I have a 1990 MAXUM with a Force 120 HP L-Drive motor. After replacing the battery, stator and starter, I finally got the motor running again. No adjustments were made to the carbs or fuel mixture. I put a bottle of gas treatment (drygas) with a half of tank that was in and filled the tank the rest of the way with new 50:1 mixture. <br />I took the boat out for the first time this past weekend and after about 5 minutes at WOT going about 35mph I experienced a loss of power. The RPM dropped, as well as the MPH. I disengaged the gear and reved the engine at about 3/4 throttle for about 30 seconds. When I put the motor back in gear it ran at WOT for about another 2 minutes, at which time I experienced the same problem.<br />Luckily, I had a friend along who helped do a little troubleshooting. When the motor lost power we tried pumping the fuel bulb in case I wasn't getting anough fuel. That didn't help. Good idea or not, we hit the lower carb with a hint of ether and the engine picked up immediately until the ether burned off and then went back to it's sluggishness.<br />When I got home I took the plugs out (brand new)and noticed a build up of what looked like black carbon all over and the threads were damp with what looked like unburned fuel.<br />Any ideas where to start? Thanks.
