Yamaha 130 ETLG bogs/dies

red95gtcoupe

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Jul 19, 2012
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I am having issues with a boat that I just purchased. It is a 1997 Princecraft that had the original OMC motor swapped out for an '88 yamaha 130 ETLG. The previous owner said the oil injection went out and blew the last motor, so he had this one installed. He also had disconnected the oil injection and it is premixed (If I had all the parts I would hook the oil inj back up). When I first bought the boat, there was hardly any fuel in the tank and the primer bulb would only gurgle. I added 5 gallons so that I could run it in the driveway. It was hard to start cold, but would eventually fire and idle just fine. When I first took it out (I put an additional 10 gallons in), it started just fine and I idled out past the no wake zone and slowly began to throttle up. It took off fine at first, but when it hit part throttle, it bogged really bad and died. It didn't want to start right away, but after fishing awhile (used the trolling motor), it would start up again (ran best when choked). For the rest of the day, I could only get around on part throttle (below 2000 rpms) and if I tried to give it too much, it would bog and die. Even after going around at low speeds it would sometimes bog and die. When I got it home I pulled the carbs and cleaned the inline filter on the engine. When I pulled that, I noticed the fuel looked a little off and knew right away it had water in it. I drained 6-7 gallons of fuel out, and was able to get a gallon of water after it settled (added starbrite enzyme treatment to the tank afterwards). After that the fuel ran clean out of the line. I re-installed the carbs after I cleaned them (they didn't look that bad) and when I started it in the driveway it started right away and wasn't cold blooded at all. I also checked the compression (~125-135 on all cyls), and I have spark in all cyls. Fast forward to this weekend, I took the boat out again and it is having the same symptoms. It does not want to go past part throttle and it eventually dies when putzing around. I was able to motor around much more than last time, but it still would bog and die. It seemed like sometimes it took excessive amounts of choke to get it to start, and other times it seems like it had plenty of fuel and didnt want the choke at all. It would also run a little stronger at times, but would die sooner when I did that. When I got home a drained some fuel to check for water and found none. I plan on replacing the fuel pump and probably the fuel line connector just in case it is pulling in air. It seems to leak when I first hook it up, but seals fine after I prime it and let it sit. I also checked for kinks in the fuel line and open that gas cap just in case there was vacuum. Te me it seems like it is not getting enough fuel and doesnt want to run under load. Other than the things that I mentioned I am replacing, does anyone have any other ideas? If I did not give enough info please let me know what else to add.

Thanks,

Brian
 

99yam40

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8,851
Re: Yamaha 130 ETLG bogs/dies

check to see if your alarm system is functioning properly,
and monitor timing to make sure it is advancing properly and in spec
could be something is telling it to go into RPM reduction but buzzer is not sounding
Over temp or low oil , how knows what the previous owner has done when removing oil injection
Yamaha gauges should show if an alarm is coming in.

With that much water removed from tank just by draining means there is still water in bottom of tank that contaminates the fuel when new is put in.
As the boat leans back and forth on the water, you will end up with slugs of it hitting the carbs.

Need to drain tank completly and clean whole fuel system
clean carbs again and make sure you adjust everything like the service manual calls for after reinstalling
 
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red95gtcoupe

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Jul 19, 2012
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Re: Yamaha 130 ETLG bogs/dies

I will try to check the timing and the alarm system. I printed out the wiring color charts for OMC and Yamaha so I can trace the wires easier. The motor still has the small oil tank mounted on the power head, and it looks like they fooled the float sensor by rigging a round piece of PVC to hold it up. It still has the lines going to the carb from the oil pump, and it looks like the only thing that may be missing is the remote tank and whatever went with it (this is based on me comparing whatever pictures I could find). Could the carbs have excess air coming in from the oil pump lines? I am buying all the parts today to check the boat side fuel system based on the link in my previous post. I also plan on taking a portable tank next time on the water to see if I can narrow down the problem.

Thanks,
Brian
 

99yam40

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Re: Yamaha 130 ETLG bogs/dies

If they did not pull the oil pump drive shaft out, it can mess up the crank due to no lubrication to the gear drive without the oil
 

red95gtcoupe

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Re: Yamaha 130 ETLG bogs/dies

I checked the alarms and whoever installed the motor seems to have wired it correctly. The boat has an OMC system check tach. I kept trying to trace the tan/blue alarm wire to the engine, but it looped back into the tach, which had an 8 pin connector with 4 alarm inputs from the motor. Once I found the color codes for those, I was able to check them. The pink yamaha alarm wire is hooked up to the correct engine hot OMC wire and the warning light turns on and the alarm sounds (only is running) when the sensor wires are grounded. Based on this I don't think I have an overheat or low oil condition causing a limp mode since I never heard the alarm when the problem occurred.

I tried checking for air in the fuel line by hooking up a clear line, but did not see any. When I went to check how much vac the fuel gauge pulled, I noticed the primer bulb would not pull any fuel, and eventually got hard without having pumped any fuel. Could the primer have blocked fuel flow into the engine causing the issue? Up until now the bulb has seemed fine, but who knows, I will buy a new one of those too.

I started to drain some of the fuel and only noticed a teaspoon or 2 of water this time. I will run the engine at the lake with fresh fuel and a portable tank. I also bought a fuel/water separator to install once I get the correct fittings. Currently, the only filter is the factory one that mounts right behind the fuel pump. Should I keep this? Or bypass it once I add the new filter?

If I remove the oil pump and pull the shaft, will I risk dropping any pieces into the motor? Or should the pump and shaft pull out with no issues? I would like to remove the pump/shaft, tank, and all lines going to the carb (capping them obviously).

I am still leaning toward a fuel issue since several times the motor would accelerate past 2000 rpm and run fine for a minute before it bogged and died. It actually threw me back since I wasn't expecting it.

Thanks,
Brian
 

red95gtcoupe

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Re: Yamaha 130 ETLG bogs/dies

I was able to get the fuel line primed and the fuel pump pulls 4-5 inches of vac right away and gets up to 10-11 inches at idle (should I still buy a pump?). While I was doing this I noticed even after having drained at least 12 gallons of fuel today, the fuel in the clear test line still has the cloudy water-in-fuel look. I pulled the factory filter and 1/4 of it was filled with water. While I was at it I decided to go ahead and pull the oil injection stuff. The pump shaft was still installed, and fortunately, it did not look like it was worn at all on the crank end. The pump also had some oil left in it. I made a block off plate out of aluminum and covered the hole. Since it was all still intact I suppose I could have tested the level sensor and just used the tank. I'm guessing it would have enough oil for 10 or so gallons depending on the rpm, and I could always carry a bottle of oil for when it got low. Hopefully when I take the boat out next time it runs great on the portable tank. Then all I have to deal with is trying to get the tank cleaned. Any tips? I plan on draining what I can with the fuel line for the engine, then pulling the sending unit and trying to suck up whatever is left. Is there anything I can flush the tank with?

Thanks,
Brian
 
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red95gtcoupe

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Re: Yamaha 130 ETLG bogs/dies

I accessed the tank through the filler tube and was able to completely drain the tank by jacking up the tongue as far as I could. I ended getting another 4 gallons out of it after I couldn't get any more from the pickup-engine line. Of that, 3 gallons was water. So total amount of water that was in the tank was around 4-5 gallons. The inside of the tank was actually really clean.
 

99yam40

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Re: Yamaha 130 ETLG bogs/dies

I can guarantee there is still some water in the tank.
very hard to just suck all of it out
 

red95gtcoupe

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Re: Yamaha 130 ETLG bogs/dies

Unless there is a sumped area in the forward part of the tank, I believe I have gotten it all. The bottom of the tank is v-shaped and where the filler neck connected was just slightly offset from the very back of the tank. With the bow up in the air I could see the bottom where the lowest spot was. I used the old primer bulb and the clear tubing I had to pump everything out. I had a rod in the end of the tubing so that I could make sure it was straight and so I could place it was where all the fuel/water was pooling. I originally pulled the sending unit but it was too far forward and the hole was smaller than I thought it would be. The nice thing with this tank is that I can actually see the lowest spot. It may not be completely dry, but from the looks of it there isn't more than a cup of fuel left. At least it all looks blue. On my Lund, which has an aluminum tank instead of plastic, the sending unit hole was larger, the bottom was flat, and were the filler hose attaches was 90*. There was no way to clean that tank out without having it out of the boat. The Lund had a complete tear down though so it was no problem for that tank. I installed the fuel water separator while I had the back of the boat apart too. I pan on putting a little fuel in the main tank and taking a full portable tank the net time out. Hopefully it runs great on both and I won't have any more problems.

Thanks,
Brian
 

red95gtcoupe

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Jul 19, 2012
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Re: Yamaha 130 ETLG bogs/dies

Took the boat out today with a full spare tank and 7 gallons of fresh fuel in boats tank. It ran great! I was a little worried at first because it didn't want to idle at the ramp, but after I took off and cruised around, I had no problem idling after that. It always started right away as well. It ran great on the boat tank too. I did have a hard time priming the line with the fuel/water separator installed, but other than that it was good to go.

Thanks for all the help,
Brian
 
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