1983 90hp won’t idle

[mcnamee05]

hi, I’m new to boating so I apologize if I ask things I should already know. I’ve taken my boat out 3 times this year. Every time out it is difficult to get started and I can only keep it running with the fast idle lever. It bogs down and sometimes dies before I can get it into gear, but once in gear it runs smooth at speeds of 800rom. No delay going 1/4 throttle to full throttle. Once in gear everything runs as I would expect it too. Everything I’ve seen online says to adjust the carbs. The motor has 3 carbs on it so would it be the same process for each carb? I’ve never dealt with carburetors before so I get a bit confused when reading. Is there a idle screw that sets the idle speed? Or is everything done by adjusting mixtures? Thanks in advance.

 

[racerone]

Open the low speed mixture screw 1/4 turn at a time and test run in the lake.-----Possibly a " no money spent fix "

 

[jimmbo]

If that doesn't fix it, then the Serious Troubleshooting can commence
The idle speed adjustment is nowhere near the carbs, it is on the long Linkage arm/lever on the Port side of the engine, Word of caution, any time you fiddle with the idle speed, you will probably need to adjust/change the length of the Throttle Cable

Red Arrow points to Idle Speed stop
Yellow Arrow points to where the cable length is adjusted

 

[mcnamee05]

Thanks for the replies, I've tried some mixture adjustments, got it running a little better. I'm thinking it may need carbs rebuilt after talking with people i work with. thanks for the help, it was appreciated.