My outboard is driving me nuts

[bass or bass ?]

I just recently had this happen to me (within the past week). I had the carbs cleaned and tuned obviously in a half-@#$ed manner. I was only able to achieve half throttle and at full throttle it would bog and die. Then start up to idle it would die as well. I went through and noticed a couple of things. 1) even though i had new spark plugs, my oil-gas mixture was off just a hair fouling out my plugs. 2) Also figured that I had a high speed jet clog seeing that i could not achieve full throttle. So (assuming yours is a 2-stroke) i filled my 6gallon tank to exactly six gallons. The MAX FILL line on the tank is not actually six gallons. Therefore the mixture was getting messed up with my ratio 50:1 or 2.56oz of oil to one gallon of gas. Or close to 16oz to six gallons. I also added seafoam treatment to the gas. I tightened down all the fittings to the clamp ends as well as the primer bulb because I heard air passing through somewhere when I squeezed to prime. I took it on the water and after about five minutes trying to throttle up I felt the seafoam push whatever was clogging the carbs up shoot through the system and I can now get full throttle and the bogging stopped. Seafoam works wonders!! Recommended use! Also if there is a reason to have the steel tank, like to fit where ever the tank is supposed to accessible, there is a product kind of like a primer sealer deal that you put in the tank and shake it around to re-coat the interior to rid of rust. You can go that route or just buy a new plastic tank. Hope this gives you some more options in your process.

good luck!

My motor symptoms have been very similar to yours. I've always used Sta-Bil marine in my gas mix. I've seen many posts on here about Sea-Foam, is it that much better? Is it an ethanol treatment like Sta-Bil or Star-Tron? My motor is a 1967 Evinrude 80hp. What's yours?

I have a 1971 johnson 50 hp electric shift. I was just planning on using one treatment (16oz) and then be done with it until i noticed a problem come back. I am not one to say it is better or worse or the same. I have only used seafoam thus far and i dont mix anything now but my johnson/evinrude brand oil to gas. Check these sites out.

http://www.mastercraft.com/teamtalk/showthread.php?t=4681

http://www.seafoamsales.com/motor-treatment/index.html

Thanks for the link to the SeaFoam site. I'm going to add it to my fuel and usr the Deep Creep as well before I work on the carb this week.

Thanks to all for tips, hints, & advice.

[Andy Taylor]

I know it's been a while, but I did some more testing a couple days ago. When I run the motor at full throttle for about 30 seconds, it still bogs down and dies. BUT, when I run at full throttle and pump primer bulb, it DOES NOT bog down and die out. It runs normal. Does that seem to be a bad fuel pump? Also, is it normal for the primer bulb to lose it's firmness after the motor is off for an hour or more? Thanks.

[cottontop]

Andy I would say that if you keep pumping it and it runs good that your fuel pump is bad.  When you pump the bulb the gas squirts into the carb bowl until the float shuts the gas off. After that the fuel pump keeps it full as the engine runs.  It is still possible for the bulb or hose to be bad.  If there is a hole in the hose then the pump will lose its prime and suck air.  If the check valve in the bulb is bad then fuel will leak back down into the tank and loose it's prime.  Sometimes it is just a process of elimination.  Buy or borrow a fuel line.  Also check the diaphram in the fuel pump.  If it has a hole in it then their is your problem.  If the pump housing has no cracks in it then you can buy just the diaphram.  Also if you leave the gas cap loose then the air will vent into the tank so you know it is not a venting problem.  One thing you know for sure is if you pump the bulb and it runs good then you have a fuel problem.  It has to be the things that I said or still maybe possible be a carb problem.

[Andy Taylor]

Thanks cottontop.