Evinrude 50HP motor kills every 10 minutes

brian6464

Cadet
Joined
Jun 1, 2010
Messages
15
I have a 4 stroke 50HP Evinrude. It starts with no issues and runs good for about 10 minutes and then sputters and kills. Starts right up and then repeats the same behavior.

I suspected it was gas assembly related, so I replaced my tank and hose and got new gas. Same problem.

Some additional info. It just started doing this since I got it back from the shop where they did a tune-up and cleaned out the carb. It did not do this prior to the work I had done.

I had someone suggest that it could be related to a thermostat. Does this make sense? Impeller was replace last year and is working fine, so I cannot imagine the motor is getting too hot.

Understanding outboards is certainly not my day job, so any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.
 

Will Bark

Lieutenant
Joined
Aug 1, 2010
Messages
1,470
Carry it back to the shop, sounds like something to do with the float and needle valve in the carb. Good luck
 

JDusza

Ensign
Joined
Apr 21, 2009
Messages
934
Couple questions... can you provide model number? Do you know what the shop did for carb cleaning and tune-up?
If there is an over-temp shut-down feature on this, then, yes it may be temperature related. I do not know the engine without the model number. You can try the thermostat in a pan of hot water on the stove to be sure it is operational.
Try squeezing the fuel primer bulb when it is shutting down. See if you can keep it running by squeezing the bulb. If you can, that will indicate another air leak or fuel pump problem.
Will it run well and forever if you are idling? That will indicate fuel delivery cannot keep up with high speed demand.
Will Bark has a point about the float valve as well. It may be sticking or the float controlling it may be maladjusted.
Definitely go back to the shop and go over exactly what they did...
Good luck.
J
 

brian6464

Cadet
Joined
Jun 1, 2010
Messages
15
I appreciate the comments. Boat is at the cabin and I only get there every other weekend. This also makes it a royal pain to take it back for service. One weekend to rent a pontoon trailer and haul it in and another weekend to get it back. I lose a month each time I do this. I'll post the model tomorrow once it is light out. I spent $100 on a new tank and fuel hose assembly which did not help, so I think it is not external to the outboard (I think). Couple other things...it happens around 10 minutes when cruising the lake just above idle speed. It will happen a bit quicker if I punch it down. I have not tested in neutral, but will run it tied to the dock tomorrow to see. I have also tried squeezing the ball when it starts to sputter. Ball is still hard and does not keep it from cutting out. I'll update tomorrow when I get a chance to play with it some more. Thanks.
 

TwoRivers

Petty Officer 1st Class
Joined
Mar 10, 2010
Messages
344
Is your tank vented properly? I bought a new tank that had a faulty vent that was giving me a hard time.
good luck, it can be frustrating.
rob
 

brian6464

Cadet
Joined
Jun 1, 2010
Messages
15
Is your tank vented properly? I bought a new tank that had a faulty vent that was giving me a hard time. good luck, it can be frustrating. rob
That should not be the problem. It's been cutting out on two separate tanks. One old one, which worked fine prior to the tuneup/ carb job. Second tank is a new one and it cut out 10 minutes after filling with gas and cruising the lake the first time. I'll be heading down to the boat in a couple hours to futz with it and will report back.
 

racerone

Supreme Mariner
Joined
Dec 28, 2013
Messages
36,047
Are you sure the motor is 4 stroke model ??-------Or are you assuming 4 stroke since you do not mix the oil with gas ?
 

brian6464

Cadet
Joined
Jun 1, 2010
Messages
15
It is for sure 4 stroke. Model #E50PL433 S/N S18001098 Engine Family X1PXM0050220 Manufactured 02/1999
 

nwcove

Admiral
Joined
May 16, 2011
Messages
6,293
you sure its e50pl433 and not e50pl4ee? as racerone suggests, it appears the motor has a throttle body not a carb.
 

brian6464

Cadet
Joined
Jun 1, 2010
Messages
15
Sorry guys..you are 100% correct. It is E50PL4EE. I was reading the tag upside down standing in cold waste deep water, so I was a bit hasty. Just let it run for 15 minutes tied to dock in neutral. Sounded great and did not kill. I backed away from the dock, put in gear and it killed 3 minutes 8 seconds later. Let it sit 15 seconds and it fired right up. Put it in gear and slowly punched it down. Sounded like it was struggling and working way too hard, so I backed off to idle. It took 5 minutes 19 seconds for it to kill the second time. Just docked it. Any thoughts on what I could try before paying the shop $90/hr or whatever it is they charge. I'm willing to try, but I'm certainly no mechanic.
 

brian6464

Cadet
Joined
Jun 1, 2010
Messages
15
Couple questions... can you provide model number? Do you know what the shop did for carb cleaning and tune-up?
If there is an over-temp shut-down feature on this, then, yes it may be temperature related. I do not know the engine without the model number. You can try the thermostat in a pan of hot water on the stove to be sure it is operational.
Try squeezing the fuel primer bulb when it is shutting down. See if you can keep it running by squeezing the bulb. If you can, that will indicate another air leak or fuel pump problem.
Will it run well and forever if you are idling? That will indicate fuel delivery cannot keep up with high speed demand.
Will Bark has a point about the float valve as well. It may be sticking or the float controlling it may be maladjusted.
Definitely go back to the shop and go over exactly what they did...
Good luck.
J

Model is E50PL4EE.
I just found the service ticket for the work. It was an oil change and carb job. Following is what I was billed Qty 1 Filter AY, Fuel $42.85, Qty 1 Fuel Filter 25-140HP $12.99, Qty 3 NGK DCPR6E $6.25, Qty 4 1/2 Qt. 10W30 Marine $3.35, Qty 1 Oil Filter $11.99. The "resolution" comments were: Cleaned VST, Installed new filter, replaced high pressure filter, changed oil and filter, Test Ran Good.

It does run for at least 15 to 20 minutes in neutral without killing. In gear, it kills anywhere from 2 to 5 minutes. Just seems way too "co-incidental" for something else to go wrong immediately and the first time it gets back in the water.

Sorry to be ignorant, can someone give me a quick education on how the float and needle valve works. I want to be able to speak intelligently to the shop when I point out what might be wrong. Thanks.
 
Last edited:

racerone

Supreme Mariner
Joined
Dec 28, 2013
Messages
36,047
????--------------------There are no carburetors on that motor !!!!
 

brian6464

Cadet
Joined
Jun 1, 2010
Messages
15
????--------------------There are no carburetors on that motor !!!!

Sorry, I keep thinking back to when I scheduled the service and the shops words were something very similar to "sounds like you need a carb job". OK, so knowing they cleaned the Vapor Separator Tank (had to look up what VST was) and replaced three filters, are the comments from the first few posts still valid?

Assuming they replaced everything correctly and with non-defective parts, any thoughts now on what can be causing this fuel delivery problem? The tank and hose worked fine prior to the service work. Just to be safe, I purchase a brand new tank and hose assembly. I tested both and they work equally well so it has to be something with the motor itself.

Ignoring the oil change part, I assume there are some different parts to the Fuel Filter Assembly which could cause issues if not installed properly?
 
Top