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So my family and I went out today, beautiful weather lite winds. Started the Honda (2002), started right up no issues, left the marina and started to throttle up and stalled at about 2000 RPMs, stared right back up, tried the throttle up again, same thing. I serviced the engine myself, changed oil, oil filter, fuel filter, lower unit oil, and spark plugs. Rand on the hard with the ear muffs no issues. New fuel with Stabil in the tanks. Any ideas?

I am thinking spark plug issue or maybe the carbs need to be cleaned/serviced. Has anyone else had this issue?

Thanks guys,
Paulieb

Sounds like vents on fuel tanks were closed off. Is 2002 model carb. or EFI? If carburator model, jets in carburator could be clogged. Did you chage fuel filter? My BF50 needed jets cleaned when I bought it 3 years ago, runs great now.

Derwin

I had similar issues with my 2006 BF50. The engine would stall if I advanced the throttle quickly and wouldn't reach full rpm.

I noticed a big difference running some SeaFoam through. I did a full clean and sync of the carbs. Clean/rebuild may not have been necessary, you might start with SeaFoam and carb sync. Just a warning, mechanics charge a lot for carb rebuild. If you are mechanically inclined, it's fairly easy to do yourself.


Terry

Sounds like classic carb fouling, Paul
This time of season it probably is faster to do it yourself, plus you can revel in your newly acquired knowledge

....and at the end say "they get 600 bucks for that????"

Thanks guys. So how do you clean the jets? Is that part of removing and rebuilding the carbs? Are there any parts required to rebuild the carbs (gaskets, etc) or is it just taking apart, cleaning and rebuilding?

Paulieb

Need new gaskets for three carb. and intake gasket. I took off intake with all three carb. attached. Do not mess with you idle screws on the carb. The jets will need to be removed & cleaned with a small tip cleaner as used for cleaning oxygen acetylene torch tips. Mine required the smallest size, http://www.toolking.com/hobart-770085-o ... ip-cleaner?
Needle seat for floats should be replace since you have them apart. Soak the carburator in carb. cleaner from auto parts stores.
As mentioned above "Outboard mechanic cost to rebuild carb. and labor $$$$$ What!!!"
Once cleaned and new fuel filter and drain carb. for off season storage, carburator should not be a problems for years to come.

Hope this helps
Derwin

The advice above is very good. There are also member explanations in the archives about carb repair here that are also very good. I would like to offer a few comments also.

--- My first carb repair, I bought everything (jets, seals, etc etc) that were available. (Google boats.net for diagram) About $200++ I replaced everything and all was well for a year. Then I had your problem again the next year. The second time I realized that we use our Honda's on the Mac so lightly, as compared to some fishing boats that use it every day, that there is practically no wear in any seats or needles. So in my subsequent teardowns I did not replace anything except the manifold gaskets and I made my own from rolls of gasket material from Autozone.

The deal with the Honda BF50A's is the very small orifices that clog up. Having done the take-apart deal over 6 times now in 6 years I can do it without much thought on a pile of newspapers on the kitchen table (after cleaning outside) and use a single very small soft copper wire (taken from a zip cord extension wire bundle) and run it through all orifices and I use a can of compressed air to finish the job. Works every time. So my cost to repair is maybe $2.00 for the gasket material for the manifold (the other gaskets do not get gasket cement so I usually reuse those.) (Note- You will need the eyes of a 15 year old or a big magnifying glass for the orifices.) (And take hundreds of pics the first time of all connections of the linkage. There are many, many ways to screw up the linkages and drop parts and washers, and hook up springs wrong. Take close-up pictures.)

Also, I never have adjusted any jets. No need to. I only adjust the idle screw. If your carbs get out of synch then you have a problem that can be fixed with a synch tool that is described in the archives. A close approximation can be had with a piece of plastic tubing from your ear to the intake of each carb and adjust until the sound is identical.

BUT DO NOT IGNORE the two anodes that are in the water jackets. These need to be looked at each time you work on the carbs.......... The small parts that fall off your sacrificial anodes may be contributing to clogging the cooling water indicator joint or pee-hole. So clean out your water manifolds when you do the carb work and replace the anodes if need be. See THIS LINK FOR THE TWO ANODES.

P.S. - Before doing anything else, run engine and take off one spark plug lead at a time and see if the sound of the engine changes. If it does NOT when a certain plug wire is removed then you may have a bad plug, or wire, or something else. Probably not your problem, from what you said, but easy enough to check as above before you start into the carb rebuild.

p.p.s. - Note the advice above about the fuel system. If any fuel starvation is occurring then the symptoms would be the same. Enough fuel for <2000rpm but not enough flow for >2000rpm. Check fuel filter, hoses, vents, etc, etc......

Paulieb,
I posted the following information May 16, 2005.
Luke
___________________________________

I have the Honda BF50 on my boat. It is a 1999 model.
I have experienced your engines symptoms three times.
First time: I had fuel dripping from carb #1 (bottom carb) and rough running.
I used carb spray into base of #1. Helped, but did not cure the problem.

Second time: took boat to Honda dealer. They rebuilt the carbs.
Ran like new after the rebuild, but the $725 bill hurt.

Third time: December 27, 2004. Same symptoms: dripping gas from #1, would run on one cylinder, then two, then die. Then would not start at all. Dealer could not get me in for two weeks. Quoted me 2.5 labor hours per carb at $85/hour (2.5 x 3carbs @$85/hour = $637 for labor) plus $200 for parts. Total quote was appox $850.

I decided to do it myself.
The carb repair is a lot easier than I make it sound.
It is really pretty simple.
Takes an afternoon to do it.
I bought all carb rebuild parts, a manifold gasket and new floats. $200
Got a gallon of carb cleaner from auto parts store. $5.00
Purchased a Helms Honda marine engine repair manual. $20.00
Bought a Motion Pro carb synchronizing tool from JC Whitney $75.00
(MOTION PRO MERCURY CARBURETOR SYNCHRONIZERS Accurately synchronizes 2-, 3- and 4-cylinder cycles.
$72.99 - $79.99 )


Total spent $300

Here is the rebuild process.
You do not have to pull the manifold to remove carbs, but it does make the job much easier.
Remove carbs.
One at a time, disassemble carbs.
Be sure to remove the float.
Under the float, locate and remove a very small needle jet assembly from the center of the carb. Needle assembly is under a setscrew.
Use magnifying glass to find and inspect all holes in the needle assembly.
Place all parts in the basket in the gallon of cleaner. Soak for thirty minutes.
Remove all parts from cleaner basket and inspect all parts.
Use 125-PSI air pressure to blow out all orifices.
Some orifices are so small I had to use a magnifying glass to inspect them.
Ensure that all parts are completely clean.
Replace all gaskets and seals.
Reassemble carb.
New Float is calibrated from factory, no need to reset it.
Idle mixture needle: setting is one turn counterclockwise from the seated position.
Place carbs back onto manifold. Make sure carb #1 is on bottom.
Reassemble throttle linkages and choke assembly.
Lube solenoid choke piston with light grease.
Hook up a tachometer.
Hook up your carb synch tool to three arms on the manifold. Use 5mm hose adapter.
Start water flow to engine lower unit. Start engine. Warm engine for five minutes.
Use set screw on Carb #1 to set idle to factory specs.
Observe synchronization of the carbs #2 and #3.
Carefully and slowly synch #2 and #3 carbs, at idle speeds, to carb #1.
Readjust idle speed to spec as you synch carbs.
This idle and synch process took me fifteen minutes.
Once synch at idle is done, check your synch at 3000 rpm.
If there is a significant difference among carbs at 3000 rpm, you probably have vacuum a leak in the gaskets or air hoses attached to the carbs.
Find and repair your vacuum leak and resynch carbs.
Your motor should now idle perfectly.

What kind of gas do you use?

I am convinced my Honda runs best on hi octane gas only. Plus add in some fuel additives for keeping your engine clean once or twice a summer in a tankful. No regular gas or ethanol.

I do use regular unleaded, the lowest octane at 87. I am going to get a small etra fuel tank, I will take your advice and get the higher octane stuff. Also going for a new fuel hose and bulb. If I get desperate, I may run some seafoam through it.

I will also check the spark plugs and wires as recommended.

Thanks for all the advice guys. I will keep you posted on how I make out.

Paulieb

I don't think etahanol in your gas is the problem , Paul, but it will probably be hard to find gas without it in NY this time of year. I think we have one place in ALB area I know of.

This website may help. I use it to find non ethanol gas when traveling http://Www.pure-gas.org

Luke wrote:Paulieb,
I posted the following information May 16, 2005.
Luke
___________________________________

I have the Honda BF50 on my boat. It is a 1999 model.
I have experienced your engines symptoms three times.
First time: I had fuel dripping from carb #1 (bottom carb) and rough running.
I used carb spray into base of #1. Helped, but did not cure the problem.

Second time: took boat to Honda dealer. They rebuilt the carbs.
Ran like new after the rebuild, but the $725 bill hurt.

Third time: December 27, 2004. Same symptoms: dripping gas from #1, would run on one cylinder, then two, then die. Then would not start at all. Dealer could not get me in for two weeks. Quoted me 2.5 labor hours per carb at $85/hour (2.5 x 3carbs @$85/hour = $637 for labor) plus $200 for parts. Total quote was appox $850.

I decided to do it myself.
The carb repair is a lot easier than I make it sound.
It is really pretty simple.
Takes an afternoon to do it.
I bought all carb rebuild parts, a manifold gasket and new floats. $200
Got a gallon of carb cleaner from auto parts store. $5.00
Purchased a Helms Honda marine engine repair manual. $20.00
Bought a Motion Pro carb synchronizing tool from JC Whitney $75.00
(MOTION PRO MERCURY CARBURETOR SYNCHRONIZERS Accurately synchronizes 2-, 3- and 4-cylinder cycles.
$72.99 - $79.99 )


Total spent $300

Here is the rebuild process.
You do not have to pull the manifold to remove carbs, but it does make the job much easier.
Remove carbs.
One at a time, disassemble carbs.
Be sure to remove the float.
Under the float, locate and remove a very small needle jet assembly from the center of the carb. Needle assembly is under a setscrew.
Use magnifying glass to find and inspect all holes in the needle assembly.
Place all parts in the basket in the gallon of cleaner. Soak for thirty minutes.
Remove all parts from cleaner basket and inspect all parts.
Use 125-PSI air pressure to blow out all orifices.
Some orifices are so small I had to use a magnifying glass to inspect them.
Ensure that all parts are completely clean.
Replace all gaskets and seals.
Reassemble carb.
New Float is calibrated from factory, no need to reset it.
Idle mixture needle: setting is one turn counterclockwise from the seated position.
Place carbs back onto manifold. Make sure carb #1 is on bottom.
Reassemble throttle linkages and choke assembly.
Lube solenoid choke piston with light grease.
Hook up a tachometer.
Hook up your carb synch tool to three arms on the manifold. Use 5mm hose adapter.
Start water flow to engine lower unit. Start engine. Warm engine for five minutes.
Use set screw on Carb #1 to set idle to factory specs.
Observe synchronization of the carbs #2 and #3.
Carefully and slowly synch #2 and #3 carbs, at idle speeds, to carb #1.
Readjust idle speed to spec as you synch carbs.
This idle and synch process took me fifteen minutes.
Once synch at idle is done, check your synch at 3000 rpm.
If there is a significant difference among carbs at 3000 rpm, you probably have vacuum a leak in the gaskets or air hoses attached to the carbs.
Find and repair your vacuum leak and resynch carbs.
Your motor should now idle perfectly.

Do you still do this every year, syncing the three carbs and cleaning the idle jets?

x 2 for what opie posted

Check the fuel filter. Be certain the plastic intake and output tubes are not bent or clogged.
That was my Honda 50 problem, and it was a very cheap fix.

Also, based on past experience from owning Hondas (motorcycles mainly) since 1970 - Hondas are very precise, run-forever machines. My rule-of-thumb with Honda has been "Don't change anything with the metal engine parts until it is your last resort." That is the complete opposite theory from Triumphs I have owned and fixed (or tried to fix or stop them from leaking oil).