Hi I would like to take the time to warn all of my other tuff members that David branham owner of spanky's mobile boat repair ripped me off. I paid him to rebuild my carbs and put water pump and the lower unit oil had water in it before he got there After 5 hrs of working on it David told me he was done I paid him cash money I took the boat out the following week that David said he fixed it it ran the same as it did befor david put a hand on it . I took the boat back home tried to give David a call It took me calling David from three different numbers for David to answer when he did I told David I have been trying to reach him for 3 days he said I was a liar. The next sentence he said it was his birthday. He said he would just send my money back I said ok thank you this was two weeks after working on my boat another week went buy I gave David yet another call he said that he did not say he was going to jump up and send my money back right away I was well David can you at least send half my money back he said he would. that was a week ago so in all its been 4 weeks no money back. Boat will not run boat is now leaking lower unit oil so I have taken my time to tell you all please do not use this guy David branham aka spanky's boat repair.

This isn't the first bad report if heard about him

Did you ever request him to diagnose the problem with the motor, or did you specifically tell him what you wanted done?
In other words, you may have had a different problem than you thought you had.
When you try to corner a mechanic into doing exactly what you say to do, because you want to control the situation, it doesnt leave much room for a good diagnostic procedure. Many times what you would swear is a fuel delivery problem is an electrical problem, and vice versa.

Why wouldn't a mechanic diagnose the problem with the motor regardless what the customer says? Kinda reminds me of a sign I once saw at a mechanic shop.

Hourly Rate $35.00
$50.00 if you watch
$65.00 if you help

Cause customer is always right

Whenever I talked to David about the motor I told him how the motor was acting on the lake, and how it acted like it was running out of fuel. I did suggest the carbarators might be gummed up from sitting however I did not go to school to be boat machinist and I told him that. He assured me he would take care of it and get the boat running. I did not tell him to just rebuild the carbarators, I asked him to get the boat reliable so that I could go fishing.

This is why I do all my own boat repair, even if I don't know how.

But, if your symptoms aren't fuel related, you may try unplugging spark plugs while it's running to see if it changes the way it runs. If you pull one and nothing happens, check the spark. There's a good chance it's an ignition coil. If it's only one going out, it will still run and sometimes will run fine until WOT when it needs more electricity. You can take the coils off and inspect for cracks in the gel that let moisture in and cause intermittent problems. I had one that would go about 15 mph with two coils bad. Replaced the coils and got up to 32mph (it was a 50hp). This could also be part of your hard starting problem.

I've found that for Johnson/Evinrude, you need to pump the bulb about 3-5 times. Push choke in til it fires off the first time and don't choke the next. It'll usually fire right up. A lot of folks over use the choke.

Sounds like a trip to small claims court may be in order. Possibly a call to the Better Business Bureau as well.

Sorry to hear.

David has never steered me wrong and has helped me many times over the past two years pro bono with a myriad of problems. He has basically rebuilt my Yamaha and knows more about these engines than anyone I've met. He's a good dude and there are always two sides of the story.

Also it sounds to me that your LU is going out if you have water in the oil.

If the oil is coming out of the prop, it is more than likely unburned gas/oil mix coming out the exhaust since you didn't get the boat up to speed and probably had cylinders not burning. This happens sometimes on mine when I idle all day and don't get on plane.

If it was leaking, it would be milky white when you unscrew the drain screw because if it's leaking out, water is coming in.

Oh boy

Gman

Looks like I am not the only person having trouble. http://texasfishingforum.com/forums/ubbthreads.php/topics/9016293/2

Hmmm...