Yamaha 225HP – I just don’t know what else it could be

[Mumpy]

First a little background. Back in 1998 when I got stationed to Alaska, I gave my Dad my Bass Boat. It’s a 1989 Lazer with a 225HP Yamaha. Needless to say when I had the boat it would absolutely fly. He doesn’t have a lot of money, really I don’t know how he gets by but that’s neither here nor there at the moment. So a few years ago it started running bad. This is how it started and I’ll work up to the point to where it’s at now. He would get up and on plane but as he would be going it would stutter, like it was a fuel issue, you know, running fine and then just a slight pause then back to humming then pause then humming then pause. He did everything he could at that point to fix it himself.

He replaced all of the Carbs – Replaced all of the Coils, Wires, Spark Plugs, but still, it did that.

So this past Summer, it got worse, it wouldn’t get up on Plane. He checked all of the Compression on all of the Cylinders and they were all good. So a friend told him to take it to the Technical College in Chattanooga and have them work on it because you basically just have to buy parts.

They ended up keeping it for a good 6 months. They had him purchase things like the Fuel Ball and stuff. They told him to come get it that it was fixed.

Well, he picked it up, and took it out but it wasn’t fixed, still having a hard time getting up on plane.

Like, you can literally turn the key on this engine for less than a second and it will fire right up and sit there and run so smooth that you can’t believe your ears. Not a sputter or anything, but as soon as you try to get up it bogs down. Now if you take it long enough and get it up it will seem like it’s running fine for a few seconds then it’ll start that Pause again.


So, my question is, does anyone here have experience with something like this that could point us in the right direction? My dad fishes just about every single day of his life, It’s just him that lives by himself up there and I think if he ever stopped fishing he’d fade away. I’d really like to get this fixed for him.

Thank you

 

[minner]

Well you already said he replaced the carb so that would have been my first guess. Maybe there is a problem with the spark advance when throttling up.

 

[Mumpy]

I JUST Found a thread on another site where a guy was having the same problems and spent over $1k in trying to troubleshoot it and found that it was the resistor caps on the end of the Spark Plug Wires. So we're going to check that out.

I'll keep you posted. How wild will it be if that's the issue, freaking been dealing with this for almost two years and have had countless people look at it.

 

[buzz]

Sounds like a plug wire breaking down, might be the problem. GOOD LUCK....get DAD back on the water!!!!!!!!!

 

[Mumpy]

Has anyone ever had an Entire Boat Gel Coated, hehe. Man this Laser would look outstanding if it were Gel coated again. Maybe when that day comes I'll restore the thing for memories sake.

 

[AreTheyBiting]

Have you replaced the fuel lines from the tank to the engine?

Ethanol breaks down the fuel lines and could be causing what you describe.
you just cant inspect them and tell without cutting the line open and looking inside them

Replace the line from the tank to the bulb, the bulb and the line from the bulb to the motor

 

[jimwarden]

I had something very similar. Turned out to be an almost clear white small stone clogging up the fuel pickup line (tube) inside the gas tank.

 

[TOMMY 20RXD]

CHECK THE FUEL PUMP?

 

[Auburnwes]

Have someone pump the bulb as he starts to take off, if that does the trick its the fuel pump.

 

[Mumpy]

Yea, we've done the Bulb trick and it didn't fix it. We're leaning towards it being the Coils. I'll let you know tomorrow, I had him put a Multi-Meter to each of the Coil wires and check the OHms Resistance. One of them was whacked out so we cut out the section of wire that seemed to be bad and got a good OHms Reading.

He's going to take it out tomorrow and see if it fixed things.

Cross your fingers

 

[Mumpy]

Alright, figured I'd do a little update on the Boat Motor.

I found a Thread on a Discussion board about how this guy had a 225 Yamaha and it was basically doing the same thing as ours. He found that when he put the Multi Meter on the Coil Wires and read the Ohms it didn't give proper readings. So I had dad do this and he said one of them was a little whacked out and said it was also a little Corroded. He cut the wire back about 1/2 inch and today he tried it out.

He said it shot out of the hole immediately and jumped up on plane and in about 200 yards it started acting up again.

So, I told him to cut the wires back on every one of the Coils and give it a try.

I just spoke to him and he said it got up, jumped on plane and he took it up river for a good ways and it didn't act out at all. He got it back and checked everything out and he said he's got a fuel leak around one of the lines and he's going to fix that and then try it out again.

So, here's hoping we fixed this issue that's been bothering us for the past few years.