First time poster, and first attempt outboard repair outside of simple stuff. Pretty serious DIY'r so I just kinda dove in...I need help diagnosing my issue from the collective wisdom here; (please!?). I've been scouring the internet for a long time reading/learning and this is still kicking my butt. Butt it's become an obsession now to resolve! Bare with my details (hoping it may help someone researching, and provide context too).
94 J50TLERE on a Tracker pontoon that I inherited. Over time the ability to idle just worsened, Now, it will die anytime it's returned to neutral. It will run 11-1200 rpms or above, and will rev to redline or above (5,500 rpms) I've verified - stopped in fear. I carried it into a repair shop for diagnosis, they advised it's running on one cylinder, and needs a power pack. I replaced that with a CDI one, rebuilt the carbs (new it probably needed it anyway), and replaced the plugs. Same symptoms - fires enough to disengage starter but won't idle without applying throttle. Also, I'm doing all of this in a big trough, so it has back pressure.
De-gunked with the "whatever it's called" method of concentrated Seafoam/1 gallon of fuel -no change, still no idle.<br><br>Swapped plug wires, verified ignition system is good (I'm pretty confident anyway - coils, power pack, stator,timer base, etc. voltages,ohms, continuity ~normal). I was convinced it's the ignition breaking down some where, and was "weak" at low rpms, thus the no idle condition. Nope - same status...
Moves to fuel - read repeatedly it's idle circuit issues...pulled carbs apart again, wire probed all the circuits, soaked and compressed air. Blew out the fuel lines, verified (visually) fuel pressure is good (pulled lines individually and it rev's well); Found fuel solenoid/primer top was cracked. Replaced (thought sucking air, low pressure at low rpms) - still no idle. Starting to seem starved for air, slow out of gate, but then catches up and rev's well then.
Moved on to air - Pulled intake to check leaf valves. See light under a few of them, so I replaced them with CCM valves. Throttle response is greatly improved, real snappy, thought I had fixed it (can make it idle with slight throttle forward), put cowling and all back on. It dies at idle with cowling on...
So, now onto the Exhaust side, as I've noticed through this troubleshooting that smoke is coming out of shift linkage hole (has been all along, but didn't really connect the dots), so I dropped the gear head and foot/boot. Now I'm lost...I want to think it's that the lower grommet is/has been my primary issue all along as it's floppy loose and has obviously been leaking, but I'm unsure. While I have it apart, I'd to just "fix it", so here's where ya'll come in. I don't know how to read the signs of what's happening here. Just don't understand it enough. Even like what's water/exhaust and which hole ha! Not sure what it's telling me that one side is "clean" while the other is dirty? Or is it leaking from the top (power head exhaust gasket) or leaking from the bottom (lower unit grommet) and spraying exhaust up inside?
See pics below...Thanks for any and all help here!
94 J50TLERE on a Tracker pontoon that I inherited. Over time the ability to idle just worsened, Now, it will die anytime it's returned to neutral. It will run 11-1200 rpms or above, and will rev to redline or above (5,500 rpms) I've verified - stopped in fear. I carried it into a repair shop for diagnosis, they advised it's running on one cylinder, and needs a power pack. I replaced that with a CDI one, rebuilt the carbs (new it probably needed it anyway), and replaced the plugs. Same symptoms - fires enough to disengage starter but won't idle without applying throttle. Also, I'm doing all of this in a big trough, so it has back pressure.
De-gunked with the "whatever it's called" method of concentrated Seafoam/1 gallon of fuel -no change, still no idle.<br><br>Swapped plug wires, verified ignition system is good (I'm pretty confident anyway - coils, power pack, stator,timer base, etc. voltages,ohms, continuity ~normal). I was convinced it's the ignition breaking down some where, and was "weak" at low rpms, thus the no idle condition. Nope - same status...
Moves to fuel - read repeatedly it's idle circuit issues...pulled carbs apart again, wire probed all the circuits, soaked and compressed air. Blew out the fuel lines, verified (visually) fuel pressure is good (pulled lines individually and it rev's well); Found fuel solenoid/primer top was cracked. Replaced (thought sucking air, low pressure at low rpms) - still no idle. Starting to seem starved for air, slow out of gate, but then catches up and rev's well then.
Moved on to air - Pulled intake to check leaf valves. See light under a few of them, so I replaced them with CCM valves. Throttle response is greatly improved, real snappy, thought I had fixed it (can make it idle with slight throttle forward), put cowling and all back on. It dies at idle with cowling on...
So, now onto the Exhaust side, as I've noticed through this troubleshooting that smoke is coming out of shift linkage hole (has been all along, but didn't really connect the dots), so I dropped the gear head and foot/boot. Now I'm lost...I want to think it's that the lower grommet is/has been my primary issue all along as it's floppy loose and has obviously been leaking, but I'm unsure. While I have it apart, I'd to just "fix it", so here's where ya'll come in. I don't know how to read the signs of what's happening here. Just don't understand it enough. Even like what's water/exhaust and which hole ha! Not sure what it's telling me that one side is "clean" while the other is dirty? Or is it leaking from the top (power head exhaust gasket) or leaking from the bottom (lower unit grommet) and spraying exhaust up inside?
See pics below...Thanks for any and all help here!
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