New Tohatsu owner with question

I have a (new to me) 9.8 eletric start on my sailboat. It is one season old. I got it with my boat fall of 2011. According to the manual when you start it cold, after running it on idle for two or three minutes to push the choke in. If I do that the motor stops. I found it flooded on me the second time I used it and had a dickens of a time getting it to run (while out in Lake Erie). The last time I used it I forgot to put on the choke when starting it cold and it started right up. I still had the problem that when I turned the throttle to idle it would stop after the 3 minute warm up. If I run the motor at cruise speed for awhile it runs in idle ok. It worries me because when I am trying to leave the slip I don't need the engine stalling on me when I try to shift into forward from reverse, especially if it is windy. Am I doing something wrong? When starting from cold it starts right up. After running at operating rpms for awhile it does idle fine, but not only after 3 minutes of warm up. Any advice?

Thanks!

Ron

Re: New Tohatsu owner with question

If you bought it used the prior owner might have adjusted the throttle too low for your setup. If the prior owner had it on a small rig or dingy it may have worked just fine for him cause at ide in forward gear it wasn't trying to push much weight. Its a simple adjustment. If you can get it to run at 950 to 1000rpm in nuetral than it should drop to about 900 in forward gear which is what is recommended. If it won't do that than you may have a problem

Re: New Tohatsu owner with question

Assuming you have an MFS9.8A3. Do you run the carb dry at the end of each and every day? If not, have the carb properly cleaned in carb dip, then re-adjusted for proper idle. Your issue sounds like the carb is slightly lean, especially in the idle and low-speed circuits, requiring additional choke enrichment. That typically is a result of varnishing, caused by fuel residues, resulting from fuel left in the carb to evaporate.

Technique may be contributing to your problem. You choke only as necessary -- when cold starting, and only as long as the extra enrichment is needed to balance the fuel mix while warming up. Slowly ease the choke back in as the motor warms. These motors tend to start better with the throttle cracked open slightly, say at the "restart" point, especially when warm.

If the lake is cold, 3 minutes may not be long enough to warm up. Even in the test tank (at room temperature), we see the valve cover temperatures stabilize after about 12 minutes of running (still just reaching complete warm-up at 10 minutes of fast idle). When frostbite sailing in the Fall in Buffalo, our chase-boat outboards are warmed for over 5 minutes before taking off.

What symptoms did you get that you describe as "flooded"? If fuel was dripping from the carb, the float valve was not seating properly at that time. That would be a clue to have a mechanic investigate your carb condition.