1956 Evinrude 15hp problems

[Trapper55]

My 15hp seems to be starving for fuel. It was running slow at the beginning of this season and then sometimes it would just take off and run fine. It seemed like it was starving for fuel. I changed the spark plugs and cleaned the bowl and filter out. I cleaned the fuel tank out and changed the o rings on the fuel coupler. Put new gas, oil and sea foam in the tank an it started right up. It still was running slow going down the river. If I pulled the choke out until it almost stalled and then pushed it back in the rams would go up and it would run great. Also noticed their is oil leaking from I think where the motor is bolted onto the upper unit. The lower unit has no leaks.

 

[old islander]

Order a kit and rebuild your carb. You can find one right here on Iboats.

 

[F_R]

Trap, have you checked the ignition? Your story is so typical. Everybody tears into the carburetor first, when actually the real problem is ignition. I might add that motor is guaranteed to have bad (cracked) coils unless they have already been replaced. If you don't do anything else, at least remove the recoil starter and the cover plate off the flywheel and peer through the inspection hole. Look for cracked coils, and/or dirty, oily points. What you find will tell you where to go from there.