Merc 9.9 Kicker problems

[Yellowbelly]

was trolling last night for 3 hours anywhere from 1.7 to 3mph and everything was great. Then somewhere in the 4th hour my kicker started running poorly at the low speeds, if I increased the RPM's it was fine, but occassionaly it almost died and ran very rough, like I was loosing 1 cylinder, increased RPM's and it would come out of it temporarily. Did I foul a plug?

thanks,

mike

[Juls]

Originally Posted by Yellowbelly

was trolling last night for 3 hours anywhere from 1.7 to 3mph and everything was great. Then somewhere in the 4th hour my kicker started running poorly at the low speeds, if I increased the RPM's it was fine, but occassionaly it almost died and ran very rough, like I was loosing 1 cylinder, increased RPM's and it would come out of it temporarily. Did I foul a plug?

thanks,

mike

Sounds like what my kicker did one day...turns out I forgot to push the choke back in after it warmed up that morning (brain fart). It ran 5 hours, but then started to do what your's was doing. Once I pushed it back in, it ran fine again. Any chance you left the choke out and didn't notice it?

I hope it's that simple.

Juls

[Yellowbelly]

I don't think so, I have a push button choke on my ignition and I don't think there is anyway for it to stick.

I will double check but fairly certain this is not it.

[Hot Runr Guy]

Maybe a weak fuel pump? Looks like they upgraded that late last year:

September 24, 2008
9.9 ProKicker Upgrades Unveiled

Mercury recently introduced improvements to the popular 9.9 ProKicker series of outboards.

The first, most noticeable change is an upgrade to the graphics on the outboard series. These new graphics first debuted on the new 15 ProKicker and have now become standard on the 9.9 ProKicker as well. The new ProKicker graphics are designed to compliment the OptiMax ProXS and Verado main outboards. As an auxiliary outboard installed next to a ProXS or Verado outboard, the improved ProKicker graphics will make your rig stand out from the rest of the pack.

A second, less obvious, but more important improvement is the standard water-cooled fuel pump. This new pump provides consistent fuel delivery even under hot ambient conditions, regardless of whether the engine is pushing heavy loads at peak power or trolling at idle speeds for long stretches.

Both improvements are intended to add value to your fishing rig and deliver more pleasure from your day on the water.

Posted on 2:06 pm September 24, 2008 | Comments (0)

HRG

[duckbutter]

My kicker idled well and ran at higher speeds ok, but wouldn't let me troll at the lower rpm range above idle. I had it in the shop six times before Mercury figured it out--turned out to be a valve adjustment of some sort. If you are still under warranty, Mercury should pay for it--I got stuck paying for cleaning the carburetor (not covered by warranty, and in my case, not the problem, but they have to start somewhere) to replacing the whole carburetor (at Mercury's expense) to finally getting the product manager at Mercury Marine involved who came up with a number of different steps which led to the correction. Good Luck--hope you don't have the delays that I had.

[perchjerker]

I would pull those plugs and take a look before doing anything else

5 minute job

[peter8]

I had very similar problem. Dealer swapped out the fuel pump and never had it happen again. It was somewhat of an issue back then. That was on a 2006 motor in the spring of 07. Another thing you might check is the primer bulb for a minute pin hole . I've seen that problem also. Good luck!

[Yellowbelly]

Thank you to everyone, I had another guy PM and told me to use Seafoam, he had the exact same intermitent problem and was told to use Seafoam and it cured his. I will check the plugs, run a few bottles of Seafoam through and run her hard this weekend.

Thanks,

mike