1969 evinrude 55 horse rough idle engine surges

[jthrasher]

Hey guys,My Evinrude is really causing me some headaches. It ran pretty well wot last week and this weeks a different story. It throttles up great and about the time I plane of it starts cutting out and runs about 1/4 throttle. Primer bulb does nothing. Also it sounds a little better when I push the choke but doesn't pick up any rpms. not sure what to do. Recently cleaned the fuel filter. It was full of junk. My motor is a 3cyl. with three carbs. Any help to get me back on the water would be greatly appreciated. Also the motor wants to die when i put it in gear.

[jthrasher]

^^^^^^^^^please help^^^^^^^thanks in advance for any suggestions

[dafox99]

Hey rude .. As a broad, overall troubleshooting paradigm, I typically figure you got compression, fire, and gas. Two general things to do to eliminate fire and gas:Fire: Pull plugs and see if they all look the same. Oily, wet means it's getting gas, but not firing. Make a note of which cylinder and plug are different. try placing the plugs against the block somewhere and crank to see if the plug is firing. If not, swap plug with another to see if it is plug or ignition system. if possible, pull each plug wire while running and see if power changes. If so, it's hitting, if not, it's not contributing. If you find a cylinder that is not firing, pull plug to see if wet. if not, may be fuel. I've had problems with the surface gap plugs being fouled, but there is no visual indicator.Fuel: If you can get a pump spray bottle and put premix in it and spray into carb while going down the lake. If it picks up, you probably aren't getting fuel. Sounds likely if you had crud in filter before. Could be anything from rusty tank, to varnished-over carbs if you left gas in them without running for awhile.You might start at this very high level to help you funnel down to the problem. Good luck.

[jthrasher]

Thanks a lot I will try those things and let you know how it goes. Hopefully it's something small.