"Cold Natured" Motor?

I have a 1988 Johnson '88 special on my boat. Last Sunday, it was cold in the morning, I went down to Rough to do some fishing and had a hard time getting the motor to start. Once it started it ran fine and I had no problem getting it to start again. The battery was fully charged and I was using fresh fuel. Does anyone know what might be the cause of this. It has happened a few times in the past, and everytime once I get it started I'm ok. My buddy made the comment that it was just cold natured...

Any input will be greatly appreciated.


Keep on chuckin'

I have a 1999 Skeeter with a 130 Yamaha that does the same thing. Almost drains the battery whenever I first start it. After that no problems. I have been told by several people that Yamaha's are famouse for this. I had a suggestion from someone else to trim the motor up all the way out of the water and see if it takes off. Have not tried it yet but plan to here at home. Any ideas???

My Mariner 150 is the same way. I wouldn't recommend trimming it up because without water to cool it, damage can occur very quickly. A few suggestions:

Make sure your battery is a "cranking amp" battery NOT a regular deep cycle.

Make sure your "cranking amp" battery has more than 1,000 marine cold cranking amps.

Buy some cups to feed water to your cooling unit and start the battery at home first.

And for emergencies, carry jumper cables in your boat in case you need to borrow power from your trolling batteries.

I have an 89 'Rude 200xp engine and here are some things that help me. Make sure the fuel bulb is pumped up good. If it doesn't start pretty quick give the bulb a few more pumps. Keep good clean spark plugs and fuel filter. When starting the engine make sure it's trimmed all the way down flat or it'll flood out pretty easy.

I had a Yamaha 200 a few years back, From the day I got it, it was "Cold Natured" even in summer. linkage on the carbs that open and close the butterflies was off a little, so I had that fixed, as well as a rebuild on the carbs. but it still didn't want to start very easily, mind you this is new power head. Anyway, I never got it sorted out completely. In fact, for a year or so, I had to take the cowling off and spray starter fluid into the carbs just to start the pig. Anyway, Devil's horse is right, you want to make sure the motor is trimmed down at least level to make sure the fuel doesn't have to fight gravity to get to the motor. I now have a 95 Evinrude 225, and it seems whenever I have trouble starting it, all I usually need to do is remember to pump up the bulb a little or make sure the motor is down enough. Good luck with it!

I have a 92 johnson 88 special and it is the same way. In cold weather it doesn't want to start but after it does it runs great. I think it is just the nature of them.

Boy's it sounds like it's the choke that needs adjusted.

I can't help but think about my first boat. Had a 35hp merc on it with a pull rope. The electric start never worked. I would absolutely wear myself out on that first start of the day, especially in winter. You had to know just how to choke that thing and when and how much gas to give it. Had to mix the oil/gas a certain way and adjust the trim by manually moving a peg. Nobody could start that thing but me. It had it's own personality. This thread and the one on "first boat" reminded me of that old rig. Oddly, I think quite fondly of it.

I also remember my dad's first motorized boat (before that we skulled, which I do NOT think fondly of). Some of the few times I heard him cuss had to do with pulling that rope.

Don't feel bad the Merc 90 on my new Nitro does the same thing, some motors are just that way.

i fished last saturday, freezing cold that morning. i thought my 60 johnson would never start. my suggestion is to start it the night before on muffs and a hose and let it warm up before heading to the lake the next a.m.

try this start up procedure:

1. pump primer bulb until firm
2. turn key to ON position
3. push in key to choke and hold for 8 seconds
4. release and turn key over to START
5. motor should start. if it doesn's repeat steps 1-4.
6. as motor warms, it should try to sputter out on you, push key choke in to keep engine from stopping.

hope this helps.

that motor has the enrichener valve,not an actual choke.it puts gas directy to the engine to cold start,my 200 was the same way,my trick is to push key about 4 times and hold it in as it cranks it fires very quick now instaed of killing the battery.actually trimming up the motor whill make it harder to start if it isn't flooded.pistons have to ##### the fuel "uphill"
so to speak trim the motor level or very slightly down while choking.if this doesnt work try manually operating the valve via
the red lever if this wirks either the diaphram in this is bad or the enrichener could be bad or choke button "key" may not be working.

I had an 88 115HP Suzuki that wouldn't start for nothing if the temp was in the 20's. Had it tuned up, and had 2 batteries connected in parrallel for starting, still didn't help. If I ever got it started, it would start fine the rest of the day.

Ended up taking a can of ether with me and would spray it in the carbs before I launched the boat. Did that the last several years I had it during the cold temps. That eliminated my starting problems. Didn't like carrying the ether in the boat though cause it's so flammable. Usually kept it in the bed of the truck.

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I'd rather be catchin! :7