Guide 05 stop, check, call
Outboard will not start
The checks owners can do at the helm and the tank, before anyone opens the cowling.
Stop first
- If you smell fuel or see fuel on the water or in the boat, stop and use the fuel-smell guide.
- Keep everyone clear of the propeller, and never run an outboard out of the water unless its maker's manual says how.
Checks an owner can do
- Engine cut-off switch: lanyard clip in place, or wireless fob paired. Federal law requires the operator of a boat under 26 feet to use it on plane or above displacement speed.
- In neutral, with the shift lever fully seated.
- Fuel: enough in the tank, tank vent open and fuel line connected, and primer bulb as your manual describes.
- Battery switch on, and battery charged (electric-start models).
Call a certified marine technician when
- The engine turns over but will not run after the checks above.
- Any fuel leak, cracked line or bulb, or water in the fuel.
- Anything under the cowling: ignition, carburettor or injection, lower unit.
Sources
- Boater's Guide: Engine Cut-Off Switches (PDF page 12), U.S. Coast Guard Boating Safety Division
- Engine Cut-Off Devices, U.S. Coast Guard Boating Safety Division
- Your boat's, engine's and appliance makers' owner's manuals, The manufacturer
Reviewed 2026-10-08. Your manufacturer's instructions come first wherever they differ from this page.
Keep a record and brief your technician
Log this problem on your boat with the checks above as a checklist. Tick what you have done, then print a one-page technician brief: the boat, engine hours, what happens, what you already checked and the boat's recent work. When it is fixed, it goes into your maintenance log.
The technician brief is part of Skipper: $1.95 a month or $19.50 a year. Free during preview. Pricing