Warning: potentially stupid question

I was always told there were no dumb questions.. but.. I feel like this will definitely make me look a bit stupid........



I've got a '95 Nissan 8HP for my dingy, but had about a 1.5 gallons of premixed 2-stroke oil/gas (50:1 ratio) that was about five months old. I added 1.5 gallons of fresh mix and noticed the engine running MUCH weaker than when it was last run five months ago.

I did compression tests and they came out to around 95 PSI for both plug holes.

Questions are;
-Will using a slight mix of slightly old fuel cause your outboard to run noticeably slower?
-Is fuel of five months even considered "old"?
-Is 95 PSI considered low? If not, should I get the outboard checked out for other issues?

Forgot to say it, but THANK YOU for any and all answers.

bump... any suggestions?

Could be a lot of things, but to be sure, fuel older than 30 days is "old". Try straight fresh fuel mix (no old stuff blended in), and see how it goes. Could also be some varnishing in the fuel system. 95 is fine on the compression. Big thing is EVEN compression between cylinders.

Thank you for the replies, everyone.

I will run the motor til its out of fuel, then try adding seafoam.

Another question I have is, if I plan to keep the motor out of use for several months, is it a good idea to "dry out" the carb by running the motor til it runs out of fuel? Or is it better to keep fuel inside with fuel stabilizer added?


Thanks.

It's always best if you run the carb dry at the end of each and every day. The residue from the exaporation of fuel leads to varnish (which requires a 4-hour soak in real carb dip, then a blow-out with carb spray... which leads to poor idle and low speed performance, in severe cases, it's a sludge in the carb.