1978 70HP Evinrude - Dies when goin into F/R from neutral

eburd10

Cadet
Joined
Aug 25, 2018
Messages
8
Fairly new to the forum. Seeking some guidance on an issue when shifting into forward or reverse.

Ran boat yesterday and ran great. Cranked right away, idled well, and put into reverse and backed off trailer well without dying or sputtering. Ran at high speed about a mile away to fishing spot and also ran well.

Fished for 3-4 hours, cranked boat back up to leave.... BUT kept dying when trying to put into gear (both Forward and Reverse). Also seemed to be smoking A LOT more than usual. After several failed attempts, got boat into gear and ran back to boat ramp (near full throttle ran good again). But, same thing ocurred when at boat ramp. Let buddy out to back up trailer. Put boat in reverse to back off shore and died again. Finally got backed off shore but died when trying to put in forward.

Needless to say it is an “interesting” time trying to trailer a boat when it dies each time you put it into gear.

Any ideas on why it is dying that way and why the motor seemingly began running very rich all of a sudden?

I was a bit short on gas when i got back to the ramp. Maybe 0.5-1 gallon left in tank but prime bulb full. Gas tank and fuel line are brand new. Spark plugs inspected before taking boat out and they looked pretty good. Could it be a fuel pump issue? Maybe its having trouble picking up gas when its low? Gas/Oil mixed 50:1 (i think this is the correct ratio).

A carburetur issue? I’m sure that is the response i’ll get. Hope that isnt the problem though. I know very littleabout tearing into a carb to clean or replace parts.

78 Evinrude 70 HP on 15’ Fiberglass Kingfisher

Thanks in advance!
 

boobie

Supreme Mariner
Joined
Nov 5, 2009
Messages
20,826
If you don't want to do carb work you should take it into a good dealer who does. It may be cheaper in the long run.
 

BassinGas

Cadet
Joined
Jun 27, 2018
Messages
14
sounds like dirty jets in carb, possible stuck float or bad needle valve. I just rebuilt a 1974 70hp, now it runs like a raped ape. carbs are ez to rebuild, but get a manual if you dont have one., 50:1 is correct ratio.
 

eburd10

Cadet
Joined
Aug 25, 2018
Messages
8
Thoughts on sea foam?

About a week before the fishing trip I mentioned, I pulled the boat out for the first time in about a year. Put the muff on just to see if it would crank. Cranked right up so I ran it with muffs on a while. I added roughly 3-4 oz of Seafoam to my full six gallon tank and ran ran the motor until about 2 gallons of gas were used up.

Really first time I’ve used seafoam. Anybody had success with the product? Would it be worth it to run a full tank of gas through it with Seafoam to see if that would help?

BassinGas where did you get your hands on a manual? Just a google search?
 
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