2.5 hf greyhound shuts off

I just got one today I haven't started it yet, I have been working on getting it mounted and a drive set up. I'm sure I will have trouble with it. I am the guy who always has trouble. If I learn anything I'll let youi know.,

I know that this is basic. Did you fill it with oil before cranking? They come without oil.

When my HF 2.5 is cold I have to leave the choke on for 30 to 45 seconds before it will take the throttle. I also had the low oil sensor go bad and it behaved kinda like you described. I just disconnected the wire from the kill switch. That was at least a 1000 miles ago and it is still going strong.

I had that type of problem on not this brand or type engine, but it was due to a sticky float valve. There was a worn teflon guide for the valve and it was replaced to fix problem.

At one point for a few times by playing with the choke it would run just a short while and stall. Then next it got to the point no kick at all. I saw raw gas dripping from a tube under the engine. This is the over pressure valve to I guess protect bursting the carb bowl open. This was not a gravity fuel feed motor, it has a fuel pump running off a cam. Fuel from external fuel tank to engine was being drawn from the repeating pulling the rope starter while the float valve was suck open. Yea my arm was sore from trying too. Just mentioning this for anyone who has seen a this kinda over pressure venting, because I had not come across this before.

This outboard motor was not new, so I have to say about buying something new if not a simple problem, a warranty comes into play, yes?

Glad I was of some help. I have to use the choke most times.

Bear in mind depending on the angle the engine is mounted, it could be possible that even with the proper amount of oil the low sensor may read it as low. I disable all of mine, under the assumption(probably wrongly) I am smart enough to check the oil.

Hi Guys,

Always un-hook the oil sensor if used on a motorbike. If you don't, the motor will often shut off when turning a corner [banking, leaning, etc]as the oil will move to one side indicating a low condition. Nothing worse than a "dead" motor in the middle of a turn.

Have fun,

I cut all the wires to my kill switch trying to get it to run. Will it run without the kill switch I can kill it with the choke. HELP

it stopped running sometime after I think it is the carb though/./

Deac it should run as long the black wire is not touching ground.

deacon said:

I cut all the wires to my kill switch trying to get it to run. Will it run without the kill switch I can kill it with the choke. HELP

it stopped running sometime after I think it is the carb though/./

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Heck, I had the earliest version MB I had made trying to use the throttle that a lawn mower has with that stiff no spring included return to idle. Yea you have to pull it back to idle. My brother (smart guy he is) when the thing came off the handle bar, shoved it in his pocket for safe keeping. Yea, the throttle. But he used the choke to modulate the full throttle setting to get control of speed and also to shut off engine too, although it did have a kill switch in a way. The high thick leaf spring thingie by the spark plug. Don’t use anything but your foot for those and preferably with dry shoes. Also keep the shoe furthest from the spark plug tip for a little less of the 50KV pulsating DC shock you would otherwise get.
As for the trouble hopefully isolated for I guess the 2nd of two people with this engine model with low oil shut off, if it is you think the carburetor, I have this thought. With the Briggs, even though this is not the brand model you have, I have for the 70’s era model 3hp engines with vacujet carburetors that utilized a spring that would sense temperature and adjust a butterfly valve to be an automatic choke. That thing never worked. While I lived in New York City (at times +8 degrees above zero), it was my job to run the lawn mower in the winter and it definitely would never have started with the automatic (nothing choke, sorry BS) choke. Running in the winter was the way to not have rusting or gumming up rather than tradition other ways to keep off season. I always opened the needle valve for air/fuel mixture more that the setting that otherwise was 2.5 or 3.5 turns I think to ½ a turn more and try starting three pulls. Then open another ½ turn again repeating 3 pull to start if that did not do it. It was required that way to start, and going the opposite way when spring came or you would flood the cylinder and wet the plug. Then careful not to wear out the spark plug thread in the cylinder head taking the plug out to dry if you got too rich. Yea, I have been to Heli Coil heaven for messing with the threads too much.
You might if you have access to the needle valve on that engine try this above method, but I am pretty sure that with the California Air Resources Board and whatever EPA concern on engines sold in the US, they are not available to the user in general. I have noticed that the outboard motor I have has a cover that if removed has access to the needle valve. Yep and if you need to adjust it removing the cover actually breaks the needle valve in two. This is a way to keep people from screwing with the mixture. You must then get a new needle valve and cover and I suppose you adjust it once and that’s all you get once the cover goes on it. Now if you didn’t use the cover, I don’t know about that. Plus getting the needle valve or cover from a shop may be something this outboard motor mfr requires they are not sold to the general public and are for authorized service centers only. Lucky I found my problem was a carburetor bowl and jets and fuel shut off valve were all I needed to clean out to get the stored engine in running shape again, or I would maybe have to have shelled out to the authorized dealer to do the job. So as much for the DIY’er!
It sort of gets me about these new engines. You guys got these problems, but I guess that for the price it is OK, and I haven't heard of someone bringing them back and going for another brand even with the problems so far. Just what actually happens if you insist on a return to get another or warranty service, because it sounds like no one ever mentions of warranty service on this web site for the Mfr of the engines that you both have had immediate problem when you get them home to try out. Maybe you can say I’ll buy it if you test run it first. Some Mfr’s as I have dealt with require an authorized dealer to put into service the engine or you have otherwise by default removed any warranty. Maybe that’s extreme but the outboards are more of an investment and the warranty I got use out of when a pin holding the spring on a intake valve come out and allowed the piston to smack into it. All parts and labor cover for the 1st two years on that thing, so no sweat. There was one other catch though a yearly maintenance was also required to keep the warranty in effect for the second year. At that time it cost $90 and seemed like a lot, but the repair I got out of it would have been maybe 1/3 the cost of the motor. Now I have the shop manual and do all the maintenance and only buy the parts I need.

next greyhound question. What's with it acting like its out of gas when it goes uphill.

Do these things have to be level to run. If so I can pretty much arrange it but I didn't want to. If yours runs when it is tilted tell me whats with my carb. It died on the hill with me twice. I turned it around and headed it downhill and it started and ran home.

Never mind I found that it is the angle of the gas tank since the engine is not level. I supposed I will have to remount the gas tank level to have it work as it should. I don't want to mount the engine level after all. I will just find and pull the bolts and raise one of them.

I also have a problem with the exhaust hiting me as I ride. I am going to have to reroute the exhaust somehow..

I just picked up a 6.5 hp greyhound for my mini bike , and I looked in the gas tank. Saw the fuel tube comes up about 2 inches from the bottom of the tank. If you are below this tube, no fuel will go in, and if you are going up a hill you probably have that chance too. You could probably check this out (with no gas in it of course) and maybe cut the tube down. I haven't mounted my engine yet, so I am not sure if I will have the same problem.