Outboard giving me trouble….

All

I\’ve got a early-mid 80\’s Evinrude, 30hp. Has been a solid unit since I got it in the later 90\’s. Didn\’t get it on the water last summer, but it was started spring and fall, was fogged, etc for the winter.

This summer, differant story. Starts, runs well in the yard when I use the muffs, to the extent I can run it up. On the water, differant story. It runs good thru about 1/2 open, then starts puking – spitting/rough running – missing might be the word.

I dumped all the gas out of the can – new fuel a/o this weekend (on the chance there was something in it), had the gas line apart and blown out w/ compressed air in case there was some grundge in it, took the fuel filter apart
and cleaned it.

Pulled the plugs – they aren\’t the perfect picture of spark plugs, but they aren\’t black.

Any suggestions before I haul to the shop?

Thanks

UG

Change the plugs regardless of what they look like and add Sea-Foam to the gas.

Try a Johnson/Evinrude \\”decarboniser/carb cleaner\\” treatment . Spray in in there when the engine is warm , the whole can , till it kills. Let if sit for an hour , then fire that mother up run it. Then change the plugs and run 2+4 fuel treatment in every tank, same thing as Sea foam , or stabil . (& try a new inline fuel bulb and fuel filter with fresh gas & tcw3 oil , sometimes that may do it )

Seafoam is a decent product, yet has been known to leave \”white residue\” inside of your carbs that can eventually clog your jets and give you a situation you don\’t need or desire. I use a product called ringfree, its fairly expensive but I have had excellent results for years using it in my 60hp Yamaha……Don\’t get me wrong seafoam works but my advice is to try ringfree and NO I\’m not affiliated with it in any way as far as sales or marketing

I owned one of the mid 80s evinrude 30 hp. I scorched the cylinders due to oil/gas not mixing properly. Had a tank that had the oil in the gas tank. Didn\\\’t work too well. I could go 1/2 speed or less.
jjsherm

I believe that motor has 2 flutes for regulating gas into the carbs. I had a similar problem with my 30 horse, bogg\\\’s at half throttle, thought it was plugs, cdx box – turned out it was one of the flutes was turned, not regulating correct amount of gas mixture to carb. The mechanic who fixed it lives in Maple Grove on Eagle Lake – he specializes in the two cylinder motors.

Just some suggestions that motor has a primer/choke when warmed up the choke needs to be pushed in for it to run right. On the side of the engine is a diaphram fuel pump which can dry out over time.

The majority of the time when we have probems with our older motors, the problems are somehow carb related. My suggestion is to buy a carb kit and overhaul the carb. The kits are fairly inexpensive.

Sounds like a plugged main jet in the carb, none easier than an older evinrude like yours. Get a carb kit, blow thru all the jets with air after cleaning. Good Luck

I put new plugs in it, and had it on the water Sunday. It’s running better, but still not completely right. I can get the motor to open up now, but it still has an occasional miss / spit / sputter / hesitation. Will be calling the shop – am thinking carb cleaning / overhaul at at this time.

My thanks to all who responded.

UG

2CATCH1 has the right idea. I know the guy and he has tuned a lot of older motors. Once the carb is clean, has new gaskets, etc. your motor should run fine.

Well – after 3 trips to the shop and over $350, it (outboard) now runs again (or seems to – based on my running on the lake tonight).

1st shop trip was to an independant mechanic – got a referral from a happy client. The guy cleaned the card – checked fuel pump, etc. Trip to the lake showed ok at first, but the longer I ran it – the worse it got – still spitting and sputtering.

Called the guy back – he suggested differant gas tanks and lines – no go – same thing – after an intial ‘ok’ run. Called him back – he wouldn’t return my calls – not happy about that.

Took it to Al’s Specialty in Rochester – they cleaned the carb – got it back – it ran better – but still not right – no top end – just didn’t spit and sputter as frequently. Hauled it back to Al’s – they worked on it again – finally putting it in tank of water and just letting it run – and it finally happened – for them.

They put it a new power pack – and I must admit – it ran fine tonight – until I ran out of gas in 1 tank (2nd one was along). Just in time to put it away for the winter .

UG