1986 Force 125 still wants to die when put in gear

[bayliner19]

:'( OK, for the past two months I have been finding and fixing problems with this motor, one by one. I have rebuilt the fuel pump, added a spin on fuel filter, replaced the primer bulb pump, new plugs, and adjusted the throttle shift linkage according to the manual. It idles at about 900 rpm in neutral and shifts into gear just great when it is on the rabbit ears in the carport. The motor now starts fine and runs WOT @ 4600 rpm, 35 mph, with a 17 pitch SS prop. Hopefully the last problem left is that when it is in the water and a load is applied to the prop when shifting it into gear, it wants to die. When it is completely warmed up it dies more slowly but it still dies. Any suggestions?

[roscoe]

Idle may still be a bit low.
It should be 900-1000 when in the lake with back pressure on the exhaust.

[bayliner19]

8) OK, this is the deal. I took a compression test and all cylinders were about 125 psi, give or take a pound or two. Then I pulled the head to find that the head gasket was blown and leaking water into the two middle cylinders (hence the dying at slow speeds, it just could not overcome the water injection system). I should have suspected something was wrong when I was getting a reading on my water pressure gauge in excess of 30psi. I installed a new gasket and the engine runs with much more authority now. Of course my thought is now, whats next? Thanks for your help and suggestions.When I was young the fish were so big we had to fish from shore with a tow truck line.

[baxtr]

Sorry I don't have advice but I do have a question, you said you added a spin on fuel filter? is this an inline filter? or is this something you added to the motor at the existing filter screen?

thanks
Brian

[bayliner19]

Hi Brian, neat name, my oldest Son is named Brian:

I installed the in-line filter with the spin on unit from the parts store. It takes the standard Mercury type spin on cartridges.



When I was young the fish were so big we had to fish from shore with a tow truck line.