I'm newer to the boat/outboard club. Last year I bought a cheap 1987 17' starcaft with an 1987 force 85 for 1000$ off craigslist. The interior was in goodish shape. The man had just redone the floors and stringers (though he didn't do the greatest job... it will work though for now), but most of all the transom was somehow still very solid. I passed up about 6 or 7 boats last year 2 or 3 times that price because they had no structural integrity (even though they ran great) which was kind of important to me.
Anyways, I got it so cheap because the man I bought it from couldn't get it started last year when I showed up to purchase it. He was originally asking double the price and was extremely apologetic as he had no idea what was going on. He tried to start it 30 minutes before I showed up for the first time all summer. Compression was great. 120 across all 3 cylinders so I took it home with me.
At the time I didn't know anything about the force so I dumped some seafoam in it and did manage to get it to start in my driveway but it was a rough idle. I called about a dozen boat shops before I finally found someone who would work on it. They took about 3 weeks and cost me about 400$. They diagnosed me with:
1. Dirty Carbs
2. A bad fuel pump
3. A bad fuel tank - I bought a new 6 gallon tank and hooked up to that
I took it home, and it ran great in my driveway. I took it to the lake and it would barely start/idle. And it would stall out going into gear. I called them back and they told me the compression probably isn't good enough and the engine is probably shot if it runs good in the driveway but not in the lake.
The next day, thanks to your forums on iboats and the Clymer manual I purchased, I was able to get it running extremely easy.
1. Checked the link and sync - no adjustment needed
2. Air/Fuel mixture screw was at 3.5 turns. I tuned that to approx. 1.5 turns
That was all it took the thing to run to like a champ the rest of the summer other than a constant carb cleaning. Through a little more experimenting I found out the 'bad fuel tank' I had was actually brand new. The original owner put it in when he put in the new floors. The carbs kept getting dirty last summer because the outboard cover foam had started dry rotting and crumbling apart getting sucked up into the carbs through the air intake. The foam was scraped off and I am back using the main 19 gallon tank and the 6 gallon tank as a back up.
Finally this year I was able to get my hands on a 1989 85 hp force spare parts motor with no compression. (100$ - I was ecstatic because it had a newly rebuilt trim unit on so I was able to get rid of my manual trim.) I also was able to salvage every part of that motor except the main block so I have spare parts for just about everything on my Force now.
When I took the carbs off that spare parts engine and cleaned them, I noticed all the needles and valves looked different than mine. I also noticed his fuel/air mixture was set to about 3/4 turn which I thought was just a 1989 force thing (the manual says to set them to 1 turn and tune vs. the 87 set to 1 and 1/4 turn and tune). The carbs are the exact same part number, so I expected the needles and valves to look the same. When I put his carbs on my boat at 1.5 turns for the air/fuel mixture. I noticed it wouldn't run. I had to adjust it down to about 3/4 turn to get my motor to run decently at idle. I'm pretty sure he picked up a bad rebuild kit for his carbs. The needles looked a lot like a kit I had seen off amazon, which was different than the kit I had pulled off Crowley. I wonder if that contributed to his cylinder failure. (I put my original carbs back on as there was nothing wrong with them).
TL;DR I've discovered to be the most problematic and critical to the smooth running of my motor:
1. Fuel Pump
2. Rotting Foam on the outboard cover
3. Air/Fuel Mixture screws are extremely sensitive to within an 1/8 of a turn at idle.
4. Bad carb rebuild kits floating around online website like amazon that people install making things worse. (Total speculation)
Anyways I wanted to share what it took to get my Force running and continue to run because of all the help this forum provided to me through my lurking.
I have very little mechanical knowledge as you can tell my post. The Clymer manual is extremely helpful for those of us with no mechanical knowledge, and I feel like I've learned a ton from it and iboats this past year owning this boat. Feel free to chime in with other items that you have found finicky on the Force outboards.
Anyways, I got it so cheap because the man I bought it from couldn't get it started last year when I showed up to purchase it. He was originally asking double the price and was extremely apologetic as he had no idea what was going on. He tried to start it 30 minutes before I showed up for the first time all summer. Compression was great. 120 across all 3 cylinders so I took it home with me.
At the time I didn't know anything about the force so I dumped some seafoam in it and did manage to get it to start in my driveway but it was a rough idle. I called about a dozen boat shops before I finally found someone who would work on it. They took about 3 weeks and cost me about 400$. They diagnosed me with:
1. Dirty Carbs
2. A bad fuel pump
3. A bad fuel tank - I bought a new 6 gallon tank and hooked up to that
I took it home, and it ran great in my driveway. I took it to the lake and it would barely start/idle. And it would stall out going into gear. I called them back and they told me the compression probably isn't good enough and the engine is probably shot if it runs good in the driveway but not in the lake.
The next day, thanks to your forums on iboats and the Clymer manual I purchased, I was able to get it running extremely easy.
1. Checked the link and sync - no adjustment needed
2. Air/Fuel mixture screw was at 3.5 turns. I tuned that to approx. 1.5 turns
That was all it took the thing to run to like a champ the rest of the summer other than a constant carb cleaning. Through a little more experimenting I found out the 'bad fuel tank' I had was actually brand new. The original owner put it in when he put in the new floors. The carbs kept getting dirty last summer because the outboard cover foam had started dry rotting and crumbling apart getting sucked up into the carbs through the air intake. The foam was scraped off and I am back using the main 19 gallon tank and the 6 gallon tank as a back up.
Finally this year I was able to get my hands on a 1989 85 hp force spare parts motor with no compression. (100$ - I was ecstatic because it had a newly rebuilt trim unit on so I was able to get rid of my manual trim.) I also was able to salvage every part of that motor except the main block so I have spare parts for just about everything on my Force now.
When I took the carbs off that spare parts engine and cleaned them, I noticed all the needles and valves looked different than mine. I also noticed his fuel/air mixture was set to about 3/4 turn which I thought was just a 1989 force thing (the manual says to set them to 1 turn and tune vs. the 87 set to 1 and 1/4 turn and tune). The carbs are the exact same part number, so I expected the needles and valves to look the same. When I put his carbs on my boat at 1.5 turns for the air/fuel mixture. I noticed it wouldn't run. I had to adjust it down to about 3/4 turn to get my motor to run decently at idle. I'm pretty sure he picked up a bad rebuild kit for his carbs. The needles looked a lot like a kit I had seen off amazon, which was different than the kit I had pulled off Crowley. I wonder if that contributed to his cylinder failure. (I put my original carbs back on as there was nothing wrong with them).
TL;DR I've discovered to be the most problematic and critical to the smooth running of my motor:
1. Fuel Pump
2. Rotting Foam on the outboard cover
3. Air/Fuel Mixture screws are extremely sensitive to within an 1/8 of a turn at idle.
4. Bad carb rebuild kits floating around online website like amazon that people install making things worse. (Total speculation)
Anyways I wanted to share what it took to get my Force running and continue to run because of all the help this forum provided to me through my lurking.
I have very little mechanical knowledge as you can tell my post. The Clymer manual is extremely helpful for those of us with no mechanical knowledge, and I feel like I've learned a ton from it and iboats this past year owning this boat. Feel free to chime in with other items that you have found finicky on the Force outboards.
