1993 Tracker Evinrude 40hp

[Jackall]

Hello all,

I am new to the forums and wanted to post some issues i'm having with my motor.

First off, as the title says, it's a 1993 Evinrude 40hp (not certain of the model number) I purchased the boat about a month ago. The issues I am having consist of;

When running the boat (regardless of throttle position) it sounds like it's bogging down. For example at WOT, it will only hit 3k RPM. I had put stable in the gas because I wasnt sure if the previous owner had any maintence or has taken any precaution to treating ethonol, etc. When I am @ 3k RPM if I push the choke several times the motor wakes up and will hit 6k but I have to keep doing that (which cant be good for the engine, so I don't do it often) I for whatever reason I was out one day and I went out and the motor ran perfect, it wouldnt bog down, it acclerated flawlessly, all together it ran great. That was short lived through, it's back to running like crap. As for gas/oil mixture, i'm running a 50:1 mixture as reccomended. Starting this engine isnt an issue at all it fires up first time regardless if it has been sitting for 1 day or 1 week. I had a buddy sit back where the "fuel bubble" is and at WOT I asked him to pump to force more fuel into the engine to see if it could be a fuel problem? That has no effect. Also last time out when running WOT when it sits at 3k rpm by me hitting the choke, it didnt do much (usually it will get me to about 5-6k now it jumped maybe to 3200 rmp (I hope I didnt ruin anything) My question is what could be wrong? Fuel pump, Carb(s), Spark, other? I don't really want to take it to the boat shop and get banged up on a thousand dollar bill. I have worked on 2 stroke before (dirtbikes and four wheelers) but never anything marine and to be honest it seems a bit intimidating. Sorry for the rant, I'm just trying to provide as much info as possible on this issue to help you all understand what's going on. I have read previous threads to see if I could find a similar issue but didn't really find anything.


Thanks in advanced!

 

[Rick.]

Re: 1993 Tracker Evinrude 40hp

Do you have access to a portable fuel tank that you could hook up to your engine. I think I would start there with fresh gas. Not sure if your using your VRO system or pre-mixing. It could be just bad gas and that is easy to eliminate as a possibility. Adding stabil to bad gas will not make a difference. Best of luck. Rick.

 

[Jackall]

Re: 1993 Tracker Evinrude 40hp

Thanks for the reply Rick, I know when I got the boat it had about 1/8 tank of fuel. I immediately took it to a gas station and filled it up with the 50:1 mixture. the oil pump is disabled (from the the previous owner told me) The reservoir is still located in the boat and from running give or take 15 gallons of fuel through it the oil level hasn't budged, so that leaves me to believe that it has been disconnected. The gas in it now isn't older than 2 weeks old. I can try your suggestion to see if it makes any difference. What other things can I do to troubleshoot this behavior? I haven't checked the plugs to see if any have been fouled. That was my next step, start with the cheap repairs and move on to the more expensive (if applicable). One thing I noticed, if relevant, is when I go into reverse the RPMs will jump past 3k at no problem (4500 rpm to be more precise). I took the engine cover off last time I was on the water (2 days ago) to check the plug connection (everything seemed fine and the motor itself is as clean as it can get, even though that doesn't say thing about the internals.

 

[Rick.]

Re: 1993 Tracker Evinrude 40hp

I would think that would eliminate bad gas as a solution. Perhaps your cables are out of sync. With the throttle control to wide open throttle (WOT) are your carb. plates perfectly horizontal? Giving it extra fuel via the primer will not hurt anything so don't worry about it. Rick.

 

[Jackall]

Re: 1993 Tracker Evinrude 40hp

The cables I believe are in sync, I am not certain on this, but my assumptions basing the fact that it ran fine one time and when I prime it it jumps to 6K (redline for boat). I can feel/hear the boat when it's full throttle, it has that bog sound to it, it will stay at 3k, it never fluxuates either. I've even tested at 1/4 - 1/2 - 3/4 throttle with the same results, half throttle(showing @ 1500 RPM once the choke is engaged it will jump to around 3k. I'll double check to make certain but I don't believe this may be the case. When Carbs get gummed, does this typically happen? Is it my jets? I was considering seafoam, but am very skeptical of running that stuff out of my outboard. I'm sure the boat could use a fuel system clean up, i.e cleaning/replacing fuel hoses, etc. Also I had a boat mechanic tell me since the VRO pump isn't getting any oil through it, my motor is going to blow? I find that hard to believe since I am mixing manually, he said to replace with a different kind of pump (forgot which one he mentioned) It's frustrating me, even more since I've had this boat running perfect that one time.

 

[Jackall]

Re: 1993 Tracker Evinrude 40hp

Any other thoughts reguarding this? I have not done a compression test yet, would that be something nessesary to test?

 

[Jackall]

Re: 1993 Tracker Evinrude 40hp

Also does any one know the spark plugs I would need, any preference to brand, etc? I will give that a shot first.

 

[boobie]

Re: 1993 Tracker Evinrude 40hp

Whenever you have a motor running prob, the first thing you do is a compression test. Then a spark test with an open air gap spark tester. You can play all day long with a mtr that has bad compression or spark and never fix it.

 

[Jackall]

Re: 1993 Tracker Evinrude 40hp

Update of this weekend...I changed the sparkplugs (to autolites) I know, not the recommended brand, but it was all I could get at that time (have champions on order already) but after the sparkplug change I took it out on the water. It ran like it normally does but after 5 min of running the boat, it woke up and operated norally. It ran awesome. I know this may not last very long because last time this happened it went back to running like crap. I will definately do that compression test (if needed). I'm starting to think it's a bad fuel pump?

 

[tschieff]

Re: 1993 Tracker Evinrude 40hp

I just bought a boat with the same motor and problem as yours. It was working fine after the previous owner replaced the fuel line with a squeeze bulb to the VRO fuel pump, had the carbs cleaned and flushed out the fuel tank. I do not think it has an external fuel filter. I'm going to add a see-thru one and I will change the fuel line from the fuel tank to the stern bulkhead fitting as a precaution with an ethonol type fuel line. The mechanic recommended replacing the old VRO fuel pump with an electric one. (The VRO was deconfigured.) I might do that if nothing else works. Your thoughts?

 

[Jackall]

Re: 1993 Tracker Evinrude 40hp

^^^ Funny you should mention that about the VRO pump to electric pump, a boat mechanic recommended the same thing. Since winter is approaching I plan on doing a complete overhaul including new fuel lines. I know the fuel line with the bulb has been replaced, however when the motor is running at a low RPM (so I dont get tossed out of the boat) I squeeze with no reastion to the motor. It's definately gotta be fuel pump and/or carb(s). When I took the old spark plugs out, I noticed the top plug has a bit of "gum" on it however it wasn't too major. As of now the motor is still running good, but I want to keep it happy so I don't run into problems down the road with it. Since this hurricane my boat is stored outside 1 hour from my house and I just got a call from my father saying the cover flew off before the winds picked up, if that's the case I'm going to have a serious issue on my hands :/

 

[tschieff]

Re: 1993 Tracker Evinrude 40hp

^^^ Since this hurricane my boat is stored outside 1 hour from my house and I just got a call from my father saying the cover flew off before the winds picked up, if that's the case I'm going to have a serious issue on my hands :/

Don't forget to check/change the fuel filter between the moter fuel line disconnect and the fuel pump. It could contain water or gum residue preventing the fuel pump from working properly at various RPMs. Just a thought. Good Luck!

 

[tschieff]

Re: 1993 Tracker Evinrude 40hp

Don't forget to check/change the fuel filter between the moter fuel line disconnect and the fuel pump. It could contain water or gum residue preventing the fuel pump from working properly at various RPMs. Just a thought. Good Luck!

I know this post is old but I have just bought a 1993 Tracker boat with the same Evinrude 40 HP engine with the same symptoms as above. I have had my outboard gone over by a mechanic. He found that at WOT the high speed jets were clogging. He cleaned same. The engine ran fine the first time or two then as I advanced the throttle the RPMs would drop off then ramp pack up again until I was at full speed. The last time I took it out the most I could get was about 3500 RPMs.

I replaced or changed all of the fuel system related components. The problem still resurfaces periodically.

How does one adjust the High Speed Jets?

 

[Jackall]

Re: 1993 Tracker Evinrude 40hp

Hmmm, if a mechanic went over it and it worked fine, I have no idea why it would continue to bog down. For me, I did a complete carb rebuild (2 carb kits) and some carb cleaner and let it soak for some time until everything was completely clean, I did notice that one of my floats was completely set incorrectly. I tore down both carbs, cleaned them, replaced all the gaskets needed, made sure the jets were completely clean, and reset the floats correctly. I've had the boat out many times and ran about 6 full tanks through it (which takes a lot because it's pretty fuel efficient). The boat runs awesome and starts first try, are you certain your mechanic rebuilt both your carbs?

 

[tschieff]

Re: 1993 Tracker Evinrude 40hp

Hmmm, if a mechanic went over it and it worked fine, I have no idea why it would continue to bog down. For me, I did a complete carb rebuild (2 carb kits) and some carb cleaner and let it soak for some time until everything was completely clean, I did notice that one of my floats was completely set incorrectly. I tore down both carbs, cleaned them, replaced all the gaskets needed, made sure the jets were completely clean, and reset the floats correctly. I've had the boat out many times and ran about 6 full tanks through it (which takes a lot because it's pretty fuel efficient). The boat runs awesome and starts first try, are you certain your mechanic rebuilt both your carbs?

I don't trust anything I've been told about my motor now. The boat is back in the shop for rear and forward gears being stripped out in my lower unit. This is the second time for the same thing. I will pull the carbs off and check or rebuild them. Hopefully all I'll need to do is to spray carb cleaner through the high speed needle jets.