New Motor, hard cold start

[san dimas]

Hello everyone. I bought a new 2013 Tohatsu 9.8 4 stroke. It has manual start. When I first start it, I pull the choke all the way out. The motor starts and runs for about 5 seconds and then dies. After that it is difficult to start. I mess around with choke and throttle position and eventually it starts. Has anyone had this problem. I guess if have to learn the quirks of this motor.

 

[Packard8]

Re: New Motor, hard cold start

Could be that it is flooding after running a few seconds with full choke. If it's like my 20 HP manual start, I find that twisting the throttle a few times will prime it via the accelerator pump. I then set the choke at about 1/2 out and it starts fine. Of course first squeeze the primer bulb until it is nice and firm. Let us know how that works.

Hello everyone. I bought a new 2013 Tohatsu 9.8 4 stroke. It has manual start. When I first start it, I pull the choke all the way out. The motor starts and runs for about 5 seconds and then dies. After that it is difficult to start. I mess around with choke and throttle position and eventually it starts. Has anyone had this problem. I guess if have to learn the quirks of this motor.

 

[san dimas]

Re: New Motor, hard cold start

I'll give that a try. I just finished the 10 hour break-in procedure. Other than that it runs great. The only other problem is that occasionally it dies while trolling at idle. I'm hoping that after it loosens up a bit it will stop doing this.

 

[Packard8]

Re: New Motor, hard cold start

I'll give that a try. I just finished the 10 hour break-in procedure. Other than that it runs great. The only other problem is that occasionally it dies while trolling at idle. I'm hoping that after it loosens up a bit it will stop doing this.

I'd give it a few more hours and then you can easily adjust the idle up a bit if it continues to die while trolling.

 

[san dimas]

Re: New Motor, hard cold start

Thanks Packard8

 

[pvanv]

Re: New Motor, hard cold start

Always start a little above idle, preferable at the "fast idle" or "restart" mark. Only choke as needed. Start easing the choke as soon as reasonable, or you will probably flood the intake, making a restart more difficult, particularly if you are trying to start at dead slow idle.

That said, something may still not be perfect.

You can have your dealer verify the warm idle RPM speed. If too slow, you may stall occasionally. Should have done that during the PDI (pre-delivery inspection) anyway. If you bought the motor online -- and didn't have a PDI done, then get to a real dealer within 60 days of purchase for a free PDI.

 

[TOHATSU GURU]

Re: New Motor, hard cold start

I disagree with Paul on this. A pre-delivery inspection is useless except for the 1 out 200 engines that need a tweek of some kind. So it's a waste of time and money, for the most part. And it's not without cost. The dealer who sold the engine can be held responsible for that PDI cost. IE Billy Bob buy's an engine online because he wants to save a few dollars. He get's the engine and over chokes it causing a hard to start condition. He then takes it in to the local dealer, who was over priced to begin with, who can't find anything wrong. That dealer does the useless PDI and bills it to Tohatsu who in turn bills it to the selling dealer. The end result is an unnecessary charge to the selling dealer who ends up rasing their price to the consumer to cover the charge. Rather than taking the engine into a dealer for the pointless PDI, take it in because of an actual problem.

 

[pvanv]

Re: New Motor, hard cold start

Good point, well taken. But in this case, there may indeed be a problem or 2. It may just be the technique used to start the motor, but it probably should not be stalling at warm idle with the choke off. Might just need a 1/8 turn of the idle stop screw. So, if the owner goes in for service, the issues will hopefully be resolved. Whether the servicing dealer considers it a PDI, or a warranty repair... either way, the owner will have the experts to assist him. Of course, if the stalling is due to carboned-up plugs from over-choking, it's just a technique thing all the way around.

 

[san dimas]

Re: New Motor, hard cold start

When I start the motor, I ease the choke off as soon as possible to avoid washing the cylinder walls. I believe the choke has a fast idle built into it. I noticed the last time I started it and it died, the fuel tank primer bulb was soft so I pumped it back up and it seemed to start better. Maybe I'm not priming the bulb enough and it is leaning out.

 

[Packard8]

Re: New Motor, hard cold start

It may just be an issue of "getting acquainted" with a new motor and its personality. I always pump up the primer bulb first till it's nice and firm. Twisting the throttle twice gives it an initial prime and I've never had to fully pull the choke out to get it started.

Good tip from Paul about setting the throttle just above dead slow...I'll try that. After my motor first fires I usually give it a bit more throttle and that sometimes tends to rev it faster than I like on a cold engine, I think a bit above the slow idle before pulling the rope might solve that.

 

[Sea Rider]

Re: New Motor, hard cold start

Prime engine untill bulb is firm. Full throttle, step back and align throttle arm and tiller grip marks facing each other, choque as recommended on manual, pull cord, once engine has started push choque back in and voila!!

Happy Boating

 

[san dimas]

Re: New Motor, hard cold start

I'm going to try half choke and just a tad of throttle and see if that works.