I just bought a 9.9 mercury two stroke that's from 1986. New non-ethanol gas and quality oil. It runs, but the idle was kind of low on it, low enough that it could go dead. As the engine warmed up, it seemed to idle slower. I found the idle screw and screwing it all the way in really didn't have an effect because it wasn't pushing the bar out any more than when it was screwed in. So I researched and watched videos and they talked about the "mixture idle screw". There was supposed to be one for air (on air side) and one for fuel (on the cylinder side). I didn't see the one for fuel, so I adjusted the air side.
Sure enough, it brought the RPM's up enough that I could actually adjust the idle screw to tone it down. I had let the engine idle for roughly 10 minutes by now. It is submerged in water and it's ejecting water just fine. When warm, the water coming out is warm shower warm. It has a tiller handle and I switched it into forward and it was kind of slow to catch into gear and I couldn't get it to switch into reverse at all. It would just rev up the engine. I could reach down and push/pull the rod above the foot and change it into gear manually though. Before I made this change, I could switch it into either gear fine. So could it be because I adjusted this screw, or could it be that when it warms up enough that that can affect the shifting ability? In the picture I've enclosed, the screw I adjusted is the gold one I have circled.
Any advice is appreciated, I'm trying to learn how to get the motor running good. I can't find any engine specific guides. I tried searching the forums. On Mercury's site, I even found the parts finder. It doesn't say what it is, just gives a replacement number.
Sure enough, it brought the RPM's up enough that I could actually adjust the idle screw to tone it down. I had let the engine idle for roughly 10 minutes by now. It is submerged in water and it's ejecting water just fine. When warm, the water coming out is warm shower warm. It has a tiller handle and I switched it into forward and it was kind of slow to catch into gear and I couldn't get it to switch into reverse at all. It would just rev up the engine. I could reach down and push/pull the rod above the foot and change it into gear manually though. Before I made this change, I could switch it into either gear fine. So could it be because I adjusted this screw, or could it be that when it warms up enough that that can affect the shifting ability? In the picture I've enclosed, the screw I adjusted is the gold one I have circled.
Any advice is appreciated, I'm trying to learn how to get the motor running good. I can't find any engine specific guides. I tried searching the forums. On Mercury's site, I even found the parts finder. It doesn't say what it is, just gives a replacement number.
