Lacking Power

I have a 1988 90hp Johnson TLC that was rebuilt in 1995. I made the mistake of thinking that I was going to use it over the winter and didn't so I had the problems caused by bad gas sitting. Initially it would run well and then go through periods of cutting off when I was about to get on a plane, and eventually quit starting. Over the weekend, I sprayed carb cleaner into it, ran high octane fuel with carb cleaner in the fuel, cleaned the plugs, and cleaned out the separator. I was able to get it running but it lacked power with the exception of about 20 seconds where it took off before pulling back again. Does anyone have an idea what may be causing this and what I missed?<br /><br />Thanks

Re: Lacking Power

You should probably open the carbs up and get a look inside. spraying carb cleaner from the outside will not adequately clean all of the small passages and jets in the carb.I would recommend getting the carb kits and rebuild them. Also check for a good strong consistent spark on all four cylinders, it could be an intermittent spark issue.

Re: Lacking Power

I was afraid you might say that. I was trying to avoid having to rebuild the the carbs, but I may not be so lucky. I'll check the spark too. Thanks for the information; that's helpful.

Re: Lacking Power

I ran it again last night with some more high octane fuel with carb cleaner and it ran well. Judging from the start, I do thik I need to change the plugs though. Do you recommend .03 for the gap?

Re: Lacking Power

yes, .03 for the gap.

Re: Lacking Power

Thanks!

Re: Lacking Power

After doing all of the work I outlined above, I now have a new problem. When I pull the key out, the engine does not shut off. It idles for a few minutes before finally shutting off. Any ideas on this one?

Re: Lacking Power

It's either a bad contact in the key switch or a bad connection on the kill switch wire, (black w/yellow stripe), to the power pack. The key switch shorts the black/yellow wire to ground when the key is off, this "kills" the spark. Find the black/yel and the black wires on the back of the key switch, I believe they are connected to the "m" terminals, and short them together with a jumper wire while the engine is running. If the engine stops the problem is in the key switch. If not it's in the wiring back to the power pack.

Re: Lacking Power

Huge help, thanks. I recently changed the power pack so that may be the culprit.