distances, it won't stay running. It will turn over fine but typically kills after a while. Took me a good 20 minutes to get the thing to idle on it's own last weekend.

Does this happen to anyone else or does anyone have any opinions on the matter? A budy told me to disconnect my fuel line from the motor. Any other thoughts?

[HOGEYE]

My boat does the same thing. Disconnect the fuel hose. On a long trip the gas tanks build pressure and floods the motor.

[Moose-Hunter]

Hey there Little Joe...

I think your buddy and Hogeye nailed it. Disconnect your fuel line or , if you can, turn off the flow and you should be alright.

One of my snowmobiles acts the same way. After about a 15 minute or more, ride on the trailer, it's a no-go on quick start-up. A sled tech told me that the bouncing from the trailer ride "plays" with the float levels in the carbs and eventually floods the motor. I started turning off the gas before trailering and the problem was solved.

He went on to tell me that this problem also happens sometimes in EFI motors. How? I have no idea. Pressure build up? Anyway, this is what I was told....

Give it a try... It sounds like it's the answer to your problem...

------------------
M-H (aka: Dan)

[Surface Tension]

I've been following this and I would say the sled will definitely flood out while trailering. A few reasons why. The gas tank is higher and will gravity feed gas into the carbs as they get hammered down the road and the gas runs into the sleds crank just as Moose Hunter descried.

With an outboard I'm picturing the motor tilted up during travel. Any gas leaving the bowls would have to run out the throat and outside the engine. I'm assuming you have an inboard tank because you have a 40 hp? Inboard tanks are vented, leaving no chance of pressure building up and pushing gas into the carb. Unless the gas in the line is using the phenomenon of "capillary action". Still if your motor is tilted up when trailering then the gas would not run into the crank as I stated earlier.
So unless you have a portable tank and you travel with you motor down I can't see how you could be flooding out during the drive. Now if you have a portable tank disconnect the gas line like the earlier posts suggested.

[Little Joe]

Thanks for the responses fella's. ST hit the nail on the head - I do have an internal tank and tilt the motor when traveling.

Anyone else have a suggestion? I have no probs on short trips around the metro. Just happens on the longer hauls.....

[IFallsRon]

Regarding pressure building up in the tank, I've had a couple caps that the pressure relief valve has failed. I had to crack the cap for the motor to run until I got it replaced.

[kevfish]

I have a 75hp merc that did the same thing. I brought it in and had a mechanic ajust the carbs-has run good ever since then. Also mine would stall if ideling or trolling for any length of time

[Surface Tension]

I think your bowls are dry from bouncing around during travel time. In your case with the internal tank, taking the hose off will stop the gas from siphoning down the hose and back into the tank via a slight leak in the bulbs check valve. Heres what happens when you fuel line and bulb are empty. You squeeze the bulb up and as the fuel reaches a level in the carb the bulb becomes hard. It gets hard when the carbs float raises and in coming fuel gets shut by the inlet valve. You will still have air left in the fuel line and as the engine runs this air gets replaced with gas. Your cold startups will be effected by that air in the line and the engine will stall till that air gets replaced with gas. During cold starts follow this sequence.
Squeeze the bulb up and use the choke till it fires.
When it sounds like its dieing out hit the choke till it revs back up then take the choke back off.
Its common to repeat this on/off choke cycle till the engine warms up, how many times depends on air temp, amount of air in the line, carb adjustment and condition of the carb.