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89 evinrude 200hp not getting fuel to 2 cylinders

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Dwittig33

New member
Hi, i have a 89 Evinrude 200hp (on my Stratos bass boat). I'm having starting problems, can only get it started cold by using the manual start solenoid (red lever) under the fuel pump. It is my understanding that i should only need to use that thing if i need to manual start the flywheel with a pull rope. Not a big deal, because it does get it started, but I would rather not have to remove the cowling every time I launch. Don't know if that is part of my issue or not, but last time i was out, I had very little power. Had a real hard time getting up on plane, once I was on plane at WOT I was getting up to about 35. When this thing is running right I can run in the 60's. A buddy of mine told me to check the reed valves. I did and could see light through the majority of them. I flipped them over and tested again. This time I got up on plane much better but only topped out at 40 mph. So I put my water muffs on it and tested in the back yard. Started pulling plug wires and cylinder 1, 5 and 6 (not sure on correct cylinder order but this is from Top going left to right then move my way down) made no change to the motors sound or rpms.

Ok, so why are those cylinders "dead"? I have spark (tested with a timing light and by arcing plug to block). I have fuel going through the carb (can see it spray in while revving and also if i hold my hand over carb vacuum sucks lots of fuel). I have since installed new reeds, but somehow the fuel is not getting into the cylinder. The plugs are clean compared to the working cylinders (and also brand new champions). I have 115 compression on all cylinders... if I remove plug and start engine, hot dry air shoots out, instead of the air/fuel mixture on the working cylinders. Any ideas?




 
Probably a plugged main jet on one carb....better fix that before you mess up those " dry" cylinders.
 
You never flip reeds!!!! Also remember that looking at carbs the ones on left side feed the right bank and vice versa
 
Thanks for the replies, and sorry for my delay in responding. VRO is disconnected, but after working with it over the weekend I do believe my problem lies in the carbs like you mentioned. I started working the enricher (press the key in) while revving and noticed better power (but no where near what it should be putting out) and wet plugs once I inspected. So that tells me I'm running lean. The last time i had the carbs off (to install the new reeds) I took the lower two carb bowls off and did a quick clean with compressed air through the main jets. They looked good (just did the lower two because i didn't want to remove the linkage to the rest of them) and you can noticeably see a large stream flowing into the throttle body when revved, not to mention at idle if i hold my hand over body there will be puddles of fuel sucked up. So I don't think the main jets are the problem. Maybe I'm sucking air in between the carbs and the manifold? I have had the carbs off multiple times in the past weeks, maybe I'm not getting a good seal either the gaskets are bad or I didn't tighten them down enough. Or maybe I just need to adjust my jets... I don't know how they would get so out of whack, I've never touched them. What do you guys think?
 
Dwittig33 said:
Thanks for the replies, and sorry for my delay in responding. VRO is disconnected, but after working with it over the weekend I do believe my problem lies in the carbs like you mentioned. I started working the enricher (press the key in) while revving and noticed better power (but no where near what it should be putting out) and wet plugs once I inspected. So that tells me I'm running lean. The last time i had the carbs off (to install the new reeds) I took the lower two carb bowls off and did a quick clean with compressed air through the main jets. They looked good (just did the lower two because i didn't want to remove the linkage to the rest of them) and you can noticeably see a large stream flowing into the throttle body when revved, not to mention at idle if i hold my hand over body there will be puddles of fuel sucked up. So I don't think the main jets are the problem. Maybe I'm sucking air in between the carbs and the manifold? I have had the carbs off multiple times in the past weeks, maybe I'm not getting a good seal either the gaskets are bad or I didn't tighten them down enough. Or maybe I just need to adjust my jets... I don't know how they would get so out of whack, I've never touched them. What do you guys think?
Click to expand...

I’m currently having similar problems. Have you found the problem yet?
 
Fordman81 said:
I’m currently having similar problems. Have you found the problem yet?
Click to expand...


I'm getting closer. So I didn't actually have dry cylinders. I had checked spark on all plugs by grounding it to the block and had spark, and also while running pulling the plug wires and on two cylinders there was no noticeable change in the sound. So being that I saw spark, I assumed it was fuel issue. Cleaned the carbs and that didn't help. But then I got a spark gap tester and found that even though one plug looked fine while grounded to the cylinder, it wouldn't jump a 7/16" gap that they're supposed to. Got to looking a little more and found that the coil had a crack in it. I haven't installed the new coil yet, but I'm sure that's the problem for one of the "dead" cylinders. The other cylinder passed the gap test, but I plan on putting the new coil on it and seeing if it helps. Before you get into removing carbs or buying parts I would definitely recommend taking all the coils off, inspecting them for cracks and cleaning the ground contacts with a wire brush or sandpaper. Its easy to do, and I wish I would have done that a long time ago. Just by doing that, my boat even with just the 4 good cylinders, it improved power and getting up on plane tremendously.
 
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