My buddy has a 2004 Skeeter with a 225 hdpi Yamaha. In the winter it is hard to start. Does any one have a problem with this and how did you fix it?

Thanks

Yes, I have the same problem.  I checked with Yamaha last winter and they said they were just learning about the issue, so they didn't have any suggestions yet.  

That said, I replaced the bulb with an Evinrude one (seems it's much beefier) and that really helped.  But it didn't solve the problem completely.

I suggest calling Yamaha.  They may have a fix for it by now.  Let me know what you find out.  

I have a 250HPDI and its the same way. Once I get it started it takes about 15min to warm up

Running an "06" 225 and have not had this problem. I'm curious about who you talked to at Yamaha concerning the issue and their comment about just discovering this.

Thanks

One thing you might look at is a larger cranking battery, if you are not already running a BIG one. A couple of things are probably coming into play that can cause your problem.

A very cold motor is going to be harder to spin over. A very cold battery is not going to have the cranking amps a warm battery has. Motor being harder to spin and amperage being lower causes the motor to spin slower and a big drop in cranking voltage. This cause a big drop in ignition output voltage, giving you a much weaker spark.

The next problem is an extremely cold motor will have a tendency to be very lean when trying to start it. The air mass is much thicker but since they don't run mass air flow sensors and just using temp sensors they tend to be lean. A lean motor is much harder to start than a rich motor, add this to the fact the motor is spinning slower because it's cold and the ignition voltage is low because the motor is spinning slower, it all add up to a hard starting cold motor.

This is one time your dual purpose batteries may be working against you. They don't have the long term surge power to really spin a cold motor. So, a very high MCA/CCA straight cranking battery might help get you started on those really cold mornings.

I talked to one of the tech folks at Yamaha customer service. I have a series 27 cranking battery - plenty of power, and not used for the trolling motor. I have 3 deep-cycle series 27 batteries for that (yes, that's 4 big batteries total!).  The motor is an '03 model.

Again, I haven't talked to them in about a year, so perhaps they know the fix by now. I just haven't had the time to research it yet.