Suggestions for what went wrong with Honda outboard

[Tomcat]

I have a 2007 15 HP four stroke Honda. I winterize it myself and store it on a stand in my unheated garage. In mid Aug, I put some fresh gas in the tank, got out the muffs and started her up. I ran it for 30 minutes to ensure I had burnt off the fogging oil that I had sprayed into the cylinders during winterization. Then I put in a new set of plugs for an upcoming fishing trip and ran it another 10 minutes. Transported the outboard in the back of my SUV for 8 hours to the fishing destination. Installed it on the outfitters boat and it wouldn't start. I checked the fuel line for a possible air lock - not the problem. I changed the fuel filter just in case - not the problem. I opened the carburetor drain screw and tried to push gas through the carburetor - could not. I concluded I had bought some dirty gas and the jets were plugged. Put my outboard back in my vehicle and rented an outboard for the week.

 

Took my outboard to a local Honda dealer after I returned home. They called a couple of days later to say they couldn't find any problems. The mechanic checked the plugs and turned the engine over with the plugs out "to clear the cylinders". Can anyone please tell me what that means? He then hooked the fuel line up to new gas in the tank, checked the fuel filter and flushed the carburetor with gas (open drain screw and squeeze fuel line bulb). My outboard started first pull. The mechanic concluded I got some dirty gas in the little town before the outfitter destination. Anyone have any suggestions as to what else may have happened? Thanks in advance.

[Rizzo]

man that sucks and is great at the same time. Sucks that you had to rent, but great that your motor is fine without big repair bill. As far as what else it could be I have absolutely no idea

[chris.brock]

you should have bought a Yamaha!

 

Just kidding, I love Honda stuff too

 

I'm assuming "muffs" are something that supply water to the intake/ cooling system.

 

Maybe on the ride up there, with the outboard in the vehicle, the bouncing caused the dry floats to jam in the bowls of the carbs

 

???????????

[chris.brock]

I'm guessing "clear the cylinders", with the plugs out, means cranking the engine, with the plugs out, allowing anything to come into the cylinder to be blasted right out the spark plug hole (dirty gas, water, debris, etc)

 

we do this when someone sinks their snowmobile, before we try to restart it

[Fisherman]

Well I'm sure you can't put the fuel line on backwards, the tank and motor have completely different ends, rules that out. On some it's possible the motor end of the fuel line can be flipped 180 degrees, you thought you had it on right but it wasn't. The float could have got stuck while the motor was lying on its side during transport, that won't allow any fuel into the float bowl. At least it runs now.

[walleyejigger]

I still run an old 2 stroke so not too familiar with 4 strokes but, I heard in the past you had to be careful on which side you lay the motor down when transporting, not sure if they are still like that or not

 

I would assume it was so the oil didn't go where it shouldn't, kinda like flipping a lawnmower onto it's wrong side n flooding it with oil then not starting, only after sitting upright and letting the oil swap back will it start, but then usually burn oil,

 

Might not make sense but just a thought