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Fuel issue or flooded carbs?

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Georgiaboy67

Advanced Contributor
I'm not familiar on being real handy when it comes to certain things with boats. I just got a reman Powerhead for my 97 evinrude 115, new lines, rebuilt carbs, new fuel pump, et c, okay well about 15 hours later the motor would start just fine, but 98% of the time when I put it in forward it dies. Before when it was fixing to kill I just gave it a lot of throttle and it would pick up, it would jump though, from one speed to the next, like it was struggling to get fuel or something, now I have to have someone constantly prime the bulb to get up on plane, but once I slow down it does just fine after running at full speed.. Any ideas? Help would be appreciated
 
Air leak,weak fuel pump,obstructed pulse fitting,cracked/leak top on vapor separator...your carbs are running out of fuel cause engine to run lean, pumping the bulb keeps them filled.
 
I hope it's not s weak fuel pump hell I just spent $325 on a new fuel pump, it's warrantied at the shop I took it to for one year but they are determined to blame the problem on something else besides a fuel issue, since they said it was
norkal for gas to seep into the airbox like its never ever done before.. One of the hoses has gas seeping on the bottom of it from where it connects to that fuel connector lookin thing in between the top two carbs
 
What do the spark plugs look like? If they look powdery white you need to stop running the motor until you figure out the over lean condition. Exactly how are you adjusting the slow needles. Turn them in to lightly seated and then back out 1 1/2 turns each. Bring the engine up to normal temp in the water and in forward gear. One at a time slowly turn it in 1/8 turn at a time and wait about 5 seconds. Turn it in until it stumbles and back out for a smooth idle. Then quickly give it full throttle if the engine hesitates turn all four out 1/4 turn each and try it again. Also did you clean the intermediate jets? Allways adjust the slow needles in gear in the water and it is allways best to adjust the mix rich rather than lean to protect the new powerhead.
 
Spark plugs are brand new, haven't taken out yet, carbs were according to the shop adjusted to factory specs, I'm new to outboard maintenance so I'm learning as sh*t breaks down, all jets were cleaned and blown out, all carbs were rebuilt, everything ran fine for about 15 hours on the power head, then everyday it got a little worse, got harder and harder to start, harder to run, died more frequently, put some fuel cleaner in the tank and started turning over on the third crank, before I had to prime it repeatedly to get on plane I had taken it to the shop when they began to tell me the fuel leak was normal, the"bad coil" is causing it to run low on two cylinders, I don't have a compression tester so idk if it's actually running low on two cylinders or not, will find out this week as I have someone my dad knows coming to try to fix it.
 
My biggest question is how Come once I get on plane the motor runs like a champ? Like I struggle to get on plane on the initial take off, but once I do, nothing seems wrong, and then once I get to my fishing spot and I start idling it DOESNT try to kill or die or nothing. Idling smooth just like it should. And it fires up just fine when it does die, first try. On my last response when i said it fires on the third crank that was on a cold start not a hot start
 
Is it also a possibility that it could just be something obstructing the lines or hoses? When the old Powerhead blew up it had a full tank of gas, well that gas sat for two years untouched.. And the shop has drained it but that's it. So is it possible that filters maybe clogged or carbs or fuel lines? Cause that's a lot of buildup in my opinion. Plus the problem has just progressively gotten worse. And it did run somewhat better when I put fuel cleaner in it..
 
The spark plugs look okay, not powdery white, maybe a little fouled from breakin in the Powerhead with doubling oil for first 10 hours, but other then that not bad. I didn't touch the needles. I'm not too handy yet, fresh outta high school last year learning as I go along, know what basic parts are. Have a friend coming to look at it today who's done good with other people's boats so we'll see what he says.
 
Ikay guys update, I put a new bulb in it and it seemed to run better, still not great. Still kills on me, but now once I give it gas it does go instead of die, except when it's trimmed up loading on the trailer. Real shallow at that ramp. Compression test was done, 120 on 3/4 cylinders, 4th one was between 140-150... He jammed this circuit tester needle looking thing on all the spark plugs while the engine was running, only the 4th one didn't do anything. But I'm firing on all 4's no doubt. What y'all reckon?
 
Yeah, they were covered in oil lol. The one with higher compression looked a little fouled so I bought a new one. Didn't change anything. Thought it might be the one plug itself, guess it could be that "bad coil" the shop told me which I thought was bs at first. But yeah all but that one plug looked the same to us.
 
Swap the coils and see if it follows the coil. Do a ohm test on the plug wires while your at it. Sometimes just moving stuff around will fix a poor connection. Take pics so you get the wiring correct!
 
Georgiaboy67 said:
He jammed this circuit tester needle looking thing on all the spark plugs while the engine was running, only the 4th one didn't do anything. But I'm firing on all 4's no doubt. What y'all reckon?
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Now you need to replace all the plug boots. Not the way to check for ignition spark. The voltage meant for the spark plugs will now arc to the engine cover.

Have you tried running this engine with the cover off?
 
Well he wasnt checking for ignition spark, all I know is when he stuck it, he said when you press down on it the engine is supposed to slow down some, well it did for the first 3,but that 4th one didn't do a thing. He had this other tool and had it grounded to anything metal on the Powerhead and made me crank it to see if spark was going from point a to b, and all of them were
 
Georgiaboy67 said:
Well he wasnt checking for ignition spark, all I know is when he stuck it, he said when you press down on it the engine is supposed to slow down some, well it did for the first 3,but that 4th one didn't do a thing. He had this other tool and had it grounded to anything metal on the Powerhead and made me crank it to see if spark was going from point a to b, and all of them were
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Yeah, he shoved a test light through the Spark Plug Boots. Like i said, time to change the wires.
 
Probably a good idea, I honestly can tell the engine runs a little more funny then it did before he messed with it, I'll buy new wires, I can see the holes so yeah time to replace those.. Prob get a new coil if that one cylinder isn't running right, might have the shop check to see if theirs any carbon build up in that Cylindwr since that's one of the only things I know of that causes higher compression.. Anything else could cause higher compression? Like I said before3/4 were at 120, this last one was between 135-150, seemed to be around the 140 range, also gonna take an air compressor and blow out the hose leading to the back of the primer bulb from the tank, gonna see if there is any trash that's been built up causing my fuel delivery issue since I spent $325 on a new fuel pump only to have this problem 15 hours into a reman Powerhead
 
The compression ratio can change after a rebuild. Depends on how much they over sized the cylinder in question. Carbon would have to be excessive for it to change the ratio. They can even make an error while surfacing the head that will cause the compression to go up.
 
Would this be anything that I would have to worry about? Like meltdown or detonation or anything major like that? I mean obviously I want to get this fixed but money is really tight. Could a bad coil have something to do with higher compression too? I thought the shop would've just been bull****ting me
 
Georgiaboy67 said:
Would this be anything that I would have to worry about? Like meltdown or detonation or anything major like that? I mean obviously I want to get this fixed but money is really tight. Could a bad coil have something to do with higher compression too? I thought the shop would've just been bull****ting me
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Yes you need to worry about it if it is only running on three cyls. Coils are not that expensive anyways. If your gonna be running the boat much you will find out about fuel prices real fast. Spend whatever now to get it running good. Keep it at around 3/4 throttle for best economy. Confirm any part is bad before you put in new parts. Take pics and swap the coils so you get it wired correct. If you still have problems with the same cylinder you will need to get a DVA adaptor to isolate the faulty component. If it stays the same both coils are good or if it follows the coil that coil needs replaced.
 
How would it already be too full with oil or carbon deposits? I mean hell its remanufactured with only 15 hours on it... If that. I guess it could have gotten rich from the double oil I was doing, and maybe a little bit got left in the tank. Just a guess?
 
Any good ways to get that oil and or carbon out of the cylinder without having to remove the cylinder head or take the whole thing apart?
 
The oil is in the fuel just get all four cylinders burning. So are you saying you have done nothing yet but question every bit of advice you have been given. Maybe someone else can give you the answers you want to hear?
 
I'm just making sure I'm understanding this right that's all. My next step is to just drain what's left of the tank in case it's too rich, because the first 40 gallons of gas you have to double it when breaking it in, my guess is that maybe a little is left in there that's richer then what I've been doing the last serval fill ups, I've been doing a pint of oil for every 6 gallons of gas. Every body is telling me different stuff and I'm just trying to figure out what sounds more reasonable. I'm being told to swap the coils and then get told compression has nothing to do with the coils. Not trying to upset anybody just trying to get it straight.
 
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