1969 evinrude 55 running rough

[Bearskin9898]

Picked up a new to me boat. Boat ran and idled nice on the hose. Would shift gears fine. I put a can of seafoam in about a gallon of gas. Let it run for about 15min then filled it with a few more gallons of gas and oil before dropping it in the water for the first time. The primer bulb is very thin and is like caved in. It's hard to prime the motor with it and it never gets or stays hard. I did see a little gas squirt out on the engine fuel connector on the outside of the cowling right where it plugs into the engine. Used choke and it started a lot rougher then it does on muffs. Didn't idle as good and whenever put into gear almost instantly dies. I did notice quite a bit of exhaust bubbles coming up from the motor.
Where should I start?

 

[boobie]

Do a compression test on it.

 

[jimmbo]

Compression test. Spark on all cylinders. Spark needs to jump a 7/16" gap. It sounds like you have a fuel tank that is not venting properly(primer bulb collapsed), and a leaky fuel connector. Carbs might need a cleaning too.

Engines very often run fine on the hose, out of the water, even with a dead cylinder. Once they are in the water and seeing back pressure on the exhaust, they don't run so fine

 

[racerone]

What are the low speed mixture needle set at ?

 

[Bearskin9898]

Not sure what the needles are set at. Ran crappy and wouldn't wanna start at all when I took it out of the water and put it back on the hose btw

 

[racerone]

Yes we know you are having trouble.----What are low speed mixture screw set at , 5/8 turn out, yes or no ?-----Have you removed the flywheel ?----Cleaned set the points / breakers at 0.010" ?----Inspected ant reversing spring.----Replaced the wee boots on the plug wire at the cap ?----Cleaned the cap and rotor ?

 

[Bearskin9898]

Just wanted to make sure everyone knows it still ran like crap when I took it back out of the water and that it didn't resolve itself when put back on hose. Not very good with motors but I check the spark and compression tomorrow. If my fuel line is leaking air is it possible new fuel line and bulb could fix the problem?

 

[F_R]

You said the primer bulb feels very thin and is collapsed. That makes me think it is rotted on the inside. Maybe just from old age. If I am guessing correctly, that rotted rubber might be fouling the whole fuel system on the motor.

Leaks cannot be tolerated, as they let air in as well as let gas out.

Nevertheless, there are other items that need to be checked too. They have already been suggested. Check the compression to make sure you have something worth working with. Ignition service is a normal maintenance item, as is the entire electrical system, starting at the battery. That motor is 50 years old and you can't just wave a magic wand and expect it to work.

 

[Bearskin9898]

Ok so I want able to test the compression or spark due to being tight on money right now. But I put all new fuel line on it replaced the bulb and all new connectors. Also put brand new spark plugs in it. Fuel no longer leaks out of the connector going onto the engine and it feels like it actually primes the fuel into the engine now.. The old build was so thin/collapsed that you couldn't even really prime it. It instantly started right up on the muffs and idled good. I'm not able to get it in the water today so I took a good sized toy box and filled with water. It was only enough to just cover the top of the propeller but it started right up and idled fine in the water. Put it in forward and it seemed to run just fine now. So Im hoping when I can actually take it to the lake tomorrow it'll actually run this time..

 

[jimmbo]

Top of the prop is not deep enough in the water, the water pump is not getting primed and often cannot suck the water up. If yours did consider yourself very lucky. Impeller probably needs replacing anyway

 

[Bearskin9898]

I still had muffs on it while it was in the bucket. Just wasted too at least get enough water to cover the exhaust

 

[Bearskin9898]

Got it in the water and wasn't much better. It'd shift into gear this time but if you give it any throttle it just dies. Revs up fine in netrual. There's a lean/rich lever on the front of the motor along with the auto on or off choke lever. Would these need adjustment ?

 

[Bearskin9898]

Finally got it to run, turned the knob all the way up to rich and it ran fine. Is this normal?