1983 Mercury 50 hp 4 cyl high rpms in idle

[JasRam]

Hello,
I recently bought a boat with a 1983 mercury 50 hp 4cyl. I replaced the stator and trigger, reset float height, and replaced carb gaskets. it started right up and appears to idle nicely. I took it to the water today and hooked it uo to my tiny tach to fine tune the carb . I noticed that it is reading 2000-2500 while idling but it doesn't sound at all like it's that high. I put it in gear and took it out a few hundred feet while pating attention to the tach. With the throttle about 3/4 down, the tach read 4000-4900 and it the boat was barely moving. I was thinking this may be a spun prop but I took the prop off and it appears to be fine (from what I can see)... Should I have reset the timing when I replaced the stator and trigger? I'm thinking this may be a timing issue?

 

[fastjeff]

You need to determine if the hub is spun by marking both sides and running the motor--you can't be sure by eyeballing it.

All motors should be properly timed to prevent drilling a piston. Do that first!

Jeff

 

[JasRam]

You need to determine if the hub is spun by marking both sides and running the motor--you can't be sure by eyeballing it.

All motors should be properly timed to prevent drilling a piston. Do that first!

Jeff

Thank you, going to test it out today. I can't seem to find a manual for this motor but I'm going to try and time it today.

 

[JasRam]

Thank you, going to test it out today. I can't seem to find a manual for this motor but I'm going to try and time it today.

Thanks, I took it out today and the marks didn't move. I think I have everything squared away now,it seemed to run better when I backed the mixture screws an extra 1/4 turn out. This motor really moves my boat along nicely.