Model number e200fslsoe serial #: 05084655
Hello, the above motor is having a problem between 4000 and 5000 rpm. It feels like it is missing and stutters anywhere in that range. Below 4000 runs great and above 5000 runs great. Any help would be appreciated, i have no dealer around here very close and would hate to drive it for hours and hours just to hear them say "they just do that." It is a very noticeable stutter/miss. Thank you,
How many hours on the engine? Have the plugs been changed? What is the W.O.T rpm on the engine? What kind of rig is it?
There is maybe 30-40hrs on the engine. I took it in for the initial service at the end of last year. I'm not sure if the plugs were changed or not at that service. It was doing it then and is still doing it now. The WOT rpm is 5800 and it is on an Alumacraft Trophy 190. Hope this helps, take care
Pull the plugs one at a time and check the gap .028. Make sure you put a mark on the plug ceramic in line with the air gap so you'll index it correctly.
I will check the plug gaps and make sure they are indexed correctly this weekend and get back to ya. Thanks for the help
ok, plugs were replaced because they did have quite a bit of carbon on them. Made sure they were indexed correctly and took the boat out yesterday. It is still surging at between 4 and 5k. It is almost impossible to maintain a constant rpm in that range becasue the motor will either slowly decrease in rpm and sound even worse or increase in rpm until it gets out of that range. Sometimes you will even go to decrease the throttle and the motor will surge in rpms about 200rpms. I talked to one other guy at the ramp that had the same motor and he said his does it too, but his wont stay in the 2k to 3k range. I would accept that, but 4k to 5k is my cruising range most of the time. Any help is appreciated.
Check the fuel supply from the boat with a vacuum guage and a piece of clear plastic fuel line hooked in line after the primer bulb, look for bubbles in the clear hose and a vacuum reading of no more than 1.5 hg.
don't mean to sound rediculously stupid, but how exactly do you hook up a vacuum gauge to the fuel line and where can you get one (auto parts store?) I have a vacation planned with the boat in two weeks, is this a condition that could cause any harm to the motor if it doesn't get diagnosed and fixed before then? Would the computer for the motor show any codes or anything to a dealer? thanks again guys
You need a in line fuel vacuum guage, most auto parts stores will offer them, place a "t" in the fuel line with the clear hose on one side and the motor fuel line on the other, attach the guage to the third leg of the "t".
If there is a fuel restriction from the boat it could cause problems for the motor.
The computer will not have any codes for fuel restrictions.
Since this is an aluminum boat, you need to check the hull for a hook. Look from the rear of the boat at the underside(keel). It needs to be flat or at least as flat as it can be. If there is a noticeable rise in the hull, it creates a low pressure area when the boat is at cruising speed. This actually will cause the boat to (surge) when cruising. It can mimic an engine fuel supply problem. You may also prime the bulb when the problem occurs to see if it is aleiviated. If priming the bulb helps, the fuel tank pickup, anti syphon valve, primer bulb, or the fuel lift pump may be suspect. As Rusty said, fuel vaccum test will help determine if the fuel tank pickup,antisyphon valve,or primer bulb is suspect. Good luck.
Thanks for the info rudetech. We checked the hull with a 5 foot straight edge and didn't see any variance over about a sixteenth of an inch, is that enough to cause any problems? Picked up a vacuum gauge and some clear fuel line yesterday and will hook it up to see what it reads on Saturday. Really looking forward to testing the outboard with all of the weekend warrior memorial day crowd out thereWe will also attempt to pump the ball when it is doing it and see if that makes any difference. Have a fishing trip in Canada scheduled to leave next Thursday and i'm a little tentative to put hundreds of miles on the outboard if it may have a lean condition. Thanks again
Hull sounds good,check the other stuff.
Ok guys, did what you said and hooked up a clear line from the primer bulb to the engine and hooked up a vacuum gauge. The vacuum gauge read about 2hg at idle and about 3 to 3.2 hg at full throttle. The gauge never ran any higher than 3.2hg and generally stayed right around 2.8 to 3hg throughout the whole rpm range and slowly increased up to it's max reading of 3.2hg at wot.
Now for the other part. The clear fuel line showed MANY bubbles coming from before the primer bulb and going to the motor. Sometimes it was just a constant stream of bubbles and it made you wonder how the engine was even staying running. Other times it would stay solid fuel for a while with very small bubbles in it once in a while. It didn't really seam to change with rpm as to when there were more or less bubbles in the line. When the bulb was pumped whjen the engine was sputtering in the bad rpm range it really didn't seem to affect the motor at all, but the motor was stuttering more when there was more air in the line.
So what exactly does this mean and how bad is it to run the motor in this condition. Is it a stop running it completely or the motor will blow up, or more of a try and get it fixed as fast as possible, but don't be deathly afraid to run it??? I have a new fuel pickup tube for the tank ordered and already replaced every other line and fuel clamp from the gas tank to the motor. I will also try to bypass the fuel tank selector switch after i get the new pickup in the tank to see if anything works. Any other ideas? Thanks again for the help,
Start checking the system for loose clamps, deteriorated fittings. Air in the lines is a sign of a leak to the fuel system, this lets air go to the engine and allows the upper injectors to run lean, pump air with fuel. The air makes the engine stall untill reaching higher rpms to over come the excess air. The engine has a vapor seperator, but it can only do soo much. Fix the air leak and retry your test.
ok, we have replaced all of the lines and will replace the fuel tank pickup and the selector switch. The big question i have is would you guys risk taking this boat/motor on a canadian fishing trip for 10 days if the condition isn't fixed when we replace all of this stuff?? We do have one guy with a boat not scheduled to go this year that could fill in if taking it could cause serious harm to the motor. Sorry to bother you guys so much, your help on these boards is invaluable, take care
When in doubt, take somebody elses rig and fix yours later.
ok, motor survived the trip, but is still running terrible in that rpm range. I took it to a dealer 2 weeks ago and just picked it up because he said he didn't have time to look at it and wasn't sure when he might because he was backed up so much. I figured i might as well at least have it home in the garage rather than sitting outside in his lot getting rained on. Replaced the pickup in the tank, every gas fitting, and all hoses and it still is running terrible. Any ideas?
After you replaced the fuel system parts did you recheck with the vacuum guage and clear hose?
yes, we did recheck it and it read slightly lower(.2 to .3 different), but pretty close to the same. There were quite a few less bubbles, but there were still some when changing rpms mostly. There would be more for a few seconds, then they would go away and it would be solid fuel.
Are there any running problems at low speed...IE: dying when shifting, missing at idle?
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