What happened?....Gas?...Plugs?

[smltooner]

My 90hp merc had issues last year running poorly, starting poorly much like your talking about. Mercury had issues with the coil packs breaking down.

I've had the same problem with my Merc.
Had to replace coil twice.

[GregF]

It is handy that you have 3 of everything. You can swap stuff around before you start buying expensive parts. Iboats seems to be fairly reasonable on parts if you want OEM otherwise I have had pretty good luck with http://outboardparts.com/
for aftermarket parts.

[Brandon]

Is there more than an ignition coil?

I cant really see it being that, I know my engine was flooding and a coil wouldnt have anything to do with how the motor is running after it is at full throttle would it?

I talked to a mechanic that replaced my throttle cable and he told me the last three boats he has worked on has had water in the gas, and all three of these boats got gas where I get gas. So maybe the reason for my starting problem was bad plugs that caused the Engine to flood, but would not have anything to do with the reason why my engine ran at only 3000 RPM's correct?

Maybe there is water somewhere in my Carbs? This would cause my engine to run the way it is running correct?

If I have water in my tank, is the only way to get it out to clean my carbs? or can I just switch out the gas?

[GregF]

The bad coil can foul a plug in a heart beat. That "pull the plug wire off" trick is good to see which plug is bad but we think you already know that. If the plug isn't working, a third of all the gas you use, piles up in that cylinder and squirts out the back.

[Brandon]

I am trying to find some NGK plugs, but they seem to be hard to get a hold of I am going to give NAPA a call in the morning. What I am going to do is take all of my plugs and put in new ones and use the pull the wire off that you guys were telling me about. As I mentioned before I am going to empty the gas out of the tank, and put in new gas with some Sta-bil or Heet, to maybe try to get rid of any water that maybe be inside the carbs. I am going to go to Wal Mart tomorrow and buy a Fuel and Water Separator and put it on the gas line and then start it up and hope to God that it works. If it doesnt welll................... Who wants to walk me through a carb cleaning?

You think these are good things to do to hopefully nail down the issue?

[GregF]

If you still keep fouling the plug, try swapping the coil.
On my 75 it was possible to actually swap it without taking it loose. You had enough length in the wires to swap the "in" and "out" between coils. Just be sure to swap them together. Maybe mark them before you start so you can get back.

While you are at it, locate the fuel pump and see which cylinder it is getting vacuum from. It was #2 on my 75 but if it is the same as your bad plug, that could be your problem (bad diaphragm). They sell kits for those old 2 stroke pumps.

[Brandon]

ok well I went today and changed the plugs to NGK and I also put bran new gas in it.
The motor will sometimes start and cut right off or it will not start at all in idle. I can get it to start if I pull up the fast idle lever up and it will idle right about 4000 rpm which is 1000rpm less than top speed. Once I put the lever down to put it in gear the engine dies, I can keep the engine running as long as I quickly put it in full throttle to move but as long as it is in idle it will bog down and cut off. It acts as though it is not getting enough fuel when it is not in fast idle which is causing the motor to shut down. I have no idea how to clean the carbs but I am afraid that is what it is, and my son is about to go into surgery which will cost an arm and a leg so taking it to get it done is not an option for me atleast this summer. I brought the boat back home and it is in my driveway so I am open to try anything. So please let me know what you think

[curtiscapk]

Brandon,

cleaning carbs will cost you nothing. Get some speaker wire single strand, to use for ports. Take of carbs and screw in idle screw while counting turns. Take out all screws and jets. Spray the shit out of all jets and holes. It took me two turns to get em clean. put everything back together and screw idle screw out same as you screwwed in If you have a link and sync leave the bar attached.

Don't forget fuel lines.

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=5743

[Brandon]

Curtis thanks for the info, do you guys think that is what I need to do? Do you think that is what the problem is?
Any other advice I need for this, anywhere I can read about it that you know of more so than a google search (didnt find to awful much) any video I can watch? Should I get a repair Manual?

I appreciate all of your help, I dont have alot of experience with mechanics other than what you guys have taught me, is this something that I would be able to do?

[GXPWeasel]

It sounds to me like it certainly couldn't hurt anything by cleaning the carbs up. I know it takes time, but if it's something that is FREE, then it's worth a shot in my book. You already have ruled out the relatively easy parts by replacing the gas & plugs. I'd say clean up the carbs, and if the problem is still there, look into the other suggestions listed above, or even having the carbs re-built. Sorry this isn't going quite like you would want, but just remember that once you figure this out, you will be one of the more knowledgeable on the subject, and can someday help someone else out by directing them to the answer.

Good luck.

[Brandon]

Sorry this isn't going quite like you would want, but just remember that once you figure this out, you will be one of the more knowledgeable on the subject, and can someday help someone else out by directing them to the answer.

Good luck.

Weasel, I appreciate that I know that I ask a ton of questions on here, and alot of them may seem routine to some people but not to me, I have learned alot on this forum by asking ALOT of questions, and I hope that one day I am able to help people because I know what is going on. I know that everyone else eventually didnt know what was going on either with their own things. I hope that you guys dont get frustrated and continue to be patient with me. With that being said I am a little afraid of the task because I am afraid to mess something up worse than it already is since I know absolutely nothing about the job I am about to take. Any step by step or videos that someone can dig up would be great to help me out, and maybe it is alot easier than I am making it.

[curtiscapk]

http://www.ehow.com/how_6557528_clean-m ... etors.html


no videa but good.

[Brandon]

Now that my son is taking a nap I went outside to take a look at how the carbs come out and found this....

oil spot.jpg (58.03 KiB) Viewed 2706 times

rps20110526_140441.jpg (35.19 KiB) Viewed 2699 times

It is leaking from that small hole

[mossjer]

That looks like fuel to me. If your motor is flooding it will come out of the exhaust. I'm not an outboard expert, but I am a ASE/Chrysler Mastertech.

[curtiscapk]

Flooded or leaking. it is either carbs fuel pump or accellerator pump. I cleaned my carbs and rebuilt my fuel pump. ( 4 bolts and gaskets it is easy) and bought a used acc. pump on ebay. No more leaks.