1986 150 Evinrude No power under load

Rikster

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Joined
Oct 14, 2006
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15
Hi all

I just bought a 22’ walk around with an 86 150 Evinrude, The original owner had used it quite regularly but the guy I bought it from hardly did in the three years he owned. It had about twenty gallons of two-year-old gas in it, which I mixed with 60 gallons of fresh gas when I filled it up. To my knowledge hat was the first time Ethanol gas was put into it. She ran great most of the day with a few sputters towards the end. The following weekend, different story she ran fine for about five miles I shut her down for a while and tried to go again. She starts fine and revs up fine but put it in gear under a load and she just bogs down. I had to idle all the way back to port.

The next day after a new filter/water separator and some carburetor cleaner the same thing happened. After motoring a mile out the river into the bay she jumps right up to speed but after running a while and slowing down trying to throttle up she won’t go. Only now if I keep playing with the throttle she will finally catch on and speed up.

With all the complaining I am hearing about E10 gas and boats I am thinking it has got to be the gas or now clogged up carburetors. When I removed the intake cover to clean the carbs there was quite a bit of what looked like blue tinted Vaseline in some of the ports and jets. I am assuming it was blue from the oil. She does seem to run much better after squirting down the carbs but then its back to the same old thing.

I changed the plugs for good measure. I changed the gas filter, which was filthy with lots of water in it. I disabled each spark plug one at a time at idle speed as ancient mariner suggested to littleb99, I did not always notice a loss of power however I did confirm spark at each cylinder. One plug wire seems to be leaking electricity when touched. Luckily it wasn’t me that found out.

I still need to do a compression check but I am thinking it still has to be the carburetors gunked up.
I ran the original tank of gas out and used a portable to get home, same problems with that hopefully ruling out check valve problems. Now I am on all fresh new E10 fuel.
The other thing I noted was that I have a Racor B32013 filter/ water separator, which I replaced in kind. In looking in the West Marine catalog afterwards I noted that filter is a replacement for Mercury outboards while the B32014 is specified for Johnson/Evinrude. Would that make much of a difference? I do seem to have good fuel supply as I could see it flowing into the carbs under full load without the cover on.

Sorry for being long but I wanted to be as detailed as I could, you guys have been a great help already from reading your previous posts
Rikster
 

ob

Admiral
Joined
Aug 16, 2002
Messages
6,992
Re: 1986 150 Evinrude No power under load

I'd start with a dismantling and cleaning of the carburetors and follow it up with a link/synch adjustment as per manual.A compression test is also a good idea.
 

Walker

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Jun 15, 2002
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Re: 1986 150 Evinrude No power under load

You can't clean the carbs by "squirting them down"
You have to remove them, tear them down and give them a good soaking in suitable carb cleaner, I then rinse them with aerosol carb cleaner using the little straw to make sure every orifice, passageway and jet is open and clean. Blow them out with compressed air and visually inspect them to be sure they are sparkling clean and Rebuild them preferably with new carb kits.
 

Rikster

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Oct 14, 2006
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Re: 1986 150 Evinrude No power under load

Walker said:
You can't clean the carbs by "squirting them down"
You have to remove them, tear them down and give them a good soaking in suitable carb cleaner, I then rinse them with aerosol carb cleaner using the little straw to make sure every orifice, passageway and jet is open and clean. Blow them out with compressed air and visually inspect them to be sure they are sparkling clean and Rebuild them preferably with new carb kits. [/quThanks walker for the reply

Yes I know I need to tear apart and rebuild the carbs, I was just hoping to get through striper season till thanksgiving without major overhaul. Which brings me to another issue, it seems everyone one says to soak the carb in cleaner overnight yet seloc which I guess is following the OEM recommendation says just spray it down and not immerse in cleaner for an extended period of time. What to do?
 

ob

Admiral
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Aug 16, 2002
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6,992
Re: 1986 150 Evinrude No power under load

Soaking of the parts and or spraying and mechanically cleaning with a good set of indexed torch tip cleaners is my prefered method.In any case ,I wouldn't run the engine in its current condition.Restricted carbs means restricted lubrication.Cylinder meltdown will follow.Particularly when leaned out at higher rpm.
 

ddcarter3

Seaman
Joined
Sep 10, 2006
Messages
53
Re: 1986 150 Evinrude No power under load

Listen to these guys. I learned the hard way. I found the forum after I melted a piston in a '87 70hp Johnson. I am doing a complete powerhead rebuild with my Dad (he is doing most of the work). Thanks to these guys for all of their help.
 

freddyray21

Commander
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Jun 10, 2006
Messages
2,460
Re: 1986 150 Evinrude No power under load

that engine gets it's lube from the oil in the gas. less gas less lube. Stop running it. A carb overhaul doesn't take that long to do. Buy the kits and the manual and follow directions.
 

Rikster

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Oct 14, 2006
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Re: 1986 150 Evinrude No power under load

Thanks guys for the advise. I shall certianly heed it. I pulled one of the carbs and bought the kits, it wasn't as dirty inside as I had thought it would be. Tommorow I am going down to pull the other two off and do a compression check. I'll keep you posted as to what I find.
 

Rikster

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Oct 14, 2006
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Re: 1986 150 Evinrude No power under load

Ok guys I pulled the carbs off, tore one apart and found it to be basically as clean as the first.
Unfortunately my compression check didn’t seem all that good.
Left Top 80 92 Right T
Center 81 90 C
Bottom 89 91 B
I was not able to run and warm the engine before testing, as I believe you are supposed too. Could that have made my numbers artificially low? Is 12 PSI outside the norm from cylinder to cylinder?
Also I had confirmed spark through all of the high-tension leads by using a spare plug. When I pulled out the new plugs I had put in one was visibly not used at all. Bad plug or not enough spark?
 

Walker

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Jun 15, 2002
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Re: 1986 150 Evinrude No power under load

Rikster said:
Is 12 PSI outside the norm from cylinder to cylinder?
Also I had confirmed spark through all of the high-tension leads by using a spare plug. When I pulled out the new plugs I had put in one was visibly not used at all. Bad plug or not enough spark?

Try a decarb treatment. Your compression numbers aren't that far off.
Also you need to do a definitive spark test on all cylinders and that one cylinder in particular. If that checks out then your still have a carburator problem.
 

mikesea

Lieutenant Commander
Joined
Oct 1, 2006
Messages
1,830
Re: 1986 150 Evinrude No power under load

i dont want to tell you what to do and have a bad effect,but,i always soaked my carbs,in the carb cleaner sold at discount auto. or the like,the newer carbs are plastic and some solutions can hurt them if left over a long period of time,and depending on the solution,regardless of the material they are made from,i lety the carbs set for an hour ,washed them by soaling in a good soapy water of dish deg. hosed em of good,trying to shoot the passages,i then would blow them off with compressed air if at the shop,other wise i just went to spraying with a good aerosol can of carb cleaner,all plastic and rubber especially should not be soaked,you can use the spray cleaner on the floats,if gummed up bad use tip cleaners to initially clean jets,your compression ,is probably ok,might have a carbon prob on a coiple low numbers,or maybe neededto turn over a turn or two more,motor should run ok,ive seen worse ,fuel filters,the difference between the merc.and omc is simply the thread size of the filter,merc is about 1/2 inch ,omc is much larger maybe 7/8/if you go to a parts store after looking at your old one it should be obvious if not marked,there are many after marketcompanies that make replacement filters,that are just as good in my book,you can get em at kmart
 

Rikster

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Oct 14, 2006
Messages
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Re: 1986 150 Evinrude No power under load

Good news, in rebuilding the two other carbs today I finally found something wrong. The float was way out of whack and the needle valve was really tore up and sticking. Hopefully that was my main problem.

I wasn’t sure about the filter, I am not too knowledgeable about mercs and wasn’t sure if there was a pressure difference or something like that. Ignorance is bliss until you are stuck out in the open seas.

Again guys that’s for your help and interest in my problem, I’ve yet to find a better or more informative board concerning boat, engines and such. I’ll let you know how Saturday goes.
 

Rikster

Cadet
Joined
Oct 14, 2006
Messages
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Re: 1986 150 Evinrude No power under load

Hey all
Put the new carbs on, she sounded great, perfect idle. I ran out to the bay throttled up she ran great until I backed off to idle and tried to go again. Same problem. If I open the throttle and leave it she floods out and dies, if I feather it up she catches on and goes, sometimes like nothing is wrong and sometimes like I added 5k of weight to the boat, barely able to plane off.

Today while running rough I checked the ball and it was a bit soft, is that normal? Pumping it did not fix the problem.
Also in checking the spark plugs again they seem as best described in the Clymer book as being cold fouled. Two of the three I got to today were carbony and wet. The one that I thought was not working may have been the only one working properly. Just a thought.

Maybe I am wrong but I am still thinking fuel problems, so tomorrow I am going to start at the gas tank and work my way from there checking the anti siphon valve replacing the new fuel filter as there may have been a lot of crap in the tank to clog it up. Pressure test the fuel system under operation and go over the VOS system Also I don’t think I have a genuine OMC ball and fuel line and I am thinking that might be a problem if the one on there is undersized.

Intermittent problems seem to be the worst kind. Anyway if anyone has any thoughts or ideas I’d be glad to hear them.
Thanks
 

firemann2003

Seaman
Joined
Aug 26, 2006
Messages
58
Re: 1986 150 Evinrude No power under load

Had somewhat similar problem with my 1985 150, make sure your plugs are the manual recommended plugs gapped properly.
 

Rikster

Cadet
Joined
Oct 14, 2006
Messages
15
Re: 1986 150 Evinrude No power under load

thanks fireman
the plugs are the button type with no gap.

Also my 1986 150 turned into a 1985 when I cross reffrenced my model # with the "indrouces" factory code I just learned about.
 

Rikster

Cadet
Joined
Oct 14, 2006
Messages
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Re: 1986 150 Evinrude No power under load

I changed the fuel filter and in checking out the fuel system start to finish I found a cracked, chaffed fuel line. Between the two I think it was sucking air. I took her out for a test ride and she ran fine.

I did notice when I got back that the port side spark plugs were still all wet and sooty while the starboards were fine.
Being all three plugs are effected I guess that backs me up to the power pack
 
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