The motor was born in 1988. On a recent fishing trip, it suddenly came to a stop as I was accelerating. It seemed to idle okay, but if I gave it some throttle, it would shut down within seconds. I only tried this once more. I took it to the shop and the mechanic said he ran it in nuetral and he could find nothing wrong. He said the compression was fine but he never put it under a load.I put it in the water and the same problem except in neutral it was running rougher. Several days later, the mechanic took it out and determined the #3 cylinder wasn't firing and that when he pulled the plug he saw metal filings. I later pulled the plugs and to my untrained eyes, I could not see metal on the plug or in the cyclinder.<br /><br />I don't know motors, but I don't understand how the compression tests could have been okay in the shop. Nor do I understand how the problemt seemed to be a function of being in gear and not in neutral. I'll be getting second opinion, but I don't plan to put any real money into this motor.
