Motor problems, Overheating? Oil?

[canon]

Any help would be appreciated. I was out on the Croix when I started having problems. I have 17 ft. alumacraft with a 40 envinrude. I took the boat on a longer ride, drove about 5 miles (afton to hudson), then cruised slowly around the no wake zone in hudson, then started back south again towards afton. After cranking up again out of the no wake zone, the motor just quit a minute or so later, I retarted it, it took off and the same thing happened. I did this a few times, it was very slow turning over. I thought it was a vapor lock because I have had that happen before when the gas vent was closed on the tank, but it was open in this case. After letting it cool down for a bit, it would start back up. When it turned over slowly, it almost sounded like a drained battery, but as I said, it started back up with some rest. Any ideas? Could it be an oil problem or over heating? It would run for a minute or two then shut down.

Canon

[marine_man]

What does the tell tale stream coming out the back of the motor look like at idle?

When was the last time you replaced the water pump?

If you take it out again and still have problems I'd have a compression check done too.

I'm guessing, if you're lucky, that the motor got too hot / warm from a wore out water pump impeller and that's why you were having issues. If you're unlucky it may be time for a rebuild, but not too likely.

marine_man

[canon]

Thanks for the reply, it looked as though I had a good stream of water comming out. I might take it out later today to test it again.