I just bought this motor about a week ago. Cleaned out the fuel tank, petcock, and carb. All was well, and running good. Durring the past few days, I had some petcock problems (old junk plugging up). So I got it flowing good now. Im running marine gas with Lucas 2 stroke synthetic. Compression is 145psi. Problem is in the last few days something has happened, and it wants to run lean at idle. It will run with choke off, or with choke fully on (and wont flood out)????? If i stick my finger over carb bore, it will die. Ive had the carb apart about 6 times. Ive blown through the passages with medium air pressure. Ive tested needle and seat, and it works as it should. Also when I try to cold start, It wont start with choke on. I have to stick my finger over the inlet to manually choke it. It revs fine, but idles too lean. Not like it did in this video after I first got it running a few days ago... 1996 Sears Gamefisher 3hp air cooled outboard motor - YouTube Ill post a video of it in its current condition tomorrow. It seems like it has an air leak somewhere to me. I sprayed wd40 around the carb mounting, and don't notice a difference. The intake bolts are tight. Muffler was a bit loose, but is now tight. Im thinking that the crank seals may have went south. Any ideas? I collect, and repair outboards as a hobby. Im no expert, but this has me stumped.:facepalm:
