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| The used boat I bought 2 years ago had a kicker motor included, a 15hp Suzuki 4 stroke. I really have not used it except to run it a couple times for an hour or so trolling to make sure fuel was fresh etc. The other day I tried trolling for an hour or so and it worked fine at 3 mph but then I decided to see how fast it would push the boat. When I got much over half throttle it ran rough and seemed starved for fuel. I pumped the bulb and that seemed to help very briefly. I plan on new plugs when I winterize and I will check the fuel filter. Any other items I should check?
Edited by North of 8 10/1/2017 12:39 PM
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Posts: 320
| Do you have a silver/grey fuel line? If so some of them have a plastic liner that gets eaten up by ethanol. It will deteriorate and can cause your filter to plug up and gunk up your carbs. I had it happen. Replaced fuel line, filters & needed a carb rebuild. Only running 100% gas now. |
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| ToddC - 10/1/2017 2:45 PM
Do you have a silver/grey fuel line? If so some of them have a plastic liner that gets eaten up by ethanol. It will deteriorate and can cause your filter to plug up and gunk up your carbs. I had it happen. Replaced fuel line, filters & needed a carb rebuild. Only running 100% gas now.
It is a black rubber line. Previous owner said he only ran ethanol free gas in it. Very particular guy, so I would be surprised if he didn't. But, it could be an issue, you never know. Thanks |
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Posts: 3497
Location: Elk River, Minnesota | Hiya,
Couple of things to check, but I think you are on the right track...start with a fuel filter (or the fuel filter screen). My gut says you have some varnish issues in the carb clogging a jet, or a fuel filter/screen that has varnished as well.
A carb rebuild, in my humble opinion will be in order.
As for ethanol gas... If you are at all concerned about it, don't use it, but in all honesty, it will not hurt your engine at all... Now..if you let it sit, or any other unstabilized fuel in the lines or in your engine, you will have issues... That plastic liner being mentioned would deteriorate with any fuel...alcohol or not... gasoline is by its refined nature a solvent (just like water is for so many things), and alcohol. If you run the fuel out of your kicker when you are not using it for an extended period of time, you will be just fine... safe bet is seafoam for stabilizer as well as keeping things clean...
About the only benefit to running non-ethanol blended fuel is you get more HP out of your engine as you are burning a fuel that has a higher BTU rating, thus more output. Is it much? No...not really...but you do get a smoother running engine because of a higher octane...that is a nice benefit, but you pay for it as well.
Steve |
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| Thanks. The filter I can check but I will need to take it in for carb rebuild. |
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Posts: 3497
Location: Elk River, Minnesota | Where you at? I am assuming by your user name north of Hwy 8 in wisconsin?
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Posts: 1743
Location: Mt. Zion, IL | The 4 stroke Suzuki motors are known for vapor locking. Keep pumping that bulb until it goes away. Dads 25 hp is that way... |
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Location: Eastern Ontario | RyanJoz - 10/1/2017 10:10 PM
The 4 stroke Suzuki motors are known for vapor locking. Keep pumping that bulb until it goes away. Dads 25 hp is that way...
That's news to me I have 2 ( 115 & 20 kicker ) previously had a 70 and a 60 and did a whole lot of hours in a friends 50 Johnson all great motors.
Suzuki does reccomend using a water seperating filter
Edited by horsehunter 10/2/2017 6:37 AM
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Posts: 3497
Location: Elk River, Minnesota | RyanJoz - 10/1/2017 9:10 PM
The 4 stroke Suzuki motors are known for vapor locking. Keep pumping that bulb until it goes away. Dads 25 hp is that way...
If his motor is vapor locking, the engine would have to be extremely hot for the fuel to turn to gas before it is in the combustion chamber. With a water cooled engine, I highly doubt this would happen to a 2 cylinder engine with a fuel line that is extremely short and on the front side of the engine away from the cylinder head.
I honestly feel that your father's motor is not vapor locking... I'd bet it needs some carb work...
Steve |
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| VMS - 10/1/2017 8:43 PM
Where you at? I am assuming by your user name north of Hwy 8 in wisconsin?
Yes, Rhinelander area. There is a Suzuki dealer about 20 miles away. |
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Posts: 144
| Is the fuel line "T"d at the main outboard or is it two separate lines? |
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| pete619 - 11/8/2017 9:03 PM
Is the fuel line "T"d at the main outboard or is it two separate lines?
Two separate lines, two bulbs |
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Posts: 983
| smaller engines the ethanol fuel will chew up seals and rings that start to detrioriate and will clogg the carb out!! |
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| 25homes - 11/9/2017 2:37 PM
smaller engines the ethanol fuel will chew up seals and rings that start to detrioriate and will clogg the carb out!!
I have only used non-ethanol and the original owner said he did the same, without prompting. I am going to take it to the shop in early spring and have them check it out. They are not cheap but they seem to do good work and are easy to work with.
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Posts: 983
| yea I saw that but you never know for 100% certainty plus the way these tankers drop gas I don't believe much....seen them on multiple occasions have xtra Regular unleaded and they will drop whats left over right into the Premium fuel tank...hard to trust anything with gas these days plus just gas in general a solvent |
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Posts: 199
| 25homes - 11/10/2017 7:49 AM
yea I saw that but you never know for 100% certainty plus the way these tankers drop gas I don't believe much....seen them on multiple occasions have xtra Regular unleaded and they will drop whats left over right into the Premium fuel tank...hard to trust anything with gas these days plus just gas in general a solvent
Really? |
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Location: 31 | Muskie Gal - 11/11/2017 6:03 AM
25homes - 11/10/2017 7:49 AM
yea I saw that but you never know for 100% certainty plus the way these tankers drop gas I don't believe much....seen them on multiple occasions have xtra Regular unleaded and they will drop whats left over right into the Premium fuel tank...hard to trust anything with gas these days plus just gas in general a solvent
Really?
Yeah really! I encountered a situation with my premium only tow vehicle after I filled it up at an out of state small local gas station. The next morning after I got down the road the motor started pinging like crazy on every little hill from the crap gas that I paid extra for. I'm always a little more suspicious of the smaller gas stations doing this than larger places, plus larger places turn gas around more frequently.
With that said; I'm a firm believer in using non-ethanol premium in my boat year round... X10 for the last couple tanks when there's the greatest potential for the alcohol to be attracting water over the winter (with or without fuel stabilizer).
https://auto.howstuffworks.com/fuel-efficiency/alternative-fuels/eth...
http://www.chicagotribune.com/sns-201505181900--tms--askbildrctnab-...
https://www.consumerreports.org/cro/news/2013/03/gas-with-ethanol-ca...
Edited by Jerry Newman 11/20/2017 1:34 PM
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Location: Green Bay, WI | 25homes - 11/9/2017 2:37 PM
smaller engines the ethanol fuel will chew up seals and rings that start to detrioriate and will clogg the carb out!!
Actually, Mercury's website states that you can use up to 10% ethanol in their kicker engines. At least it says that on the page for the 15hp Pro-Kicker I'm getting. Checking their website now, I see it says that for the 8-9.9hp engines as well.
I plan to run no-ethanol Premium in the boat whenever possible, but it's nice to know that you can run a little Regular fuel through it if need be.
TB |
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Location: 31 | Yamaha recommends the use of non-ethanol gasoline, but “fresh” 10% ethanol can also be used, apparently this recommendation is due to the potential for shorter shelf life due to it's unique attraction to water.
Boats are different than automobiles because they are not used regularly, they also have open fuel systems that allow the ethanol to attract moisture from outside sources like humidity and condensation.
(Yamaha owners manual (1).jpg)
(Yamaha owners manual (2).jpg)
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 Yamaha owners manual (1).jpg (92KB - 519 downloads)
Yamaha owners manual (2).jpg (75KB - 520 downloads)
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Posts: 497
Location: Northern Illinois | Ethanol-free gas can be hard to find especially in metropolitan areas such as the one I live in. I used an app called Pure Gas to find stations that sell ethanol-free gas this season and my motors saw no ethanol this year. |
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Location: Green Bay, WI | That's one good thing still about living in the Green Bay area. There seem to be a number of gas stations where non-ethanol "premium" fuel is available. Any Kwik Trip I've been to seems to have no-ethanol premium, for instance. I have been told that Fleet Farm even has no-ethanol regular unleaded fuel, but I haven't checked that out lately. But the relatively few gallons of gas a guy goes through in the boat per year doesn't really add too much cost over "regular" unleaded fuel, especially when you consider the cost of repairing any ethanol-related damage to fittings and seals in the fuel system. |
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