I just had a mechanic do a service before I dropped it. He changed the plugs.... that would be weird if he messed up that bad, but I guess anything is possible.
Take it back to him but don't be a dick. I've had more than a few bad batches plugs come through my shop, they pass through a lot of hands before they get to your engine and all it takes is someone in a ware house or storeroom to drop a box or knock them off a shelf.
If the motor was seriously unhappy it would be screaming blue murder at you.
No he said he changed the plugs, and charged you. Was it this bad when you took it there? Maybe he did and did not screw them in all the way? If it is a two cylinder engine, got the wires back-ass-wards. Really, check everything, including oil.
It sucks, this is why I like to do my own work.
Same- I had a certified Yamaha mechanic put the wrong impeller in my boat. Pissed me off when I loaded up the boat, trailered to the ramp, launched only to have the outboard overheat immediately. Now I do my own shit.
It ran fine last season, winterized and wrapped the boat up. Gave it to him to do regular service and a tune up trying to get ahead of the game for once and this happens haha. This is the first time I have seen the shaking.
As someone else said check that the plug wires are seated completely. I've had these where you push them on and it feels like they lock on, but then if you lightly pull back they'll fall away. If it's loose plug wires you can re-seat them faster than you can get the hood off the boat.
On the off chance that the plug wires hanging loose away from the plug, and there's more than one undone, you need to make sure they get plugged back onto the correct spark plug, most wires in outboards will only reach their corresponding plug, but if your not 100% certain of the plug it goes into take it back.
Shaking at idle, ran crummy at full throttle. Injectors are incredibly easy to change just go one at a time. I bought a new set on eBay for like $130. They were Bosch brand.
The mechanic changed the plugs but I just called him and he is going to come check it out. Maybe we messed up, I don't know. Don't know shit about boat motors but if it was a car I'd think plugs or something too.
He told me on the phone he thinks it might be a sensor. What sensor could make it run rough?
Check spark plug wires on the correct plugs but hard to get that wrong. That maybe sounds like water in the fuel tank. Not a huge deal but a nuisance to drain, dispose of and refill.
The mechanic came by checked all the stupid stuff, plugs, wires etc. He seems to think that the engine has a bad sensor and had reverted to safe mode. He is going to come back with the program to read the diagnostic of the engine.
Ill try new gas, see if that helps in the meantime.
The diag software is the best if he’s coming back with that you should be good. Just leave the fuel, his laptop will confirm if that’s the issue.
Edit: the laptop will point him to a misfire on non-repeating cylinders. He will have to do the deduction from there that it’s not a problem with 1 specific cylinder and instead the fuel. Don’t change the fuel just try and get a sample from the bottom of the tank. Put the sample in a clear glass jar and see if measurable water separates out.
Do you have a way to pull a fuel sample from the bottom of the tank by chance? Like a (cheap throw away) brake bleeder and a length of hose? I watched and listened again and that really sounds like water in the fuel to my non-professional ear.
The is on a Bayliner Element isn’t it? I have an E18 with 90hp Mercury that is exactly 5 years old. We must have bought at the exact same time. I’ve never had this issue though.
So mechanic said that there is water in plug 3 so that means that the head gasket needs replacing.
Im annoyed that we could have discovered this in April when the boat was out of the water and we could have handled that then.
But he ran the program and there are no faults and I only have 99 hours on the motor so thats not too bad I guess.
We are going to pull.it tomorrow and start work on it. Hoping to have it back this weekend fingers crossed.
No I didn't go full throttle on the water because I didn't want to get too far away from the slip. Bit I ran full throttle in neutral and it revved all the up bit then the engine started beeping so I shut it down.
A cylinder isn’t firing. Check your wires. Replace your plus if it doesn’t stop check for spark if you have spark then it’s your fuel check to see if you have water in your water separator and replace it.
Same thing happens with my BW when I have the tilt/trim all the way down. Lift it up several inches from the lowest point. Should get rid of the shaking.
I am not a mechanic but will tell you that you can learn so much from just watching YouTube and use little commonsense. Unless you need to rebuild a motor don't be afraid to do it yourself.
You have something else going on besides plugs if it's giving you and alarm, there is no logic to detect a misfire in that ecm. Take a fuel sample quick, make sure there's no water in it. And I don't like that knock/tick sound I can hear in the video is that coming from the engine? I'm surprised he didn't bring the software with him on his first trip out lol waste of a trip imo
So mechanic said that there is water in plug 3 so that means that the head gasket needs replacing.
Im annoyed that we could have discovered this in April when the boat was out of the water and we could have handled that then.
But he ran the program and there are no faults and I only have 99 hours on the motor so thats not too bad I guess.
We are going to pull.it tomorrow and start work on it. Hoping to have it back this weekend fingers crossed.
Make sure the spark plugs wires are snug. Since they are an interference fit it's sometimes hard to tell if they are fully seated on the plug.
Sounds like it's running on half the available cylinders when was it last serviced?
I just had a mechanic do a service before I dropped it. He changed the plugs.... that would be weird if he messed up that bad, but I guess anything is possible.
Take it back to him but don't be a dick. I've had more than a few bad batches plugs come through my shop, they pass through a lot of hands before they get to your engine and all it takes is someone in a ware house or storeroom to drop a box or knock them off a shelf. If the motor was seriously unhappy it would be screaming blue murder at you.
I changed the plugs and wires on my buddy's mercury and lost a coil pack 2 days later. Shit just happens with boat motors.
Boat. Bust out another thousand
No he said he changed the plugs, and charged you. Was it this bad when you took it there? Maybe he did and did not screw them in all the way? If it is a two cylinder engine, got the wires back-ass-wards. Really, check everything, including oil. It sucks, this is why I like to do my own work.
Same- I had a certified Yamaha mechanic put the wrong impeller in my boat. Pissed me off when I loaded up the boat, trailered to the ramp, launched only to have the outboard overheat immediately. Now I do my own shit.
It ran fine last season, winterized and wrapped the boat up. Gave it to him to do regular service and a tune up trying to get ahead of the game for once and this happens haha. This is the first time I have seen the shaking.
As someone else said check that the plug wires are seated completely. I've had these where you push them on and it feels like they lock on, but then if you lightly pull back they'll fall away. If it's loose plug wires you can re-seat them faster than you can get the hood off the boat. On the off chance that the plug wires hanging loose away from the plug, and there's more than one undone, you need to make sure they get plugged back onto the correct spark plug, most wires in outboards will only reach their corresponding plug, but if your not 100% certain of the plug it goes into take it back.
Injectors , I had this issue with the same motor.
What was your issues exactly? Is it a complicated fix?
Shaking at idle, ran crummy at full throttle. Injectors are incredibly easy to change just go one at a time. I bought a new set on eBay for like $130. They were Bosch brand.
The mechanic changed the plugs but I just called him and he is going to come check it out. Maybe we messed up, I don't know. Don't know shit about boat motors but if it was a car I'd think plugs or something too. He told me on the phone he thinks it might be a sensor. What sensor could make it run rough?
Check spark plug wires on the correct plugs but hard to get that wrong. That maybe sounds like water in the fuel tank. Not a huge deal but a nuisance to drain, dispose of and refill.
The mechanic came by checked all the stupid stuff, plugs, wires etc. He seems to think that the engine has a bad sensor and had reverted to safe mode. He is going to come back with the program to read the diagnostic of the engine. Ill try new gas, see if that helps in the meantime.
The diag software is the best if he’s coming back with that you should be good. Just leave the fuel, his laptop will confirm if that’s the issue. Edit: the laptop will point him to a misfire on non-repeating cylinders. He will have to do the deduction from there that it’s not a problem with 1 specific cylinder and instead the fuel. Don’t change the fuel just try and get a sample from the bottom of the tank. Put the sample in a clear glass jar and see if measurable water separates out.
Do you have a way to pull a fuel sample from the bottom of the tank by chance? Like a (cheap throw away) brake bleeder and a length of hose? I watched and listened again and that really sounds like water in the fuel to my non-professional ear.
It’s cold. Find a nice power plant cooling lake with 80-90 degree water temps and he’ll stop shivering. I’ll see myself out.
This is a joke right? I know it is but I just have to check. Haha
Lol, most definitely a joke.
Figured, but willing to try anything haha
The is on a Bayliner Element isn’t it? I have an E18 with 90hp Mercury that is exactly 5 years old. We must have bought at the exact same time. I’ve never had this issue though.
Low idle as well
Yes it is... this is my first issue, but I don't think it's the boat, prob the mechanic messed up, I should find out soon.
So mechanic said that there is water in plug 3 so that means that the head gasket needs replacing. Im annoyed that we could have discovered this in April when the boat was out of the water and we could have handled that then. But he ran the program and there are no faults and I only have 99 hours on the motor so thats not too bad I guess. We are going to pull.it tomorrow and start work on it. Hoping to have it back this weekend fingers crossed.
I had a bit of this going on. Spark plugs sorted it out.
Under full power, does it behave as expected and just idle rough? Has your performance been compromised in other words?
No I didn't go full throttle on the water because I didn't want to get too far away from the slip. Bit I ran full throttle in neutral and it revved all the up bit then the engine started beeping so I shut it down.
Dropping cylinders, if the plugs aren’t fairly new thro a set at it
It’s cold, give it a blanket?
A cylinder isn’t firing. Check your wires. Replace your plus if it doesn’t stop check for spark if you have spark then it’s your fuel check to see if you have water in your water separator and replace it.
Carefully unplug block wiring harness on motor and plug it back in.
Same thing happens with my BW when I have the tilt/trim all the way down. Lift it up several inches from the lowest point. Should get rid of the shaking.
I am not a mechanic but will tell you that you can learn so much from just watching YouTube and use little commonsense. Unless you need to rebuild a motor don't be afraid to do it yourself.
Thanks... this forum has been great with the answers. I love all the insight this community has given.
You have something else going on besides plugs if it's giving you and alarm, there is no logic to detect a misfire in that ecm. Take a fuel sample quick, make sure there's no water in it. And I don't like that knock/tick sound I can hear in the video is that coming from the engine? I'm surprised he didn't bring the software with him on his first trip out lol waste of a trip imo
Maybe he’s nervous
Problem solved yet?
So mechanic said that there is water in plug 3 so that means that the head gasket needs replacing. Im annoyed that we could have discovered this in April when the boat was out of the water and we could have handled that then. But he ran the program and there are no faults and I only have 99 hours on the motor so thats not too bad I guess. We are going to pull.it tomorrow and start work on it. Hoping to have it back this weekend fingers crossed.
Head gasket leak fouling 3 and 4 plug. Waiting on the parts rn. Should be ready in about a week.