This was solved. The choke solenoid is fine. I read in the service manual it doesn't have to move very much to provide the necessary choke.
The problem was convoluted. I had cleaned the carb and installed a carb rebuild kit over the winter. (Why? I couldn't get it to start at the end of last season. We had a heat wave and I was using ethanol fuel and hadn't used the engine in 6 weeks.) Upon re-installing the carb, the gasket slipped and I completely missed the hole. So it was difficultly to start. I had to over-choke it. (Does that make sense?) Then it would rev up and down on its own and die if I put the remote control in idle. (The boat is on the hard BTW.) I fixed other issues I had created (see my post about the impeller) and was left with a motor that would not run reliably.
Researching this forum, I learned from other posts that I might have an air leak or the carb was not totally cleaned (I did not do a full dip; just used a carb cleaning spray.) Distraught, I returned to the boat today to remove the carb to re-clean it properly. That's when I saw the misplaced gasket. I reset the gasket (Of course, it tore so I pieced it back together and ordered a new one.) and fired it up.
Turned over on the second try and after 30 seconds it ran like a top. At idle it purrs like a kitten and pees like a racehorse.
Many thanks to the people in this forum especially Paul (pvanv). His answers to other people's issues helped me to understand what I was dealing with. FWIW, I asked AI too but didn't learn anything I hadn't seen here first. YOU CAN fix your own engine.
Just to close this off, the whole affair started a year ago when I cleaned the gas tank and filled it with unleaded containing ethonol. The new marina gas dock was closed that particular week so I figured, "What can go wrong?"
Crazy eh? I hope this puts a smile on someone's face.
Craig Flowers
S/V April Fool
Clinton Lake, Illinois
