Re: DT 100 Stalls immediately when in gear
Got the motor back and here is the story:
Saturday:
Mechanic told me that the top carb was bone dry - no fuel there. He also looked at the other carb and pulled and cleaned the jets. No issues there. He thinks that the float somehow stuck on the top carb so he replaced it and readjusted it. I put the boat into the water. He too maintains that DCIs don't go bad very often (he only replaced 3 in 12 years - with 2 being immersed in salt water). He was mystified and pulled the lower unit to see if there was any problem there - but it was good. He also performed a compression test and all cylinders graded equally. I think that he said that the number was 105 with the engine cold and throttle closed. He seemed to think that it would be higher with the engine warm and throttle open. He also did what he called a "leak down" test and said that it only lost 5% (whatever that means). He felt that the engine was structurally sound.
Saturday Afternoon:
Launched boat - sarted with just a touch. Ran 1/2 mile @ 1200 (wake restricted). Shifted to idle - then the boat died when put in gear - dropped anchor. Starting now got harder - Sometimes I would have to crank for 20 seconds (no joy) / pause for a minute or two / retry/ etc 5 or more times till start. Eventually, I was always able to restart, idle and rev it up. When put into gear however, failed immediately - no sneeze or cough - just cut out.
Sunday:
I still suspected fuel (since my anti-siphon seems to require quite a bit of pressure - although the boat has been run on it for 8 years). Went to high volume gas station (fresh gas truck every day in the summer) and filled a 6 gallon tank. Wanted to try fresh fuel. Connected it to fuel system - Now it isn't restricted in any way (no fuel/water separator, anti siphon etc). Started with just a touch of the key and ran in gear with the muffs in the driveway. Launched boat. Started fine. Ran at various speeds 1500-5500 rpm for 30-45 minutes - used 3 or 4 gallons. Returned to dock and turned off motor. After 5 minutes, restarted - still same tank - but now idle slightly rougher than before. Engine still idled and would rev in idle. Put into gear - immediate failure. Restart (but became harder) - same failure. Tried about 10 times - would not run in gear - but would always idle without issue. Got towed back to the dock.
Pulled the boat. I give up on Suzuki! I'm going to repower the boat with a new Yamaha 115 4 stroke. Given how I use the boat, (close in inlet fishing near rocks, and shoals etc.), as well as some outside fishing, the uncertain performance isn't acceptable. Also given it's recent history (been towed back last 3 times) - my family won't set foot on the thing. With the new Yamaha, my boat yard will service there (I'm racked stored inside) - so every trip to the Suzuki service guy won't involve trailering the boat 20 miles one-way and take 2-3 weeks. In the South Jersey area, seems to be a ton of Yamahs, quite a few Mercs and the rest spread between Evenrudes, and Honda's so that also tells me something...
The mechanic at my marina maintains that that the Yammi 4 strokes have been pretty much problem free.
