I’m new to boat motors but have experience with working on four wheelers and lawn mowers etc. Let me explain the situation first in case I have done something wrong in the process. I bought the motor off a guy he said it ran good just needed a fuel pump and new spark plugs. When I asked him how he knew he said he has been working on them for 30 years. Anyway I asked the guy if I could hear it run before I bought it and he said yes. While he was in the process of getting all the stuff ready I offered him 50 bucks less not to have to get everything and go through the hassle. The guy seemed honest and Still does I’m wondering if I did something wrong or messed something up in the meantime. He told me that the motor ran great until the bowl ran out of gas.
As soon as I got the motor home I tried to find parts in stock so I decided to tinker with it for the next few days. The first thing I did is install the motor and hook up the cables. It came with controls but no cables.(my first time hooking up cables) did I do something wrong here that could have messed something up doing this wrong? Other than that over the last month I have been tinkering with this thing racking my brain because I am stumped. After hooking up cables I tried starting the motor and didn’t want to start. I cranked and cranked and finally got it to start at half throttle and would pretty much run between half and almost full throttle (as far as the neutral throttle allows). If I tried to let it down past half throttle it died instantly. So I took off the carb and cleaned it(definitely not my first time) and then I bought new spark plugs and checked I have very good spark. Also checked compression getting about 120 to each. Tried starting it again and same thing. Me being new to boat motors I think maybe the bad fuel pump is causing this since it’s all vacuum so I wait for the rebuild kit to come. I got the kit and rebuilt and before even trying to start I checked that I was getting good pressure from fuel pump and was. I ended up getting the engine to run at half throttle a few more times and now doesn’t want to start at all. I have cleaned the carbs multiple times even soaking it in chem-dip, pulled and checked reeds and all gaskets. Everything in good condition the motor is clean. If I crank the engine and look into carb I can see gas coming from the jet and sucking back to the reeds but when I pull the plugs, the top one looks almost just oily with a little fuel (smells like bad fuel at the plug, but smells good before it goes in) kind of has a water smell to it but not actually seeing water. Could it possibly be head gasket? If so wouldn’t I be getting low compression? The bottom plug is always bone dry no matter what and top one is always the same. A little oily smelling like bad gas. So I’m getting fuel, I’m getting spark, but now getting no fire at all even if I dump gas into the cylinder. Is it out of time and firing at the wrong time and not pulling fuel right? Where is the gas going that I see going into the reeds? could it be an exhaust issue?
sorry about the long post I just wanted avoid the back and forth. Thanks in advance for any help it is greatly appreciated.
