03 Evinrude 250 running problem

[Vince521VX]

Hi all. I am at a loss here. I have a 03 Ranger 521vx with a 250 Evinrude. Started giving me problems. It stalled on me while trying to take off, and wouldn't start for a good 5+ minutes. Finally trimmed motor up out of the water and it fired right up. It ran perfect the rest of the day. Next 2 times out, it just doesn't seem to have all the power. Almost falls on its face getting on plane and won't get rpm's up nearly where they should be. Or sometimes it's perfect and runs fine. No rhyme or reason. Sometimes it feels like no power then will jolt you in your seat and go like normal. But hasn't stalled again or gave me any starting issues. Had it looked at. Everything is checking out good, no alarms or codes. Checked everything that would do with running. He thought it was the low pressure fuel pump, but that wasn't it. Wondering if anyone has had this, or has any incite to lead me in the right direction. Only thing he is leaning towards is a computer, but doesn't want to start throwing parts at it. But at this point I just picked up a broken boat and don't know what to do! Hoping BBC can be my savior once again!! Thanks

[Danrude]

Knowing that the PDP's in the Ficht series was subject to having cold solder joints I would be looking in that direction. I had a problem with one that would shut down when you would power down on it. It wouldn't start sometimes on cool mornings until the sun would worm it up. I was able to take the back of of it and re-solder the connections. In my case the 12v to the PDP board was the problem!

[Vince521VX]

I just looked it up. So its the board with 3 relays and some 10a fuses on it? I never really dug around much under the cowl. But I'm taking it to a buddy this weekend and we are gonna check some stuff. He keeps leaning towards an air leak in the fuel system, but I am definitely going to look at what you are suggesting first

[DaleH]

If you were to buy the OEM Evinrude Factory service manual for that specific model, there is a section called 'Action Steps - Ignition System', which checks out the power on the PDP. However ... (1) it can't check for poor solder joints inside of the PDP and (2) even worse, you appear to have an intermittant issue and those are THE most difficult to chase down.

But once when I thought I had a PDP issue I had called and talked to Chet @ DFI Technologies about it. After giving him the specifics of the issue I was having, in his opinion it wasn't caused by the PDP, so I never sent it in. They do repairs on them, specifically for the cold solder joint issues. (Note that more than a few on here have repaired their own ...). I'm embarrassed to admit I forget what issue I was having, but it has never repeated.

[Vince521VX]

Dale, I'm sorry I was a little confused. So basically your problem went away on its own? I am going to try this DFI. This is the 2nd time I'm hearing about them

[JoePA]

What did the plugs look like? Champion? gap? Indexed? Check to make sure that the arm that opens the throttle body butterflies still has the clear roller in place.

[Vince521VX]

Hey Joe. I didn't look at the plugs. But I had it at Dinbokowitz. He checked the plugs. I know they are finicky in this motor, so I don't mess with them. And have them changed every year. I don't know about the arm on the throttle body. I can certainly check that out.

[JoePA]

Dinbokowitz is good as well as Reading Boat works for Evinrude repair. Could be fuel related. Did they make any changes/repairs?

[Vince521VX]

no. He said there were no codes or faults. He checked everything he thought it might have been. He didn't want to throw parts at it

[DaleH]

I'd check out the fuel lines from tank to engine, including the fuel pickup and/or anti-siphon valve.

I've seen PU flters clogged with big, long hair balls of lint that inhibited proper fuel flow and was intermittant, depending upon where the hairball wrapped around the PU as the saltwater boat hit wakes, chop and seas and the fuel jostled back and forth!

[Vince521VX]

Thanks for all the great info. Will be checking it out this weekend. A guy I know is helping me. He seems to be leaning towards a fuel line issue. We shall see