1986 Evinrude starting problems

ampletime

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Joined
Jul 18, 2010
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2
I've encountered two different symptoms on two different outings. First time, the motor would start, then run for 2-3 seconds and stall. Then it would turn over for 3-7 seconds and the run again for 2-4 seconds only run stall. If started at high idle it would slowly run up to high idle and immediately slow back down and stall?almost as though it was running out of whatever gas was primed into the cylinders. The smoke is horrible during all of this. The gas bulb has pressure. After experiencing this many times over for 10-12 minutes, I took a 5 minute break and tried again. This time it took two or three tries and it ran fine. I drove it for an hour or more with wonderful performance.

Second, and possibly related, symptom is starting it warm. It seems to be flooding itself when starting warm. I have to turn it over for several seconds until it clears out and then try again. I think I need to make sure I don?t prime it when warm. This is probably operator error, but someone might find it related to the issue above.

Thanks for any suggestions!! To my knowledge, the engine is entirely original from 1986. It was my dad?s.
 

couth77

Cadet
Joined
May 26, 2009
Messages
20
Re: 1986 Evinrude starting problems

i had similar issues years ago with my 1987 johnson 70 hp. are you running the fuel completely out of the engine each time you leave the lake? sometimes the carbs will get gummed up pretty bad when you leave fuel in the motor for prolonged periods of time causing poor performance all around like you describe. then you'll need to rebuild the carbs. make sure your spark plugs are good and make sure your gas/oil mixture jives correctly... good luck.
 

ampletime

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Joined
Jul 18, 2010
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2
Re: 1986 Evinrude starting problems

It's likely that I'll need to do the carbs. How do I verify the gas/oil mix is right?
 

couth77

Cadet
Joined
May 26, 2009
Messages
20
Re: 1986 Evinrude starting problems

i'd bet its 50:1 (fuel to oil) but to make sure, call a local boat shop and ask them-most of the time they'll be happy to tell you. if you're mixing too much oil, it'll certainly run rough and very smoky-causing plugs to foul quickly...
 
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