Interesting issue

[SkunkBoat]

yep you need to troubleshoot a lot more before buying parts. Luckily you have two motors and only one has a problem.
Its time to thoughtfully isolate the problem. You indicate the problem appears to be loading of the 12V to the motor.
I would start by connecting the trouble motor DIRECTLY to a good battery. No switches or jumpers, just the original power cable directly to a battery.
If you still have a problem, swap the power cable.
If you still have a problem, look at the trim motor or physical binding.

you get where I'm going. Don't jump around, divide and test...

 

[mmiela]

yep you need to troubleshoot a lot more before buying parts. Luckily you have two motors and only one has a problem.
Its time to thoughtfully isolate the problem. You indicate the problem appears to be loading of the 12V to the motor.
I would start by connecting the trouble motor DIRECTLY to a good battery. No switches or jumpers, just the original power cable directly to a battery.
If you still have a problem, swap the power cable.
If you still have a problem, look at the trim motor or physical binding.

you get where I'm going. Don't jump around, divide and test...

I only have one engine. I replaced both batteries with new ones. Replace one connection and cleaned/sanded down all the others. I did not do anything with the connections behind the battery switch, I did take that off and looked at the wires and did not see anything that stood out. New water separator was also installed, saw no evidence of water in the jar after pouring out the gas. Ran the boat at the dock and ran it up to a 2000 rpm without engaging the lower unit. I did not experience the surging but than again it wasn’t really under load. I did however experience the surging when I was at 19-20k rpms and engaged the motor trim. So that is what I am trying to determine if there is an issue with the motor trim. I still do not know if I will have the surging when under way as I have yet to leave the dock since Monday. The trim is acting strange, it appears to go up but then it slows down and struggles. This is what made me think the motor is going. But it could be a seal that is leaking and just low on fluid, having the boat in the water makes it a little harder to see if oil is leaking. I have not seen any floating on the surface of the water around the engine. I would think if a seal was leaking I would.

So Saturday we will take the boat out and get it on the trailer and off to get looked at. I will determine what to do when my mechanic looks at it. I might just winterize it and fix the issues over the winter. Then start deer hunting instead of fishing. The rut should be starting to kick in so it is time to get in a stand.

 

[seasick]

The corrosion on the outside doesn't necessarily mean there is corrosion on the inside. I wouldn't buy a new trim motor yet. I am no sure that is your problem.
If the motor kind of dies when you use the trim AND you said the tilt seems slow at times, I suspect low voltage due to a bad cable or connection somewhere.In addition, replacing that motor is not a simple task.

 

[SkunkBoat]

I only have one engine. I replaced both batteries with new ones. Replace one connection and cleaned/sanded down all the others. I did not do anything with the connections behind the battery switch, I did take that off and looked at the wires and did not see anything that stood out. New water separator was also installed, saw no evidence of water in the jar after pouring out the gas. Ran the boat at the dock and ran it up to a 2000 rpm without engaging the lower unit. I did not experience the surging but than again it wasn’t really under load. I did however experience the surging when I was at 19-20k rpms and engaged the motor trim. So that is what I am trying to determine if there is an issue with the motor trim. I still do not know if I will have the surging when under way as I have yet to leave the dock since Monday. The trim is acting strange, it appears to go up but then it slows down and struggles. This is what made me think the motor is going. But it could be a seal that is leaking and just low on fluid, having the boat in the water makes it a little harder to see if oil is leaking. I have not seen any floating on the surface of the water around the engine. I would think if a seal was leaking I would.

So Saturday we will take the boat out and get it on the trailer and off to get looked at. I will determine what to do when my mechanic looks at it. I might just winterize it and fix the issues over the winter. Then start deer hunting instead of fishing. The rut should be starting to kick in so it is time to get in a stand.

sorry, I think you said "engines" at one point. Can't tell if you have one problem or two. Surging seems different than cutting out when you use trim.
The little bit of rust on the outside of the trim motor is not a problem in itself. I have to sand and paint mine every year due to rust. That is the only painted steel part on the motor.

 

[g0tagrip]

Yea nothing is reasonable when you add the "marine" tag to it! I had to replace one on my Sailfish Yamaha 200 two stroke.....1800 bucks with labor.......very painful.

 

[mmiela]

The corrosion on the outside doesn't necessarily mean there is corrosion on the inside. I wouldn't buy a new trim motor yet. I am no sure that is your problem.
If the motor kind of dies when you use the trim AND you said the tilt seems slow at times, I suspect low voltage due to a bad cable or connection somewhere.In addition, replacing that motor is not a simple task.

I think I have two issues right now. One the motor was surging while under load and just running. Two the motor would surge when the engine trim was engaged.

I noticed that the primer bulb is not in good shape and that could be causing the issue while just cruising. The tilt issue found be robbing voltage from the engine or it could be a symptom of something else like a bad connection.

I am going to go tomorrow morning with my engineer fishing buddy and we are going to look at everything. Maybe we find the issue with wiring, replace the primer and all is good. But if not I pull the boat and let the person who has a greater tool box than me look at it.

It is getting to the end of boating season anyway in the northeast so almost time to put the boat to rest for the winter.

 

[mmiela]

So today I go and get ready to change the primer, gas line is kinked an inch of it. Going to put a new gas line from the primer to the fuel filter. Engine wouldn’t start today so I am going to take an inventory of the connections and make new ones. Batteries shows 12.8 volts so it has to be electrical. Yes I know on page one that is what everyone said. Hopefully this fixed me the issue.

Will update tomorrow.

 

[seasick]

So today I go and get ready to change the primer, gas line is kinked an inch of it. Going to put a new gas line from the primer to the fuel filter. Engine wouldn’t start today so I am going to take an inventory of the connections and make new ones. Batteries shows 12.8 volts so it has to be electrical. Yes I know on page one that is what everyone said. Hopefully this fixed me the issue.

Will update tomorrow.

I bet the voltage at the motor when attempting to start is a lot lower than 12.8 volts ( which is somewhat higher than you should measure for a no load lead acid battery fully charged) Do you have a shore battery charger connected?

 

[mmiela]

Replaced all battery cable connectors. Trim motor works better, problem is when running at 1900 and trim engine it stalled. Now the starter is bad so the engine won’t start at all.

Starting to think there is a lot more wrong with the engine than it appears.

 

[mmiela]

Just find it like very strange that one day I go out fish all morning not one issue. Next day little over 24 hours later the motor starts to have all sorts of issues. Now the starter. Something doesn’t add up but I don’t know what.

 

[Fishtales]

You wanna play, you gotta pay. Everything is measured in marine units ($ks).

 

[mmiela]

Fixed. Engine ground on the stern post came loose and had some corrosion on it. Sanded down all there ground cables and started right up. Ran fast idle at 2k rpm and ran motor tilt no issues. Did this on both batteries.

Thank you all for your input to help solve my issue.

 

[seasick]

Aren't you glad you didn't replace all those parts you suspected?.

 

[Ky Grady]

Good deal!!! Glad it was a simple fix. Sometimes the simplest is not always the obvious.

 

[SkunkBoat]

Excellent!


As a troubleshooting step, thats why I said connect the motor directly to a battery.
It divides the problem between motor and all of the connectors, wires, switches and terminals in the boat.

 

[mmiela]

Aren't you glad you didn't replace all those parts you suspected?.

Yep.

 

[mmiela]

Last update on this issue.

Sunday went out with a couple friends just in case. Long slow ride out of the marina through the channel. Engine ran fine all the way out. Hit end of the channel and the end of no wake zone and got on plane, trimmed engine up no issues. Got up to about 4500 rpm ran fine zero lose of Rpm’s, no dropping of power at all. Fished for three hours with engine off, started right up and was at 5300 rpm on the way home, trimmed engine up/down a little zero issues.

I think I am good and off the ledge. Lol.