So I’m housesitting this week, and they have a boat. They told me to feel free to take the boat out (small pontoon boat, small private lake) - and don’t worry if the engine floods because it happens a lot.
Well, the engine flooded in the middle of the lake the other day, and someone was nice enough to tow me back to my dock. He said to let it sit for a day. Well, yesterday evening it still wouldn’t start back up.
Does anyone have any suggestions? If not, I’m perfectly content leaving it be and waiting for the owners to come back.
Is this one of those small outboards where the gas tank is “part of” the motor? Or does it have a separate tank?
If it has an “integrated” gas tank, the gas is gravity fed and it sounds like the float isn’t closing. Fixing it would involve removing the carb float and adjusting the tang on it to close the needle valve.
If it’s a separate tank, it has a different fuel delivvery system, but it will still have a float bowl and float.
I don’t think it’s anything you want to get into, but it isn’t a difficult fix if you’ve ever taken one of those carburetors apart.
The gas tank is separate (I’ve been around that lake about 15 times, and nary a dent in the fuel indicator. There’s a squeeze bubble on the hose that connects the two. The guy who helped me out had me give it just a few squeezes, and said not to mess with that in the future.
That reminds me - when the owner was showing me the boat, he mentioned that it has a hard time “burning the carbon off the top”, whatever that means.
The squeeze bubble primes the engine. If you’re having a problem with flooding, you might want to be careful with how much extra gas you put into the engine, besides it should only be used for starting the engine.
If it’s easily accessable, you may want to remove the spark plug and pull the rope to discharge excess fuel from the cylinder. Air dry the plug and try it again.
This of course isn’t a permanent fix but may help the next time it fails out in the middle of the lake without anyone around.
I can’t believe I didn’t mention it, but right before it stalled out, there was a high pitched electronic squeal coming from the dash. Because of it, I turned the engine off, since I didn’t know what it was. That’s when it didn’t start back up. Does that change any answers?