Pontoon Boat & Deck Boat Forum

2008 Honda BF200 - just seems under powered with a miss at mid to full throttle. No lights on dash - Will only run 4600-4800 WOT. Also after first run of the day - when you stop for awhile (hang out, swim for awhile etc) upon restart when giving throttle it starts trying to die like it is starving for fuel and running horrible. After doing this a few times - let it sit and run at idle for a few minutes it really start running better.

Any Thoughts?

What have you checked already? What boat? What prop? New fuel, old fuel? Filters?

As Carl asked, what have you checked so far? How longs it been doing this? It ran like a raped ape before! No CEL in dash...I'm thinkin fuel filter, water separator, I'm not sure how the Honda fuel pump/float works. If it was a Verado I'ld say possible fuel float module, they sucked until they revised them. Maybe a fuel line clogged with ethanol crud build up. Wish we were closer so I could give you a hand with it! Could pull the plugs, see if the tips are whitish, that would tell ya its running too lean, not enough fuel.
Bama might have a better idea.... Hey Buddy!

Sorry, Bryan. I may have a Honda car, but I don't know anything about their outboards.

The engine might need to be scanned to tell what's the problem. Chances are it'll take a dealer service department with the software to do it.

And as was noted, many present day problems are fuel related--90/10 fuel breaking down.

Thanks guys for responding. y'all are the one's that I have counted on in the past. I put this motor on a 24FT Fisher Tritoon with hull weight without motor of 2800lbs

I believe that This motor has never operated right since I got it used and put it on the 24ft tritoon - it is under warranty but I am not impressed with the local Honda dealer. Good Guy and Good Mechanic but he is so busy I think he works off who is complaining the loudest and also to money greedy to hire some help. I had the boat sitting at the dealer from Feb. Through April and after enough promises and discussions I think he just cleaned the boat and handed it back to me.

He supposedly hooked his computer up to it and no issues were found. He says the one problem he found was a faulty fuel line/bulb and he replaced that. However just like before bulb in my opinion does not get hard - you can squeeze it was ease and hear/feel gas in it but never gets hard. I believe it does have an anti siphon valve on the gas tank - However I have not checked it



No external water seperator and Low pressure fuel filter has been changed recently but not the high pressure filter.

I believe it does have an anti siphon valve on the gas tank - However I have not checked it

I have never seen it turn 5600-6000 rpms (have played with motor height some) the prop is a 4-Blade 14 1/4 x 17 Stainless

Honestly I am so disappointed and aggravated with this motor that with one year warranty left on it - I might sell it. Yesterday I had 5 Adults and 3 kids with me - sitting on the boat- I watched a premier tritoon with a Honda 225 (I know 25hp more) and full load at least 12-15 adults come flying by me fast and I haven't even seen 5600 - 6000 rpm

I watched a premier tritoon with a Honda 225 (I know 25hp more) and full load at least 12-15 adults come flying by me fast and I haven't even seen 5600 - 6000 rpm

Those damn Premiers!!!
I really think its a fuel issue, take off that bulb and splice in some fuel line with a few barbs! You shouldn't need it long enough to run once and see what happens. Also, I know we have been working with alot of props, but... I would pop on a 14 1/2X15 3 blade just for S&G's and try it.

Ok, my only experience with Honda Outboards was positive. But it was a 7.5 hp.

However, one thing I learned the hard way early on was to "Vent" the fuel tank.

I didn't and it caused the diaphragm in the fuel pump to fail.

When it was doing that, it also caused the fuel bulb to never get hard.

So if the tank if venting properly, it might have been hooked up before to one that wasn't, thus I'd check the fuel pump diaphragm.

Honda makes a good outboard-don't give up on her yet. I have around 250 hrs of problem-free service on my BF150. You may want to check out this website: http://www.marineengine.com/boat-forum/ ... oard-Forum

It's a Honda outboard owners' forum, and there are several experienced Honda owners/techs that regularly contribute. You will see that the site seems to be dominated by BF225s, but the BF200 is very similar.

Good luck!

i utilized that site a lot when i had to replace the exhaust manifolds on my BF225. i think your motor and mine are almost identical. mine has a low and a high pressure fuel filter. it also has a vapor separator tank that has to be drained occasionally. good luck.

No external water seperator

Don't know about the Hondas but Yamaha recommends an external water seperator on their outboards, even though they have internal ones.

Shade tree mechanic here, First let's see if we can rule out your fuel, fuel line, fuel bulb, fuel tank and any external filters you may have. Get yourself a 3 gallon marine fuel tank, some fresh fuel, Honda fuel coupling and a few feet of fuel hose and new bulb for priming. Now hook that tank straight up to your outboard and see how it runs. If the problem clears up then you know the problem is on the outside of the motor. If it continues then your problem is under the cowling. Good luck.

slingshot wrote:Shade tree mechanic here, First let's see if we can rule out your fuel, fuel line, fuel bulb, fuel tank and any external filters you may have. Get yourself a 3 gallon marine fuel tank, some fresh fuel, Honda fuel coupling and a few feet of fuel hose and new bulb for priming. Now hook that tank straight up to your outboard and see how it runs. If the problem clears up then you know the problem is on the outside of the motor. If it continues then your problem is under the cowling. Good luck.

Good idea and easy to implement.

slingshot wrote:Shade tree mechanic here, First let's see if we can rule out your fuel, fuel line, fuel bulb, fuel tank and any external filters you may have. Get yourself a 3 gallon marine fuel tank, some fresh fuel, Honda fuel coupling and a few feet of fuel hose and new bulb for priming. Now hook that tank straight up to your outboard and see how it runs. If the problem clears up then you know the problem is on the outside of the motor. If it continues then your problem is under the cowling. Good luck.

For a guy under a shade tree you still seem pretty bright! That's an excellent Idea!

Go to bass boat central and find the honda forum. I would start out with the fuel line and fuel filters. Do you have a 10 micron filter? Have you drained the tank and put in fresh gas?

Look at this. http://www.bbcboards.net/mercury-3-lite ... first.html

I always start with basic maintenance items. Things I can do easy and will probably be needed regardless so it is not a waste of money if it doesnt fix the problem. I would go over the fuel and ignition system. Have you removed and inspected the plugs? What about a compression test.

It really does suck when ones suffering from a nonspecific problem such as this. But I'm also all for following the cheapest root to route out the problem. The issue with your problem is the fact that that its still generic in nature. At this point it actually could be literately anything. In looking around web-world this result even came up.

I purchased my dream boat last December and currently have 41 hours on it. I was torn between the Honda or Suzuki but being that the coast guard and game wardens on the Texas coast choose Honda for reliability swung my decision. Two trips ago it started fine at the ramp and once I got to one spot and made a drift I turned the key on waiting for the two beeps as always then fired up and it beeped me again instantly as I turned it over and the buzzer went off but no warning lights came on. I turned it off and started again and it beeped me once again and idled ragged. It did this for 4 or 5 more stops and then the buzzer went away at start up.

I didn't think anything more of it since it never ran wrong other than idling ruff once that day and the beep went away but today the wife, kid, and I went out and on the 2nd stop it beeped/buzzed me again. I cut it off and turned back on with the beep and put it on the trailer. I was running with a stiff breeze and it idled very ragged at start and all I smelt on the way back to ramp was gas. I am taking it into the shop Tuesday but wondering if anyone else has ran into this problem?

A couple of results later and shop results from OP

First time took 2 weeks to get back and the tank was drained cleaned and filters replaced a long with resetting computer. They charged me over 250 bucks for this just for me to pick it up and go out that afternoon and bring it back the next morning with the same thing happening. It took another 2 weeks of them swapping parts before finding the culprit. After swapping out the key panel everything went back to running right. I picked it up and it purred like a kitten at the ramp and ran fine on an outting. 6 months old and a month of it in the shop at this rate I sure am hoping the rumor of yamaha coming out with a 200 and 225 TRP is true in 2009.

Source

I really wish I had the answer to your problem but at this point all I can do is recommend using caution to avoid just throwing money away at it.