Just need my BR Brethren to commiserate with me this morning. Saturday is farm day and Sunday is commune with the Lord day (fishing), in a usual week in my life. I spent Saturday laying brick veneer around the base of my wife's new sunroom addition, and I spent Sunday afternoon on the Duck River in middle Tennessee. Things started out well in spite of a record eight other boats on the river. These boats are large with powerful jet drives that cause waves that muddy the banks, (it is not a large river). I've never seen so much river traffic in my years there, but I did get to toss between visits. The trouble started when moving downstream, I noticed the engine sputtering occasionally. The sputtering got worse, so I just fished. Well, when it was time to leave, the sputtering became a full fledged issue and a couple miles from ramp, the engine quit. This 15hp Suzuki is fours years old. I splurged on this fuel injected engine because I have spent a lifetime fighting carburetors and just wasn't going to do it any longer! Well, I just kicked on the trolling motor for a nice two mile trip upriver, and kicked back to enjoy. I made it 3/4 of the way before my trolling motor quit with the hot wire sizzled and melted on the battery terminal. Something must have melted inside the trolling motor controls to cause a short! Anyway, the last 1/4 mile was the old fashioned way against the current. That was the longest 1/4 mile of my life. I am currently re-thinking my spiritual connection....🙂.  Perhaps a little more praying, and a little less swearing is in order.

Yikes! That just sounds like the universe was unfairly against you. Hopefully that means you are owed many lunkers on your next trip!

You didn't have the luck I had.  My trolling motor made it all the way back to the ramp Thursday after the engine wouldn't start on the way back, about a mile.  Sorry for the bad luck.  Mine's at the shop now.

12 hours ago, Alex from GA said:

You didn't have the luck I had.  My trolling motor made it all the way back to the ramp Thursday after the engine wouldn't start on the way back, about a mile.  Sorry for the bad luck.  Mine's at the shop now.

Glad to hear you made it back. Got my river boat back to my garage and removed top cap of trolling motor. The hot and ground were melted together. Should have taken a picture. I cut them off and rewired and the motor works fine. Don't know why those thick wires couldn't handles the 12V battery.

Do you have a fuse in the circuit?

Yikes, Bob!

11 hours ago, Blue Raider Bob said:

Glad to hear you made it back. Got my river boat back to my garage and removed top cap of trolling motor. The hot and ground were melted together. Should have taken a picture. I cut them off and rewired and the motor works fine. Don't know why those thick wires couldn't handles the 12V battery.

11 hours ago, Blue Raider Bob said:

Glad to hear you made it back. Got my river boat back to my garage and removed top cap of trolling motor. The hot and ground were melted together. Should have taken a picture. I cut them off and rewired and the motor works fine. Don't know why those thick wires couldn't handles the 12V battery.

My guess would be that there were corrosion and/or loose connections. Glad it did not cause major damage.

20 hours ago, Alex from GA said:

Do you have a fuse in the circuit?

No fuse. It is just straight hot and ground to the control switch inside the cowling, and from there, the different wires for the various speed. It is an older 45 lb. thrust Minnkota 5-Speed. Must have overheated during the prolonged trip up river in high. Working on the durn near new Suzuki now.

     For those that may find this confession interesting, here goes!

Let me preface this by saying I have worked on engines since a teenager, helping my Dad and Uncle fix everything and anything. I have completely rebuilt many engines ranging from muscle cars from the sixties, to tractors. I considered myself competent, till last week.

My 2021 Suzuki 4 stroke outboard started running rough, then quit. I took it home and started to unravel the puzzle. Took out spark plug, held against metal and engaged ignition. Got spark, ck.

Got fuel to filter ck. Got fuel to mechanical fuel pump, ck. Got fuel to fuel separator (New engines have a complicated round a bout way of getting there), ck. Got fuel to electronic high pressure fuel pump, ck. Wasn't happy with fuel supply to fuel injector rail, so I convinced myself that that was the problem. Bought 300.00 OEM Suzuki fuel pump. Went to river and engine would not start. Took it back home and repeated process. Got mad, said bad words, then took the engine to a certified Suzuki dealer, in other words, I gave up!  Dealer called after a couple days and said he had my engine ready. Great, I asked what was the issue, he said "Spark Plugs"! I said NO FREAKING WAY! Picked up engine, went to river, engine ran like it was new! Turns out these engine plugs are so delicate that the slightest bit of fouling will ruin the plug. I paid 186.00 to the dealer and over 300.00 for the fuel pump. Which equals over 500.00 in idiot tax paid!  Boy the Tackle Monkey sure could have used that roll of bills I wasted over 30.00 worth of spark plugs!

     So I don't feel so bad, sure would like to hear of my BR brethren idiot tax payments!

 

My 90HP Merc 4 stroke EFI was missing at higher RPMs.  The spark plugs had less than 100 hours on them. I pulled them and they looked fine.  I was convinced it was in the fuel delivery system.  I replaced the fuel filter-didn't help.    Before going down the expensive path of replacing components until I found the problem,  I decided to go ahead and replace the spark plugs.  That fixed the issue.

On 9/24/2025 at 9:02 AM, Blue Raider Bob said:

No fuse.

 

 

Install one of these on the TM (+) wire at/near your battery.  Your owner's manual, or Google, can help you choose the right amperage.

 

Best of luck with your Suzi.

Agree with @DogBone_384, a resettable fuse would have saved the meltdown, and the trip back to the ramp.

Circuit Breaker/Inline Fuse

When rigging your trolling motor, we recommend using a circuit breaker or an inline fuse connected to the positive battery terminal as close as possible to the battery / batteries

Circuit Breaker Example

• Minn Kota MKR-27 Circuit Breaker

 

 

On 10/27/2025 at 2:39 PM, Tennessee Boy said:

My 90HP Merc 4 stroke EFI was missing at higher RPMs.  The spark plugs had less than 100 hours on them. I pulled them and they looked fine.  I was convinced it was in the fuel delivery system.  I replaced the fuel filter-didn't help.    Before going down the expensive path of replacing components until I found the problem,  I decided to go ahead and replace the spark plugs.  That fixed the issue.

You're a durn sight smarter than me, I'll admit!

 

I learned, by working in a motorcycle shop, the first thing that gets changed on a 2 stroke engine is the spark plug/s.  Weed eaters, blowers, chainsaws, etc.