Re: 1981 Evinrude 2 stroke no idle
The screen he is referring to is a cylindrical screen that is attached to the shutoff valve that's directly under the gas tank. The valve holds the screen just barely up in the tank. To remove it you'd best remove the tank to get it in a position to work on it easier. Remove the gas line from the bottom of the valve, there will be a spring clamp or hose clamp holding the hose to the bottom of the shutoff valve. If it's a spring, it's the original piece which may mean your hose is original which may mean you could have to cut it off. I had to cut mine off. BE CAREFUL and don't break the bottom of the tank. I hate those spring clamps and have replaced mine with regular hose clamps.
The on-off valve is screwed into the bottom of your plastic gas tank with the screen part sticking up into your tank an inch or so. Also holding the valve secure is another of those spring clamps which needs to be lowered a bit so you can unscrew the valve from the tank.
I stress, the tank is plastic. So bending and pulling and being rough with the valve in the tank should not be done. Use some penetrating fluid to try to loosen it up. If you break the tank, you're in trouble. I don't know where you'll find another.
If you have flow through the screen already, (I believe you'd said you put carb cleaner in the tank) and it doesn't seem to be restricting the flow, I'd leave well enough alone and not remove the valve from the tank.
There are gravity flow filters that you could put inline but the screen is suppose to do the job by itself. My brother put an inline filter on mine and it works but the inline filter wasn't there out of the factory. It was designed to only have the screen.
A reason you might want to remove the valve is if it's crudded up with deposits and won't close completely. Mine was crudded. If you have the tank off, check for flow and to see if the valve works. If it works, leave it alone.
