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87 40hp Evinrude

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dalanjohnson

New member
I just had an unusual occurren

I just had an unusual occurrence. I was trying to adjust idle speed on a 40 hp Evinrude and the engine revved up to high rpm and would not shut off with key or battery disconnect. Finally ran out of gas after fuel line disconnect. Any ideas on what caused this runaway and how to keep it from happening again? It happened once before running on earmuffs by simply increasing rpm with fast idle lever. This time it was in the water. Any ideas would be helpful as it is a little unnerving to try to start it without being able to shut it down.
 
"Never disconnect the battery

"Never disconnect the battery of a running engine. That will cause damage to the engine's charging system.

Check the kill circuit of that engine. Does it normally shut down when the key is turned to OFF?

Kill circuit = Black ground wire from powerhead to powerpack. Black/Yellow wire from powerpack to raised "M" terminal of ignition switch. Black wire from regular "M" terminal of ignition switch to ground. Also.... Normally another Black/Yellow wire connected to the raised "M" terminal would lead to a dead mans kill switch, with the other remaining wire of that kill switch leading to ground.

Normally a runaway engine condition is caused by bypassing the throttle limits and applying excessive throttle with the engine in neutral. Don't do that!

Thousands of parts in my remaining stock. Not able to list them all. Let me know what you need and I'll look it up for you. Visit my eBay store at:

http://stores.ebay.com/Evinrude-Johnson-Outboard-Parts-etc?refid=store"
 
"Joe,
Thanks for the info

"Joe,
Thanks for the info. The key does normally shut the engine down. I will check the wiring as you indicated. I could not get the engine to idle except by either using key choke or raising fast idle lever. I pushed the lever a little too far and she took off. Any ideas about the idling issue?
Dave"
 
Engaging choke helps engine to

Engaging choke helps engine to idle? That indicates that the carburetor might be somewhat fouled and needs cleaning.
 
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