Low power on BF50A

"I recently purchased a BF50A

"I recently purchased a BF50A Honda out board with a serial number of BAZL-1001892, can someone tell me the model year? Another problem I am having is the motor only reaches about 3000 RPM @ full throttle. It seems to run smooth other than that with a load on it but stumbles a bit @ low RPM idle. Thanks in advance for help (It is mounted on a 17' Alumaweld bass boat)."

"Jason, believe your motor is

"Jason, believe your motor is a 1995.

Like most of the guys on here we don't work on 4 strokes, but I'll ask the (stupid) questions first.

Are you sure the tach is set properly and not reading 1/2 the rpm that it should?

Did you have the motor checked out before you bought it? private sale or from a dealer?

Was the compression checked? spark checked? did you change the plugs, impeller, lower unit oil, engine oil and filter? or do you know when they were last done (for sure - not just the word of "some guy").

4 strokes are infinately more sensative than 2 strokes - without regular maintenace they quickly turn into "junk".

It may be well worth a couple hours labour to get this into a certified honda tech and let him or her check it out for you - otherwise you may have a very nice looking paperweight before too long..."

"Thanks Graham. I believe the

"Thanks Graham. I believe the tach is reading correctly because ,at idle, it will rev to 4000 (on the tach) but just won't go that high with a load on. I changed the spark plugs, engine oil, and filter last week, but haven't had it on the water since. Service paperwork indicates the impeller was changed last year and it has a good "pee" stream when running. The motor was bought from an individual who didn't use it much, but had it serviced regularly. Is there anything else to address before diving into the carbs?"

"Hang on a second - did you ju

"Hang on a second - did you just buy the motor and hang it on your existing rig, or did you buy a whole set-up?

You may have way too much prop on the outboard if you hung it on a boat different than what it was last used on...."

It was bought as a whole setup

It was bought as a whole setup. Sorry it took so long to reply I have been out of town.

"Ok then, the first thing I wo

"Ok then, the first thing I would check is to make sure the linkage/cable is properly adjusted.

With the motor off, give it full throttle and check to see if the carb butterflies are completely open - the cable may just need a bit of adjustment."

"Thanks, I'll try that and

"Thanks, I'll try that and see if it helps."

"When the throttle is operated

"When the throttle is operated it goes to half throttle before I see any movement on the side of the carbs. It appears that they open all the way up from half to full throttle, but I'm not really sure what I'm looking for. Does this sound normal to you?"