1990 115 Evinrude died, hardly starts, wont stay running HELP!!!

[sunbird 18]

I have a pre-mix fuel 1990 Evinrude 115 horse that ran like a top until Friday. Previously it had always started with just a hint of choke, flick of the switch and no extra throttle required. I did notice that the last 2 times I took it out, it was a bit trickier to start, requiring a touch of throttle. Might be un-related to my problem.
Here is my problem.
I was cruising at almost WOT for nearly 10 minutes. Suddenly I felt the power drop a bit so I immediately backed off the throttle to about 1/2. The motor continued to lose power and shutoff. Total time from losing a bit of power to engine stall was about 3-5sec. Motor would not re-start. It turned over asit normally does. After lots of trying different things, I can get the motor to spit and sputter while feathering the throttle in the 1/2 throttle range. Rarely it will spit, sputter, run rough, rpms increase, engine clears up and sounds good as rpms increase to about 4-5k and then it falls flat on it's face and it stalls.
All cylinders have spark....looks weak to me, but spark none-the-less
Temperature of the engine has no effect. I tried the next morning, same thing
The cylinders are getting fuel
I dont really think that it is a compression issue as it sounds normal turning over.
Only spits and sputters at around 1/2-full throttle when trying to start, otherwise nothing happens. Sometimes with choke on, other times with choke off.
3 or 4 times out of the fifty time I cranked it, the engine actually caught and sounded pretty normal for about 5-10 sec and then immediately off again. When it did catch it sounded like 1 or 2 cylinders, then 3 then all 4 then back to none.

I tried to be as descriptive as possible, so what do you think? It was a sudden loss, so I think that fuel is out of the question. It is same for all cylinders so carbs are out too.
????????????????????????????????

 

[sunbird 18]

Re: 1990 115 Evinrude died, hardly starts, wont stay running HELP!!!

So after some messing around again tonight, I have some more info.

I checked the compression. Turned out great. 140-145 acoss the board.

So after lots of cranking, spitting and sputtering and cranking, it seems that the top left plug, looking at the engine from rear, is always bone dry at WOT or idle!! But one cylinder runing dry wont prevent the motor from consistently firing would it? I am confused It seems that it would at least try to run off 3 cylinders if that was the only problem. One cylinder running dry wouldnt make it stall from WOT or make the engine fall flat on it's face from high rpms. I still think I have an electical gremlin here.

I checked the spark and the lower left cylinder was not firing, all others were. I swapped the wires left to right and then all cylinders were firing I removed the coil, cleaned all the connections, reassembled, all plugs firing. Try to start and it spits and sputters like before.
ARGH!

Please help!!!

Anybody have any ideas???

 

[emdsapmgr]

Re: 1990 115 Evinrude died, hardly starts, wont stay running HELP!!!

I'd use a spark tester to check for proper spark. If you don't have one, hook a timing light up to each wire and read the flashes. Should be strong, consistent and constant. If any are weak, or intermittent, you have a spark issue. If you have a dry plug, you've got fuel issues. Try priming the hose bulb and see if it will run. This forces gas around the fuel pump, into the carbs. If the top plug is still dry, you need to pull the carb apart and look for restrictions inside, like debris in one of the jets. I absolutely would not run it till you get the dry hole issue resolved. If you are not getting fuel, you also are not getting oil... You need to determine if you have a spark issue or fuel issue, (or both).

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: 1990 115 Evinrude died, hardly starts, wont stay running HELP!!!

totally agree. http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?t=244013

 

[sunbird 18]

Re: 1990 115 Evinrude died, hardly starts, wont stay running HELP!!!

I'd use a spark tester to check for proper spark. If you don't have one, hook a timing light up to each wire and read the flashes. Should be strong, consistent and constant. If any are weak, or intermittent, you have a spark issue. If you have a dry plug, you've got fuel issues. Try priming the hose bulb and see if it will run. This forces gas around the fuel pump, into the carbs. If the top plug is still dry, you need to pull the carb apart and look for restrictions inside, like debris in one of the jets. I absolutely would not run it till you get the dry hole issue resolved. If you are not getting fuel, you also are not getting oil... You need to determine if you have a spark issue or fuel issue, (or both).

I will try the spark tester. I have tried priming the bulb but it makes no difference. You can hear the floats clack shut when the bowls are full while priming. Strangely after priming till the bulb is hard, while cranking the motor, you can see fuel rapidly dripping out of the front of the carbs with the silencer removed. No fuel will come out before the carbs are primed and you cannot duplicate this by squeezing really hard on the primer bulb which indicates to me that the floats are OK. I cant quite figure that one out either. Fuel is not spitting out, just leaking out the intake of the carbs.

 

[sunbird 18]

Re: 1990 115 Evinrude died, hardly starts, wont stay running HELP!!!

Any chance all the plugs got fouled? Probably not. I dont thinks plugs foul at WOT. Hmmmmm