New guy with Force 150 trouble

[Quick Cal]

First, I want to say what a great site you guy's have here. Also,I have to admit I'm a complete novice when it comes to boat's, so please bare with me.<br /><br />I just bought this boat mid season last year. It ran fine for 3 outing's, then on a sking trip it started getting hard to start, and die alot when I put it in gear. But it did seem to run ok once I took off. Then on the way into the dock, it lost power. It ran ok, just wouldn't go as fast as it was before. Got back to the dock and noticed it wasn't peeing. I put a new impeller in it, but still no water coming out. That was the end of it for the year.<br /><br />I put a complete water pump in last week,,,,pee's fine. Took it out and all seemed well except for an occasional pick up in the rpm's/speed that only lasted for a couple of second's at a time. I took it out yesterday and the strange pick up was there again. Then all of the sudden it slowed down again. It went from doing 48 mph, to topping out at 35. However, it would come back to life all of the sudden, but not last. It also started dieing alot again when we were trying to put it on the trailer.<br /><br />My first guess is the fuel filter. I checked that last year when it did this, but it seemed fine. But I will check it again, it just got too late on me.<br /><br />Also, I was told my boat with a 150 should do more than 48 mph. It has a 19 pitch prop. Any idea's on that.<br /><br />Any advice for a novice. Thank's, Cal

 

[horsefly38425]

Re: New guy with Force 150 trouble

sound's like maybe you got it hot it may have caused permement damage in a force /got2 that happened to,but check carbs to see if they have gotten drity /take the bowls off and ck. for drit /water/.while you have them off blow carbs out with air -good luck*

 

[novicetech]

Re: New guy with Force 150 trouble

How old is your fuel? Did you add stabalizer last fall? Do you have a portable tank that you could hook up with fresh fuel? Like horsefly says the carbs should be removed, opened up and inspected. When the fuel evaporates in the carb bowls over the winter, waxy like deposites are left on the bottom of carb bowls. These doposits sometimes then clog your carb passages and you have to disassemble and then clean them. If a carb passage has blockage, then you have less lubrication going into cylinders

 

[roscoe]

Re: New guy with Force 150 trouble

Maybe losing spark on one cylinder when the coil heats up.<br /><br />Do you have a tach?<br />If so, how high are the rpm when you are doing 48 mph?<br /><br />Gonna need a tach to know if you are propped right.

 

[Quick Cal]

Re: New guy with Force 150 trouble

Sorry I havn'y replied sooner, but I'm out of town all the time. Anyway, thank's for the replies.<br /><br />I took it out today. At first it would only do 35, but then did a best of 42. Then back down to 35. It tached out at 10 rpm over what ever speed I was going. 42 mph = 5200 rpm. So at 48 mph it rev's pretty high. Is that normal. When I bought the boat the guiy said he alway's thought the tach was off. Is there an actual fuel filter. All I found was the screen's on the side of the pump's, and they were spotless.

 

[bnk999]

Re: New guy with Force 150 trouble

First off a 150/48mph sounds right on to me. Best place to start is do a compression test- you can pick up a tester for 15-30$ sears, autozone etc. You want the compression to be within 10% on all cylinders and you want it at least 110psi- Then go from there-- Another possibility could be fuel pump- There's a rubber diaphragm in there and if they get a hole, or stretched out your fuel delivery could be suffering -- they are easy to rebuild with a kit from napa for ~ 10-15$

 

[roscoe]

Re: New guy with Force 150 trouble

Well, if it was actually turning at 5800 rpm when you were doing 48 mph, it seems a bit high on the rpm for that motor. The book recommends 5000-5500 rpm. So you may be able to increase the prop pitch 1 or 2 inches. It won't change the mph much, if any, but will put the rpm back in the recommended range. But lets not mess with the prop till we get it running consistently.<br /><br />I would bet a steak dinner that when it loses power, you are only running on 3 or 4 cylinders. Hopefully it is only a coil or two that is going.<br /><br />So, take it out and run it, then examine the plugs to see if you can identify which one(s) are not firing, then check for spark, and check the coil.<br /><br />And 48mph for a 150hp on a 20' boat sounds good to me.

 

[Quick Cal]

Re: New guy with Force 150 trouble

Well if I did it right, here's a link to the plug's. The top one is #1 and they are in order from there. These plug's have 2 run's on them. OK Doc's, what do ya's think.<br /><br />Best viewed at full screen, but a warning to the dial up guy's,,,large picture's,,,lol. Cal<br /><br /> http://community.webshots.com/album/357815887RPJXhK?700

 

[Quick Cal]

Re: New guy with Force 150 trouble

Latest update.<br /><br />I switched coil pack's around and found the #1 coil is good. So the problem is somewhere else. Trigger, stator,,,what do you guy's think. I tried testing the stator wire's, but it was really confussing. What the book was calling #1 was the wrong colored wire, and at the wrong end of the block. I guess if I just go buy color's, it will be all right. Any recomendation's where to start. Thank's, Cal

 

[Docdoc]

Re: New guy with Force 150 trouble

That top plug in pic #1 is way too clean. I doubt it is firing at all. Check to see if you have a bare wire going to the coil that serves that plug or if the wire has broken loose at some point.