Hello my Iboats forum friends! I have an issue with a boat I just bought. It's a mid 80's Evinrude v4 90 hp with a rebuilt power-head. All good mechanically and compression. I was trying to start it and cranked the starter ALOT! Apparently it wouldnt start because a bee made a mud nest inside the fuel line feed (also the hole to the telltale). Anyway, after squirting fuel into the cylinders and tracing where the fuel blockage was ,I got the motor running. It ran GREAT! Smooth and steady. NOW, fast forward 2 weeks. I go to start motor and the starter is turning motor over but slowly. I checked connections and even hooked up jumper cables to my truck and still slow. I took out a plug and she turned over and ran ,on 3 cyls. When no compression (plugs out) the motor cranks turns over well. When all plugs are in it just cranks over slow. How do I check if the starter is good,or strong enough? I think by cranking it over so much,I might have damaged it though. It took a little while for me to realize that when the ball was pumping up hard after 5-6 squeezes that the problem spot was right in the connector. I had just bought the boat and motor and was antsy to see if it cranked right up like the guy had told me. I guess I could just take the chance and by a decent used starter ( around here I could get 1 for $50). ** also,,I'm wondering if there is a compression release valve thats stuck, or a reed valve that is making it so difficult to crank over. Just a thought. Thanks for any advice on this. I'm growing weary, at 56 years old of tinkering around with these old boats and motors. I just find it hard to turn down very cheap or free stuff that people offer me. Thanks in advance for any help with this issue,,,,,,,,,,,Bill.
