Tried to go Fish, but had issues

[Dirk]

My boat has a 2006 ETec 75 HP motor with jet drive. It has been a GREAT motor thus far and never let me down until today. I let it sit about 3 years and then several months ago got it out and cleaned it up and once I got it cranked it ran GREAT as usual. But the last couple of trips on the way back to ramp it has started acting up. To start with I would have it wide open on plane and it will bog down like to half or less throttle for a few seconds, and then back to normal, then bog down a few seconds, then normal, etc. Then last time I used it it was staying bogged down to what felt like about half throttle (I had it wide open) most the time and then bog down even more down to barely over idle speed, then half throttle, then just over idle speed, etc...

I changed Fuel Filter, which was nasty, but that made no difference. I cleaned the vent for the gas tank and it is fine. I also changed the squeeze bulb in gas line and checked the gas line itself and it looks fine. I put more fresh gas in it as well and all the things I did not only didn't help but it seemed to get worse and now I can barely get it to crank and idle. I am thinking possibly fuel pump(this motor does have fuel pump) but I hope not as I think they are about $900 for these things and need to be 100% sure before I spend that much money.

This motor has fuel injection/no carburetor and the symptoms are not that anyway as carbs/clogged injectors don't work fine, then clog, then fine, then clog, etc... This is a different problem I think. I am certainly NOT A MECHANIC, but I do have a decent amount of common sense.

Anybody have a similar thing happen to them and if so what did you figure out??? Thanks. Dirk

 

[tr21]

just got finished getting my 225 yamaha back on the water after 10+ years. it has 3 low pressure and 1 high pressure pumps. when i 1st started it it would run and only get about 2k rpm's for a short time then die. yamaha wanted $950 for the high pressure pump ! i found it on ebay for $90. replaced it and rebuilt the low pressure pumps for $15 ea. went ahead and cleaned/rebuilt the injectors. had her on the water today and 80+mph. check boats.net for parts list and numbers then search ebay . ETHENOL GAS SUCKS !!!!!

 

[mizzippi jb]

E tec is notorious for fuel pump issues. I don't know if they could be intermittent like you describe though. I had a 25 as well as my buddy and both of our fuel pumps went out. Luckily mine was under some sort of warranty and it cost me 50 bucks to replace

 

[Whitefeather]

My boat has a 2006 ETec 75 HP motor with jet drive. It has been a GREAT motor thus far and never let me down until today. I let it sit about 3 years and then several months ago got it out and cleaned it up and once I got it cranked it ran GREAT as usual. But the last couple of trips on the way back to ramp it has started acting up. To start with I would have it wide open on plane and it will bog down like to half or less throttle for a few seconds, and then back to normal, then bog down a few seconds, then normal, etc. Then last time I used it it was staying bogged down to what felt like about half throttle (I had it wide open) most the time and then bog down even more down to barely over idle speed, then half throttle, then just over idle speed, etc...

I changed Fuel Filter, which was nasty, but that made no difference. I cleaned the vent for the gas tank and it is fine. I also changed the squeeze bulb in gas line and checked the gas line itself and it looks fine. I put more fresh gas in it as well and all the things I did not only didn't help but it seemed to get worse and now I can barely get it to crank and idle. I am thinking possibly fuel pump(this motor does have fuel pump) but I hope not as I think they are about $900 for these things and need to be 100% sure before I spend that much money.

This motor has fuel injection/no carburetor and the symptoms are not that anyway as carbs/clogged injectors don't work fine, then clog, then fine, then clog, etc... This is a different problem I think. I am certainly NOT A MECHANIC, but I do have a decent amount of common sense.

Anybody have a similar thing happen to them and if so what did you figure out??? Thanks. Dirk

iboats.com.

 

[woods&water]

My mercury fuel injected 60 hp did exactly what you described. I changed the fuel bulb, fuel line, both fuel filters and also the low pressure lift pump. Made no difference at all.

Decided to take the high pressure pump apart before I bit the bullet and bought one. Found that it had a micron screen filter in the inlet to the pump itself. Cleaned the filter with gumout carburetor cleaner and compressed air and put it back together since I found nothing else suspicious. Been running better than new for over 2 years now. The mercury has 2 filters before the high pressure pump but still messed up the micron screen inside the high pressure pump. Go figure
Just for those that are wondering, I NEVER run ethanol gas.

 

[Darkhorse]

Years ago I had a carbureted 150 Evinrude we used to fish offshore and Kingfish tourneys. First trip of the season we took it to Jacksonville, Fla. and it started acting just like you describe. I barely made it in.
Turned out to be an electrical problem. Each cylinder had a resistor ( I don't remember the actual name of the part) and when it gets really cold they will sometimes crack. Then when the engine warms it starts arcing through that tiny crack and the engine hardly runs. Mine had 3 cracked if I remember correctly.
Changed out those parts and the engine was back to normal.

 

[Liquid nails]

Motor is being starved of fuel. Pump would be the smoking gun. Had a issue very similar to this on a boat a few years ago.

 

[Ajohnson0587]

I'd take it to a qualified mechanic and let them diagnose it, could be something simple or it could be the pump. Buy once Cry once is the moto I live by, especially when it come to something that cost $900.

 

[baddave]

You said you changed fuel filter. My yamaha 90 has a fuel filter you can see when the cover is off but it also has a fuel water separator that has to be replaced ever so often. Mine is hard to get to but it was the remedy for symptoms you described

 

[Hillbilly stalker]

First thing I would do is pour a can of Sea Foam in the gas and run it thru the system. My Mercury pulls that same stunt about every other year. Run non ethanol gas and keep Sea Foam in it. It’s not the same as tearing everything apart and cleaning it good, but it’s $10 a can and takes care of a lot of them. It’s a carb and fuel injection cleaner.

 

[fairweatherfisherman]

Sounds like a fuel pump or a fuel lift pump. Had two of those lift pumps go bad on my optimax. Intermittent problem then a hard failure at dusk down there on the Hooch not far from where we went one time in your boat. The second time it happened I didn’t wait for the hard failure.

 

[Dirk]

Sounds like a fuel pump or a fuel lift pump. Had two of those lift pumps go bad on my optimax. Intermittent problem then a hard failure at dusk down there on the Hooch not far from where we went one time in your boat. The second time it happened I didn’t wait for the hard failure.

Thanks for all the advice. I hooked a PSI gauge to the upper valve after the high pressure pump and should have been getting about 30+ psi, but was only getting 8-20 psi, fluctuating a little with motor running. I checked the specs and Evinrude says should be 24-26 psi MINIMUM and normally 30+ psi. So I believe most likely it is the high pressure pump itself. There are a couple things that can go wrong with the vapor Separator as well though AND for whatever reason they don't sell just the high pressure pump, only the other parts and the whole assembly. I found an after market pump that probably would work for about $150 but not one made specifically for this motor. I can buy the whole assembly that includes a new vapor separator, as well as pump for $548.99 directly from Evinrude/BRP so that's probably what I will do.

I might tinker with it again a little tomorrow as there is a SMALL chance it could be the key switch is messing up or an issue with power wire going to the high pressure pump, before I bite the bullet and spend the $550. I am very confident that my issue is most likely the pump and next most likely thing would be the vapor separator based on the fact the low pressure pump seems to be working fine but I am getting way less than the minimum at all times after the high pressure pump.

If I spend $550 and that doesn't fix it, I will probably have a pretty serious man fit which will likely involve lots of throwing and possibly breaking things, and most likely some extremely bad language. I will try to get my wife to video it when I get it changed and try it just incase as that might make a good TikTok or whatever....

 

[oops1]

I was having an issue where my Yamaha F150 was losing around 2000 rpms at wide open throttle. Watched some videos on how to clean injectors and went and bought wires and a switch and sea foam to try to clean them. Then looked on Amazon and found new injectors for 40 bucks. Bought those and installed and motor ran like crap but I gained my rpms back,it just wouldn’t idle and it was leaking fuel.The new injectors were junk. Pulled those and cleaned the stock injectors and that solved the issues. It took less than an hour so it may be worth a shot for you to try.

 

[tr21]

I was having an issue where my Yamaha F150 was losing around 2000 rpms at wide open throttle. Watched some videos on how to clean injectors and went and bought wires and a switch and sea foam to try to clean them. Then looked on Amazon and found new injectors for 40 bucks. Bought those and installed and motor ran like crap but I gained my rpms back,it just wouldn’t idle and it was leaking fuel.The new injectors were junk. Pulled those and cleaned the stock injectors and that solved the issues. It took less than an hour so it may be worth a shot for you to try.

yea his problem is not the injectors. it's his high pressure pump, notice he said he checked it and said the pressure is low !! unfortunately he has to replace the whole vapor tank and pump, on our yamaha's you can replace just the pump at $89 not like his at over $500 .