2005 Johnson 50 HP cutting out at idle

[Jim mc]

This motor had sat for a couple of years when I bought it. Got rid of the old gas and ran it on the lake once, The motor gas continuously backfiring every few seconds. Cleaned both carbs with a rebuild kit in one of them, new plugs, rebuilt water pump because of flow problems, new power pack. Several tries at running the engine with either backfiring or high rpm. Timing would not advance past TDC so I started messing with all the linkage. Currently motor runs about 1500 rpm but its constantly cutting out about once a second. This motor has the high dollar VRO pump on it that seems to be working OK. When I started backing the mixture screws out the motor took off at about 5000 RPM. I'm on the verge of taking it to a shop to see if they can figure it our. Any suggestions? Thanks

 

[Jim mc]

Compression is 115 psi on both cylinders. New fuel filter was installed