2013 Honda BF5a

[Zookeeper1955]

Picked up a new Honda outboard , broke it in did oil and LU change , it seems to idle like a sowing machine at 1200 RPM and runs a bit rough and get a lot of stuttering at 1000 can run 1100 RPM fairly well but still pushes my 14 foot alum. fishing boat a bit fast for trolling .
I ordered a new prop with 7/8 less pitch same diamature hoping to get a little lower speed and a lower smooth idle .So the question is what is the best I can hope for at the low end idle ? It's turning 4500 at WOT and I have backed the idle in neutral to 1200 RPM's witch seems to be the sweet spot after about 60 hrs of run time .
Always use fresh gas with stabilizer and run the carb dry and have cleaned the low speed idle jet but it was not needed .

Thanks
Ken

 

[Zookeeper1955]

Re: 2013 Honda BF5a

Any one have any idea how low I can get this to idle , Think the limiting factor here is the butterfly valve is at the very close to closed point ?
With the smaller pitched prop will I see much slower speeds at 1200 RPM over the stock one ,will the 7/8 reduction in pitch keeping the 7 7/8 Dia. ?

Thanks
Ken

 

[Zookeeper1955]

Re: 2013 Honda BF5a

Replaced the prop with a with 7 7/8 x 6 5/8 Wot went up to 5100 from 4500 with the 7 7/8 x 7 1/2 tach may be off it's a cheap one but keeping it at or under 4800 , I beleave the rev-limiter is keeping it at 5100 because there is a lot of throttle left after hitting 5100 !
Bad news is it did not help low end much like I had hoped still trolling a bit fast for my target fish.
Still looking on any input on how slow a BF5 will idle mine seems to not have changed much I have about 70 hrs on it now.

Ken

 

[MattFL]

Re: 2013 Honda BF5a

What does the manual say for idle speed and max rpm? 5100 sounds low to me for a small motor, I would guess that it should be closer to 6000. You may need a prop with even less pitch. Also if your idle speed is set lower than the recommended then that can cause unstable idle.

 

[Zookeeper1955]

Re: 2013 Honda BF5a

Idle speed per manual 1550 + - 50 no load ,MAX RPM 4500 - 5000 Rev limited , I need to slow it down for trolling , fishing at the lowest pitch available for this motor so will be looking into some kind of a speed brake or flaps for my boat

Ken

P.S. Still looking for some one that has first hand knowledge on how low they will idle but think I am at the limit because of butterfly in the carb. :-(

 

[MattFL]

Re: 2013 Honda BF5a

If the manual says 1500 then I am not surprised that you're having trouble at 1000. Be careful about going to much lower than recommended, you may run into oil pressure and water flow issues.

 

[Zookeeper1955]

Re: 2013 Honda BF5a

Plenty of water flow and oil pressure never blinks if any thing it seems to be running cold and I cant wait to try it on a very hot day to see how it will idle ,seems to run a bit better after running it at WOT for a bit to get the temp. up