Outboard floods out easy?

I have an ’89 Evinrude VRO 70hp motor. My problem is, it keeps flooding out. If I idle it for any amount of time, or tilt the motor while fishing, I have to choke the snot out of it to get it to run again. It is getting worse and worse everyday . What could possibly be causing this? Could the float in the carb be bad, or the fuel pump? Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

I keep thinking about this, are you sure it is flooding? If it were flooding, I would think choking it would be the wrong thing to do to get it started again. Choke the air, off, giving you a richer fuel mixture, at anything it would be best to unhook the gas line and stop the fuel from comming to clear the flooding. That being said I’m not familar with your engine. Not that this helps, you out a lot if any, I just keep thinking about it. How old are your plugs?

If it’s really flooding, it’s probably the needle valve(s) in the carb(s) not seating correctly. This basically causes gas to just overflow into the intake.

Like was said, it would surprise me if it was flooding if you have to choke it to get it started again. If it flooded, you would turn off the choke and cut the throttle wide open to help dry it out. How long has it had this problem, have you had the motor for a while and this is a recent thing?

I have had the boat for 3-4 months. It has been getting worse as the weather has been getting warmer . I am going to run it here in a little while on the lake and try leaving the gas can cap cracked open a little. I guess I am not positive it is flooding, just a guess . As you can tell, I am not very mechanically inclined . I also am not sure how old the plugs are.

First off If you don’t know, time for new plugs then, even if you think it runnng better now, $5 and 10 minutes later, if will be worth it. I just changed my plugs yesterday, since my boat was running a bit rough lately, making sure I gapped them correctly this time too, since last time I didn’t actually know what they were suppose to be gapped at, ask a boat dealer, they can tell you, and don’t buy the line “they ‘should’ be gapped correctly in the box” Mine weren’t even close. That being said it’s running 100X better now. I also need to replace my primer bulb, seems my check valve is going bad or something, because it needs to be pumped up all the time or it just doesn’t run right at lower speeds. Maybe you can check yours too. I also think this cheaper oil I bought does not run as well in my engine, I’ll have to go back to the Johnson oil for my boat, it really did seem to run best for my Johnson, one would think oil is oil for the most part, they all have to make their certifications, but it seems some is really worth the extra $.

It sounds like the motor is dying on you by running out of gas. I would check the bulb to see if it seems to have fuel in it when the motor quits. If it is not fairly solid try pumping it up and then start without choking the engine. If it does then start right up it may be a faulty fuel pump, or the fuel line is not allowing enough fuel to the engine, or the one way valve in the hose is bad, or the tanks is sealed too tightly and is creating a vacuum that does not allow adequate fuel fuel to be pulled from the tank. Or I guess it could actually be flooding and stalling?

If it runs fine with the motor tilted all the way down, then it would surprise me if it was the check valve or tank vent. It might be that the float in the carb is set such that it cuts the gas with the motor tilted up a little bit?

I hate to be a pessimist, but you might have other problems with it. Those years the VRO (oil injection, if it is) wasn’t a good thing, I would suggest taking it to somebody to have it compression tested, even a car mechanic can do it, just unscrew plugs and connect a tester, which cost approx $ 50.00, and it’s a handy tool to have.
If compression results are fine, you can get to carburation issues, which could be more simple and less expensive to fix.

My father in law has a 90 hp of the same year motor.

It sounds like you have the same problem that he had….Those motors were not made to use any type of alcohal in the gas. It ate at the rubber ect in the carbs. Johnson’s carb kit took care of the problem. I don’t recall what it cost him.