1978 mercury 800 80hp sputtering.

Donnyb83

Petty Officer 3rd Class
Joined
Mar 19, 2017
Messages
88
It's me again. I have my first boat. Which I thought ran great. when I went to buy it. Heard it and didn't sound bad. However 2 months and 3 trips later i only get about 100 yards from dock to turn around and bring it back home to work some more. First time out found out it was only running on 2 cylinders so me and my GFS dad brought it home, bought new plugs n started it up. Sounded great at idle took it back out and same deal only running on 2 cylinders. His friend brought his spark tester and we found it wasnt firing on 1 & 4. So I ordered used coils off of eBay that were guaranteed.(don't want to buy new ones and lose money if it wasn't the problem.) They work. Now fires on all 4 cylinders. Sounds awesome in driveway hooked to water however, yesterday 3rd time is a charm right?! Nope! She wants to run. She wants to run bad hit the throttle and she lifts up like she's about to haul a** and drops back down. Maybe 15 mph. Top speed. She starts to want to go and just won't. You can hear it chugging. If I hit the choke it seems also like it's about to get up and go and does give it a bit more for a split second. It's new gas in marine fuel cans. (not using boat fuel tank) bulb stays pretty firm. I havent cleaned the carbs yet. I'm lost. Any suggestions will be used. I can post a YouTube video if needed but don't know if it will help. Thank you
 

Donnyb83

Petty Officer 3rd Class
Joined
Mar 19, 2017
Messages
88
Also I ran it yesterday for about 30 mins to see if maybe it would clean it's self out.
 

racerone

Supreme Mariner
Joined
Dec 28, 2013
Messages
38,602
Big mistake to try and keep running it !-----If a carburetor is plugged no fuel will go in 2 cylinders and NO OIL .-----Make sure carburetors are clean.----Not hard to clean them yourself.
 

Donnyb83

Petty Officer 3rd Class
Joined
Mar 19, 2017
Messages
88
I've cleaned dirt bike carbs, lawn mower etc. I'm sure I'll be able to figure it out. Should I buy carb rebuild kit?
 
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