Honda BF8A Stalling During Gear Shift

[1hook]

I have a Honda BF8A. This was a craigslist find. The motor will start up no problem and run in neutral all day without problem but the second I try to shift into gear the engine shuts down. It will spin the prop for about half a second.

Now with that said today I had it on the water and was able to get it running in gear and moving forward for the first time. I got a few minutes of run time and was going along full throttle and all of the sudden the engine just shut off. And then from that point on I was back to not being able to get it to run outside of neutral.

1. I took the carb apart and did a thorough cleaning, everything looked good.
2. The oil light stays on the entire time so I don’t think it’s that switch
3. I messed with increasing idle speed but no help
4.Tried to bypass the neutral safety switch with no help.

I’m really not sure which route to go. Why is the sudden load stalling it out and why was I able to actually get running today. And again why would it just turn off suddenly. No putting and coughing just shut right down.

 

[raczekp1]

disconect stop switch on conectors-(in this sytuation only one way to stop the motor is to pull out choke)
check if any electrical cabe is not grounding when you move shift handle
check if lower unit is not blocked by bad bearing- forward gear is pushing forward bearing

 

[racerone]

There are very small passage ways in the carburetor.-----Not uncommon for some folks to have to clean them 4 times to get the blockage out.----I doubt it is a gear issue.

 

[1hook]

Well I bit the bullet and took it to the local shop. Will post an update once the issue is resolved. They seemed to be placing their bets on a fuel issue but I felt pretty confident in the carb clean. I saw some of those tiny passages that you talked about and could see light through them and got good shot of carb cleaner through.

Who knows perhaps i missed something! Should be a good lesson if anything

 

[1hook]

Ended up having to do with the neutral safety switch. We were doing something wrong when we tried to bypass it before. They gave the carb a good ultrasonic clean and put new plugs in it but the ultimate issue was with the safety switch. Runs fine now