OK so she was idling rough and low (on-land numbers with hose/ears)...about 550rpm in neutral, and about 500rpm in forward and no extra throttle. Closer to 400rpm intermittently last time I had it in the water, fully warmed up, in neutral. Pretty shaky too.
I've read about changing the two carb mixture screws, but don't have a vac' gauge on hand to assess best tuning condition. Plus, I did put a screwdriver on one of them....good god they turn easily...almost scared they don't vibrate to out of place! Didn't see any appreciable RPM change, nor audible change in motor. I put it back the 1/8th turn that I tested, and left them alone.
Then I read all about removing the throttle cable, adjust carb, then reset throttle cable to a light preload.
So those should be the correct methods...however, is there something fundamentally wrong with simply turning the one idle adjustment screw one quarter turn and getting the rpm up to the recommended 700 rpm? I did so, after the boat was warmed up...and it fluctuates right around 750, and drops to maybe 700 when in gear. Boat doesn't shake around either.
The engine now starts nearly instantly after being warmed up, instead of cranking over 3-4 times before firing up.
So looking for input...was this a foolish idea (easily remedied with a 1/4 turn of a screw), or a viable solution for a boat that was simply idling a bit low??
I'm running a can of seafoam thru a half tank of gas as well...it has considerably smoothed out the effect of the engine lightly bogging down at 1/4 throttle when getting up to speed. New plugs, too.
Thanks for any feedback.
I've read about changing the two carb mixture screws, but don't have a vac' gauge on hand to assess best tuning condition. Plus, I did put a screwdriver on one of them....good god they turn easily...almost scared they don't vibrate to out of place! Didn't see any appreciable RPM change, nor audible change in motor. I put it back the 1/8th turn that I tested, and left them alone.
Then I read all about removing the throttle cable, adjust carb, then reset throttle cable to a light preload.
So those should be the correct methods...however, is there something fundamentally wrong with simply turning the one idle adjustment screw one quarter turn and getting the rpm up to the recommended 700 rpm? I did so, after the boat was warmed up...and it fluctuates right around 750, and drops to maybe 700 when in gear. Boat doesn't shake around either.
The engine now starts nearly instantly after being warmed up, instead of cranking over 3-4 times before firing up.
So looking for input...was this a foolish idea (easily remedied with a 1/4 turn of a screw), or a viable solution for a boat that was simply idling a bit low??
I'm running a can of seafoam thru a half tank of gas as well...it has considerably smoothed out the effect of the engine lightly bogging down at 1/4 throttle when getting up to speed. New plugs, too.
Thanks for any feedback.