Little help

[Kennytwo]

I bought my first boat last week, a 2015 212X. Many of you were awesome and congratulated me and gave me advice in my “first boat thread”. Well since I’ve gotten the boat on Tuesday the family and I have taken it out 3 or 4 days and it’s ran and been perfect until yesterday. 2 different times on the lake yesterday I had to try a few times before the starboard side engine would crank. Once it finally did it ran normal. After the first time it happened the next few cranks it fired right up but a little later it did it again and it took about 4 tries before it finally started again. I’m a little worried that a boat I just bought is doing this. Any ideas?? I’m not super mechanically blessed but I can do a few things. Am I worried for nothing? Any insight would be appreciated.

 

[Noko]

Check clean out hatch and see if cut out switches are in tolerances. Mine weren't after a bit. I'd start with the clean out cover switches and then move to safety lanyard. If clean out hatch switches ok, then try safety lanyard. Pull it an reset it. It might take some pushing and pulling on safety lanyard switched to get them to work. Next would be check plugs to see if the are firing and then the ignition harness to the plugs.

 

[FLBulldogger]

I would pull the kill switch lanyard off both engines and reseat them both and see if that resolves the issue, then go to the back hatch and insure that the lid is very secure, if so lift the lid and check the kill switches for any dirt or grime. Those are the easiest "fixes" that come to mind without doing anything mechanically. I would be comforted by the fact that the the engine ran normally after it started. The switches can be finicky and are often over looked due to the stress of a "malfunction". Good luck and let us know what you find.

 

[Dave burke]

A few other ideas:

- how old is the gas? Might want to fill the tank if it’s not full
- when my boats have run rough at all, just buying tank of premium gas sometimes helps
- add a container of fuel injector cleaner to the gas
- check the gas filter. I’ve had these clog up which makes it hard to start or sometimes won’t run
- when was the last time the plugs were changed? If it’s been a while, change them

Good luck.

 

[Kennytwo]

Just got the boat Tuesday and was told it was just serviced. I’ve ran over a tank through it since then. Think I should add some Seafoam when I fill it up again? They told me to run 87 octane through it. It has about a half tank in it now, should I top off with high octane?

 

[Dave burke]

For the extra cost of premium gas, I would definitely do this. I find it’s always good to run premium once every few tanks.

I don’t know much about Seafoam. I usually use STP. I’m sure they do similar things.

I like the idea of checking the kill switches. Those are good ideas I would have never thought of.

Hopefully one of these things solves your problem. If not, try some of the other ideas mentioned.

I also just remembered something. I have an ‘85 corvette that used to start great cold and when it warmed up it was hard to start. Turned out the problem was a weak fuel pump. That could be another possibility.

Hopefully the simple things will do the trick. Let us know.

 

[F.M.]

If you shut the engines down immediately after running them hard, they can take a few attempts to fire them back up. If you idle for a bit to cool the engine temps after running at high rpms before shutting down, your issue should go away.

 

[jcyamaharider]

^^^^^ and I also run the blower while I am tubing or doing water sports to get some air movement in the engine bay.

 

[Kennytwo]

Flushed the motors, filled up with high octane fuel and ran the blowers while surfing last night and she ran perfect! thanks for all the advice!

 

[Julian]

Unless you have a supercharged or turbo engine, putting in higher octane gas is just lighting $20 bills on fire. I don't have the money to do that. If you are concerned about poor gas, I would be putting in seafoam or stabil vs Premium fuel. This has been debated a lot on here. This is my opinion (and the recommendation of the manufacturer-use the level of fuel designated in your owner manual).

Starting issues can happen and there is an FAQ on how to diagnose a starting problem. It is always best to describe your starting problem clearly: does it turn over (or just click) vs crank with no fire, or cranks with sputter etc.