1984 Evinrude 60hp stalling

stalls out inconsistanly when shifting into gear, did mix gas to rich have changed out gas and changed plugs and fuel filter screen looks good. can run the boat from spot to spot with no problems then all of a sudden will start and shift into gear and hesitates and dies, will start right back up. again very inconsistent. Somebody recommended to keep running wide open to burn off deposits from the rich mixture. True or no? any feedback would be great. Thanks.

What is the compression psi of each (all) cylinder(s)?

Does the spark on each cylinder jump a 7/16" gap with a wide strong blue lightning like flame... a real SNAP! The 7/16" gap is important!

Do the s/plugs look alike, what do they look like? Is there traces of water on the electrodes of any of them?

Do not attempt to run that engine at a high rpm in neutral or on a flushette. THat is inviting a runaway engine and a blown powerhead.

Thousands of parts in my remaining stock. Not able to list them all. Let me know what you need and I'll look it up for you. Visit my eBay auction at:

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plugs are the same both brand new ran exactly the same with the old plugs. problem started after I ran with too rich of a fuel mixture. No idea what the compression is. wont run at high rpm in neutral anylonger, thanks for that advice. Guess ill have to figure out gap, I just put the plugs in till tight and made sure not to overtighten. was the advice i was given when asked about changing them.

I also simply tighten spark plugs BUT to be technical, they are suposed to be torqued to 20 foot pounds... sometimes (to me) that seems to be a little too tight.

Assuming you're premixing..... If you had a empty fuel tank and put in the oil first, as you started to pump in the gas, that would force pure oil up the fuel line and into at least one carburetor. If this was the case, it might be a good idea to drain the carburetors to check that raw oil isn't present... it'll really clog the carburetor jets.

Let us know about the compression and spark as I requested. Cheap compression gauges are available in Wal*Mart, K-Mart etc. Spark can be checked as follows........

(Spark Tester - Home Made)
(J. Reeves)

You can use a medium size philips screwdriver inserted into the spark plug boot spring connector, then hold the screwdriver shank approximately 7/16" away from the block to check the spark or build the following:

A spark tester can be made with a piece of 1x4 or 1x6, drive a few finishing nails through it, then bend the pointed ends at a right angle. You can then adjust the gap by simply twisting the nail(s). Solder a spark plug wire to one which you can connect to the spark plug boots, and a ground wire of some kind to the other to connect to the powerhead somewhere. Use small alligator clips on the other end of the wires to connect to ground and to the spark plug connector that exists inside of the rubber plug boot.

Using the above, one could easily build a spark tester whereas they could connect 2, 4, 6, or 8 cylinders all at one time. The ground nail being straight up, the others being bent, aimed at the ground nail. A typical 4 cylinder tester follows:
　
..........X1..........X2
.................X..(grd)
..........X3..........X4

Thousands of parts in my remaining stock. Not able to list them all. Let me know what you need and I'll look it up for you. Visit my eBay auction at:

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Joe have to ask if it were the gap or compression wouldnt the problem be consistent? I ran the boat at leasy 30x fishing yesterday without a problem then my last run started and put into gear and the motor was hesitant and boged down and died. yes i pre mix put gas then add oil then mix the can. the previous tank I mixed with dbl the amount of oil...oops, thats when the problem started. so I put new plugs and new gas mixture.

If compression failed on a cylinder, yes, the problem would be consistent. Has the engine run normally at times since this problem started? Regardless.... best to know what the compression is as a problem in the making may be underway.

Ignition (spark) can very well be intermitent. Look closely at the stator under the flywheel (beginning of the ignition & charging system). If a sticky looking substance is dripping down out of it upon the powerhead area, that would result is a AC voltage drop to the powerpack capacitor which in turn would result in weak, erratic, and eventually no spark/ignition.

Portable fuel tanks, best way to fill.... put in a couple gallons of gas, then dump in the required amount of oil, then top off with the proper amount of gasoline. That incoming gas swirling in is a real good mixer.

I just went and ran the heck out of it and couldnt get it stall was a bit sluggish at first but kept on it, was almost able to feel the sluggish work itself out. did monkey with the throttle friction and just kept running it full throttle, thinking maybe something was mucked up and needed to burn off. Im gonna go for more gas and try again. nothing dripping or leaking. will have the compression test done this evening as a precaution.

Hopefully you'll be one of the lucky ones.