I have been searching the boards for a week or so now looking for an answer to my question but have not been able to find much. I have an 86 Ranger 373 with an Evinrude XP150, jack plate, 4 blade prop, recent plugs and wires, pumps, lower lube, the works. The carbs were recently serviced before I bought the boat from a very reputable dealer in my area. Problem I am having is it seems the engine is running very rich. I noticed oil spots on the garage floor after a few times in the water and traced the seepage back to the air box / carbs. I pulled off the air box and fuel / oil mix poured out of the cover. The bottom carb was heavily coated with fuel and oil, middle carb was coated, and top carb looked great. Starting is sometimes a touch difficult but it always starts fairly quick. While the engine is choked it will stumble and cough until it warms up. Noticed with the trim all the way down it will run around 42 on the gps. A few inches of trim and the engine will pick up around 1500 rpms and increase to 58mph. Loading the boat on the trailer I will glide the boat on in neutral then throttle up to get the bow eye close to the winch. If there is minimal resistance on the boat when throttling up, the engine will not rev over 1200 rpms. Absolutely no power. I was thinking the mixture may be a tad rich but I know there are some very knowledgeable people on the board. BTW.. changed plugs a few times with no noticeable change, wires are new, noticeable rpm drop when removing each wire while engine is running. Fuel mileage also seems horrible for the minimal boating I do. Burned through around 15 gallons in a couple of hours of half throttle riding. Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated as always!
