he let me down

[crui05]

after waiting a several weeks for the "engineer" to fit me in and me keeping the day clear, time off work etc, i get a text hours before to say he cant make it.
id contacted him the week before to confirm he will be attending.
grrrr.
am i going to miss most of the season ?
anyone who can help ? im in martlesham creek.

[Pikey Dave]

Originally Posted by crui05

after waiting a several weeks for the "engineer" to fit me in and me keeping the day clear, time off work etc, i get a text hours before to say he cant make it.

id contacted him the week before to confirm he will be attending.

grrrr.

am i going to miss most of the season ?

anyone who can help ? im in martlesham creek.

Washing machine?
Boat?
Engine?
Hair Drier??
Trailer?

[crui05]

my rib engine from previous post was the profblem
seems rib engine mechanics in short supply around suffolk.

[jakew009]

You could perhaps try an auto electrician or even an agricultural engineer. They might not know anything about outboards but an engine is an engine and your issue sounds quite straightforward.

Have you tried recreating the issue at home? Get it running in a big container of water and wiggle wires around until it happens?

[crui05]

no have done all the pushing n pulling cables etc.
see previous post.....
i think theres a serious shortage of mechs in suffolk.

[spartacus]

Did you completely rule out the battery cables before. A multi-meter is invaluable with these sort of gremlins. As mentioned in earlier thread, if you're in any doubt, I'd renew them, use crimped ends, solder and heat-shrink. Assuming the battery cable goes via a battery isolator, then obviously check this.

Wiring continuity is easy to test, and not uncommon for original engine wiring to oxidise. None of the engine manufacturers used tinned wiring, so older engines are particularly susceptible. You can strip in new tinned wiring or renew complete looms.

Other electrical things are bullet connectors, again, pull apart, sand lightly and reconnect. Check the start in gear protection micro-switch in case its on it's way out. Pennies to renew. Also in-line fuse on the engine if there is one.

Any wiring to the dead-man switch. then check too.

Finally - any glass inline fuse on the engine, renew.

[TmMorris]

Originally Posted by spartacus

Did you completely rule out the battery cables before. A multi-meter is invaluable with these sort of gremlins. As mentioned in earlier thread, if you're in any doubt, I'd renew them, use crimped ends, solder and heat-shrink. Assuming the battery cable goes via a battery isolator, then obviously check this.

Wiring continuity is easy to test, and not uncommon for original engine wiring to oxidise. None of the engine manufacturers used tinned wiring, so older engines are particularly susceptible. You can strip in new tinned wiring or renew complete looms.

Other electrical things are bullet connectors, again, pull apart, sand lightly and reconnect. Check the start in gear protection micro-switch in case its on it's way out. Pennies to renew. Also in-line fuse on the engine if there is one.

Any wiring to the dead-man switch. then check too.

Finally - any glass inline fuse on the engine, renew.

Yup. If the engine is running well but will randomly die but restart then the two places to look are fuelling and wiring.

In a different thread it was alluded that when initially trying to restart turnover was sluggish as if the battery were drained but after a while it all comes back to life.

In my mind a lose connection wouldn't be my immediate port of call but rather I'd start with a theory of resistance between battery and starter possibly through heat soak. Dirty connections would be my first thought , Indo them and clean them and replace fuses then start considering if a wire may be fractured?

If I recall, the engine is a 2 stroke 90 that's been living outside? I'd just go through the few wires with Emery and ether and clean up all connections then test.

There could be an issue with the stator or the coil pack on the other side could be degrading. The more common one for the symptoms of the engine packing up when hot, giving the subsequent impression of a flat battery before all being fine again once cooled down enough is the CDI unit though.

The OP has had previous issues with fuelling I believe but if it were a fuel supply issue then there wouldn't be the sluggish turnover when still hot?

My guess is that it's heat soak impacting either a dirty connection, if lucky, or a degrading ignition component.

[crui05]

thank you eveyone for your input.

[Poly]

Originally Posted by crui05

after waiting a several weeks for the "engineer" to fit me in and me keeping the day clear, time off work etc, i get a text hours before to say he cant make it.
id contacted him the week before to confirm he will be attending.
grrrr.
am i going to miss most of the season ?
anyone who can help ? im in martlesham creek.

Unfortunately whilst we are in a world where a phone call from T&T can come at any moment its always possible that someone can have to pull out at the last minute - without even considering all the other issues that get in the way.

Originally Posted by crui05

my rib engine from previous post was the profblem
seems rib engine mechanics in short supply around suffolk.

Well there's nothing special about a RIB engine v's any other outboard. Presumably you've not narrowed your selection that much? All o/board mechanics will be busy - they always are this time of year, and many will have a backlog of routine jobs they didn't do in Q1 because of lockdown, and others will be trying to squeeze in extra jobs for loyal customers who bring them money every year. It sounds like this was a mobile guy - you may find its more productive to find someone who will let you leave it with them for a couple of weeks and fit it in between other jobs? Larger places will also be less vulnerable to one person being told to isolate. That makes your potential target area much bigger - a mobile guy isn't going to come to you if he's far away and has plenty of work, or your job sounds small. Whereas you could tow it two hours without it being too much of an issue.

[Poly]

Originally Posted by jakew009

You could perhaps try an auto electrician or even an agricultural engineer. They might not know anything about outboards but an engine is an engine and your issue sounds quite straightforward.

on many modern engines an o/board mech might get there much quicker if he can plug it in to the box of tricks and get the error code. Last time I had an issue I has hunted for ages and the main dealer, diagnosed it in 10 minutes and fixed it in 30 - intermittent fault so finding it was near impossible with systematic approach.

[The Black Pig]

I’m feeling your thoughts of a lost season

Try to take on board the comments from our comrades and act on them if you can, employ the you tube services to help, spend a little money in renewing parts even if they may not be faulty, in the end you will have new parts you have replaced on an old engine that you will not have to worry in future days, you might even save money by doing so


Sending man hugs and in the words of Kate Bush and Peter Gabriel don’t give up!

[Balthazar]

Hi had some kind of similar issue, my Honda BF150 was randomly refusing to start and had the battery warning on all time. It ended up by refusing to start at all and all warning light were on permanently.

The issue was some very slight corrosion within the connectors of the wiring loom so the CPU was picking lower current that was needed. My mech cleaned all the connectors with contact cleaner and everything went back to normal.

I would never have found out this issue by myself. Since then I clean all my connectors at the end of the season and fill them with silicone grease, then connect back. All works wonderfully now. Even my battery clamps are covered with silicone grease now, and the inside of the main battery switch. No one corrosion spot in years.

And I have reviewed all my wiring, every single wire is tinned, soldered, then connector clamped on, then covered with the liquid tape and finally shrink tubed. It sounds psycho but you spend your time once and things last forever. My battery cables are clamped and then I hold each connector with vice, heat it with plumbing gas lamp and feed a lot of solder inside. Then liquid tape and shrink tube. You also eliminate small residual resistances within the circuit that could cause the outboard corrosion in the long term.