Honda Help Please

[Pearl dog]

Hi all,
Just trying to diagnose my kicker issue. 2004, 4 stroke 8hp Honda. Thousands of issue free hours. Lately its been stalling for no apparent reason at idle. And not that it won't idle, it will for about 5 mins then simply dies. First pull she fires right up and idles for 1-2 minutes then dies. It'll do it all day like that, always starts first pull, no pumping the ball, no choke, just starts, runs then dies without warning. So while trouble shooting I noticed that the tell tale was weak and peeing hot. I Pulled the lower end and sure enuff the impellor was shredded so I changed that. Problem solved? No, but here's what's weird. It runs and pees normally in the tank and the water is cool BUT when it suddenly dies the water goes instantly hot. Very hot actually. Again it'll start first pull... and repeat over and over... I pulled the thermostat out and that makes no difference. So what would cause the telltale water to go from cool to HOT in a second at the exact time of shutting down?
Thanks in advance..

 

[kingblazer84]

Hi all,
Just trying to diagnose my kicker issue. 2004, 4 stroke 8hp Honda. Thousands of issue free hours. Lately its been stalling for no apparent reason at idle. And not that it won't idle, it will for about 5 mins then simply dies. First pull she fires right up and idles for 1-2 minutes then dies. It'll do it all day like that, always starts first pull, no pumping the ball, no choke, just starts, runs then dies without warning. So while trouble shooting I noticed that the tell tale was weak and peeing hot. I Pulled the lower end and sure enuff the impellor was shredded so I changed that. Problem solved? No, but here's what's weird. It runs and pees normally in the tank and the water is cool BUT when it suddenly dies the water goes instantly hot. Very hot actually. Again it'll start first pull... and repeat over and over... I pulled the thermostat out and that makes no difference. So what would cause the telltale water to go from cool to HOT in a second at the exact time of shutting down?
Thanks in advance..

maybe the exh housing is rotted out and your getting water mixing with the heat from the exhaust? is there an overheat light or anything?

 

[Pearl dog]

maybe the exh housing is rotted out and your getting water mixing with the heat from the exhaust? is there an overheat light or anything?

the only light or alarm is oil pressure I believe

 

[scott craven]

I had an older 8 hp Honda that also stalled at idle. The exhaust tube had cracked and was starving the engine for air.
Try running with the cover off, if it doesn't stall that may be the problem.

 

[profisher]

Your hot water problem may be a peice of the rubber impeller floating around and then jamming up the water passage in the leg or block.

 

[rockdog]

I had an older mid 90's Honda 8hp and the exhaust gasket had rotted and was allowing exhaust fumes to trap under the hood. Then the carb is sucking that air in causing it to stall. Like Scott says, try running with the motor without the hood and see if the problem still happens. If it does, then try cleaning the carburetor Idle circuit and maybe bump the idle up a tad if its low. It will stall eventually if the idle is too low.
Just a few ideas to try.....

 

[brutus]

Hi all,
Just trying to diagnose my kicker issue. 2004, 4 stroke 8hp Honda. Thousands of issue free hours. Lately its been stalling for no apparent reason at idle. And not that it won't idle, it will for about 5 mins then simply dies. First pull she fires right up and idles for 1-2 minutes then dies. It'll do it all day like that, always starts first pull, no pumping the ball, no choke, just starts, runs then dies without warning. So while trouble shooting I noticed that the tell tale was weak and peeing hot. I Pulled the lower end and sure enuff the impellor was shredded so I changed that. Problem solved? No, but here's what's weird. It runs and pees normally in the tank and the water is cool BUT when it suddenly dies the water goes instantly hot. Very hot actually. Again it'll start first pull... and repeat over and over... I pulled the thermostat out and that makes no difference. So what would cause the telltale water to go from cool to HOT in a second at the exact time of shutting down?
Thanks in advance..

Sound to me your sucking air in your fuel lines somewhere, check all your fuel lines make sure it’s sealed, that’s what I would do, if not probably carb need to be cleaned. Water issues I think is normal, when motor stalls, cool water from the impeller stops pumping and all that comes out is water that was inside the water passage in your motor. Now I am not a outboard mechanic so some with more knowledge might say I am wrong, I might be lol, I run 2 Hondas,and my 9.9 is like Ironman of kickers, it just won’t dies , it was doing the same a few years back and I think it was just my fuel line sucking air, that’s all I did and it never done it again

 

[Pearl dog]

Thanks everyone. So the hot water was a red herring. That’s normal as Brutus said. Crazy.. 30+ years running outboards I didn’t know that. I happens if you kill it with the switch too. Anyways.. I pulled every hose, line and the exhaust. There was rubber bits in the exhaust manifold. Cleaned everything. Still wouldn’t idle. So as rockdog said I bumped up the idle and it’s working good. 15 mins idling with no issues. Worst case is I burn an extra litre or two. Gas is cheap right? I suspect the idle jet or maybe a weak fuel pump but I’m going to live with it.
thanks for the replies!!

 

[gunnerlove]

Most carbs benefit from a soak in an ultrasonic cleaner.

 

[Corey_lax]

Most carbs benefit from a soak in an ultrasonic cleaner.

Do you have an ultrasonic cleaner? I'm looking at getting one. I have a lot of stuff with small carbs that could benefit from easier cleaning. I have a 72 Honda CB350F with four carbs in a row so it would have to be a fairly long ultrasonic cleaner. Anyone used the amazon cheapy cleaners?

 

[profisher]

I bought an ultrasonic cleaner last year just for doing carbs. With ethanol in the as its becoming an annul problem if the motors sit to long without running. Now finding small amounts of jelly in the water separating filters too. The sonic cleaner was $250 online. Just make sure you get one big enough to hold what you plan on cleaning. Some units are quite small. Did some reading and use kerosene in mine as the cleaning solutuon.