1977 Sears Eska NEED HELP

[cadroncreek]

"I have a 1977 Sears Eska, Model 217.585850 by the serial tag on the motor.

My first problem is the gas to oil ratio i need to know what is the best. What would the motor do if the ratio was wrong? too much oil? or not enough oil?

Basically the motor cranks right up and it's loud and shakes something fierce but it seems to start easy. It will idle no problem, runs like a champ but when i put it in gear it doesnt run very well it will start spitting and acting like it is going quit. i can tell the thrust isnt very good. It will push my boat but very slow, and when it does push my boat it feels like it will thrust and then back off...kind of like driving your car and giving it alot of gas and then backing off over and over again. It is almost like the motor isnt getting the gas when i put it in gear. Any help would be appreciated"

[galamb]

"Cole, the Eska powerheads were built by Tecumseh (ya the lawnmower guys). I've seen different literature from different sources about the correct mix.

Some will say 18:1 others 24:1 and you will even get some small engine shops who say 50:1 is ok as well.

I prefer 24:1 in these. It seems to work well. Make sure you use regular 2 cycle oil (such as used for chainsaws/lawnmowers etc) NOT Marine oil.

Marine oil will burn up at too low a temperature since it is designed for water-cooled engines. Air-cooled engines need the slightly heavier oil.

If you use too little oil eventually you will chew something up internally due to lack of lubrication - too much oil will foul your sparkplugs and possibly clog up the exhast ports etc, but otherwise will not "harm" the engine.

The "dying under load" is a typical of crud or varnish build-up in the carb. Usually no magic in a can will clean that out. The carb needs to be pulled, disassembled, cleaned and at minimum some new gaskets installed/float adjusted..."

[tim_k]

"To add to what Graham said, it looks like Eska officially recommended 50:1 for that particular model.

http://home.earthlink.net/~brixent/M...980-585861.htm"

[winman99]

"One more note. The owners manual and service manual for these motors recommend using TCW oil, which stands for TwoCycle Water cooled. Even my 1975 model 1976a Eska 7.5 horsepower owners manual states to use either "regular" 2-cycle oil OR TC-W. By the time my 1980 7.5 came around, the manual didn't even mention regular oil, it only states to use TC-W (now TCW-3) oil. My guess is because the exhaust, therefore exhaust port on the engine are water cooled. The 1975 has hundreds of hours on it and still runs strong using TCW-3 oil.
Any of my motors that recommend 16:1 or 24:1 get exactly what they call for. I use a bit more oil than recommended in motors that call for 32:1 or 50:1 just to be safe."

[brim_buster]

i use 32:1 and no problems