How to start a flooded outboard
The term “flooded engine” means that the engine has too much fuel and the fuel has contaminated the spark plugs, causing the engine to be very hard to start or not run at all.
It is very easy to clear a flooded engine. Just raise the warm-up lever (fast idle, throttle) all the way up and rev the engine without throttle. By doing this, you are putting a lot of air into the engine, which basically washes away the extra fuel, clearing the spark plugs, allowing them to re-ignite and start the engine.
Different engines have different ways of operating the warm-up lever; some have a separate lever to the main control arm. Some engines have a button on the control arm that you push to be able to throttle the engine into neutral, on some engines you have to pull the control arm to release the gear shift. Find out how your control arm works and play.
Start your engine (make sure it’s in water or on flush sleeves) and keep the throttle on until it dies (by pressing the key or holding the throttle switch). This will flood the engine. To make sure it’s really flooded; keep the throttle on and try to start it, it should be impossible to start!
Now just give it full throttle on the warm up lever and without throttle start the engine… It may take a few seconds or a few tries but it will start. After starting, hold the warm-up lever up until the motor starts running smoothly. Be careful not to over rev the engine. You may need to lower the warm-up lever to keep revs below approximately 2000 rpm. It will be very smoky for a while.
It’s a good idea to practice different ways to start your engine in different scenarios, just in case. You never know one day you might be drifting towards the rocks and in a panic forget that your engine is already hot and doesn’t need choke, if you choke a hot engine it’s very easy to flood it. Practice flooding it and trying to restart it, one day it might save you…
#start #flooded #outboard