BACKGROUND INFO: I am the second owner of this engine. I bought it from a friend who had it stored in his barn for ten years. It's always had problems running at low RPMs (or idling for long periods (more than 1 or 2 minutes). It cut out on me last week on a very windy day. I had to beach it and then the wind switched and the stern swamped. Took two days before it could be recovered by the rangers. I mucked the boat out this weekend, dumped all the gas (had water in the tank from the breather vent) and threw in 6 gallons of new fuel. I replaced the fuel line and primer ball earlier this year and all the hose clamps are the screw type. Additionally my tach is not hooked up because the motor is now mounted on a different boat with mismatched gauges in the dash (next years project). But the engine RPM's "sound" fine, well within normal range IMO.
THE PROBLEM ON THE WATER: I fired it up on Saturday and let it idle for a couple of minutes at the dock. When it began to stumble I had my friend squeeze the primer ball and that helped it to recover. We ran across the lake at a good speed (30mph) with no further problems. When I fired it up again to make a move it started just fine, began to move, then bogged down. My friend primed it again (squeezed the ball) and we were off and running again. If I repositioned the boat after a drift at low speeds, it kept needing to be primed (2 or 3 squeezes to get into postion). But, if I wanted to move across the lake and get it to a high speed (say more than 10-15mph) it was just fine after one squeeze.
THE QUESTION: I've read a couple of threads about similar problems with idling and some of the conclusions were clogged intake jets on the carb. I've thought that possibly the diaphragm was shot after sitting in the barn for ten years and would just replace either it or the fuel pump. There is no inline fuel filter that I can see. Is it worth just going after the fuel filter to start or should I start with something simpler?
Thanks for your sage advice!
THE PROBLEM ON THE WATER: I fired it up on Saturday and let it idle for a couple of minutes at the dock. When it began to stumble I had my friend squeeze the primer ball and that helped it to recover. We ran across the lake at a good speed (30mph) with no further problems. When I fired it up again to make a move it started just fine, began to move, then bogged down. My friend primed it again (squeezed the ball) and we were off and running again. If I repositioned the boat after a drift at low speeds, it kept needing to be primed (2 or 3 squeezes to get into postion). But, if I wanted to move across the lake and get it to a high speed (say more than 10-15mph) it was just fine after one squeeze.
THE QUESTION: I've read a couple of threads about similar problems with idling and some of the conclusions were clogged intake jets on the carb. I've thought that possibly the diaphragm was shot after sitting in the barn for ten years and would just replace either it or the fuel pump. There is no inline fuel filter that I can see. Is it worth just going after the fuel filter to start or should I start with something simpler?
Thanks for your sage advice!
