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Ive got a 3cyl Yamaha that I have a question about that little red "switch" that is in front of the carbs. It has three settings(open, emergency, and closed). What is this for, or what does it do? My motor seems to only want to crank and run on emergency. I have a buddy of mine and his does the same thing and he swears that he's ran it like that for years and it hasnt caused any problems. My thought is it has something to do with running the engine a little "lean" on air and would burn a piston up or something....anybody know...or what I need to do to make it run in the "on" position versus "emergency".

I believe it is called a fuel enrichment valve, aka a choke.

so why would it have 2 chokes on it? I've got one on the throttle and then it has another? That dont make sense.

get the carb cleaned will run like a top

onesunflowerriver wrote:get the carb cleaned will run like a top

They were just cleaned not that long ago, but its been a few months since they were cleaned and I ran it. Its not an ethanol thing....think it was just real cold. Got it to fire off "normally" finally. Gonna stick it in the water later this week when the freezing temps and wind get out of here just to make sure and run some of that old gas out. I did notice that one of my batteries is shot....bought in January of '07....I'd say I got my dolla's worth.

deltadukman wrote:

onesunflowerriver wrote:get the carb cleaned will run like a top

They were just cleaned not that long ago, but its been a few months since they were cleaned and I ran it. Its not an ethanol thing....think it was just real cold. Got it to fire off "normally" finally. Gonna stick it in the water later this week when the freezing temps and wind get out of here just to make sure and run some of that old gas out. I did notice that one of my batteries is shot....bought in January of '07....I'd say I got my dolla's worth.

You need to drain the gas out! Not run it out if you think it is old. Gasoline without any fuel stabilizer added to it can be bad enough in 90 days to burn a piston on a 2-stroke engine. Number one problem after someone has the carbs cleaned is they don't change the old fuel out of their tank or FLUSH THE FUEL LINE! I've seen this happen many many times! When you take your rig into most shops to get it worked on they use their fuel tanks and their fuel! Most of them can't meet the EPA requirments to remove and dispose of your old fuel so they simply don't touch it. You very easily could have had your carbs cleaned then pumped old fuel right back into them. You don't need to be running it on the emergency side at all unless it is an emergency! Then only at reduced power and load! Read your owners manual! Yes you can burn a piston from it!

I have the same motor. It is a choke. If I havent ran mine in a while it I have to start it one click down. Its a real pain in the booty. I just had my carbs cleaned and put new tank and gas with treatment before I took it to get them cleaned. I ran it with the cowl off this summer to try and see what the difference was. If everything is operating right the motor will bog if you have it on. I have been running heat and sea foam to help keep it operating right. It doesnt have a key choke like most models that is the need for the lever.

Does it have a "tire valve" in the center of the red lever? I had a 3 cyl. Evinrude with one and was a pain.