Starting issue with outboard

let me first say, i am new to this site and boating in general. while friends and family have owned boats, i have never personally owned a boat until recently.

some background:

basically, a co-worker gave me his old boat, a 1988 18' starcraft walk-through, when the engine stopped running. i took the boat with the idea of rebuilding the motor and using it for several years before buying one of my own. upon a tear down of the engine, a 1987 90 hp 2-stroke 3-cylinder outboard, i found a piece of the top of the #1 piston broke off and prevented the rotating assembly from making a full revolution. since it didnt seem like a major problem, i began rebuilding the motor.

the problem:

upon completion, i re-installed the powerhead and all the attaching hardware, wiring and brackets. when the motor is cranked, it will only start and run with the trigger arm moved approximately one inch counterclock wise (always starts and runs in this position). this causes two problems: one - the trigger is not in the idle (resting) position in relation to the throttle arm. second - the motor runs at or about 1500 rpms (700 rpms is spec).

my thought is the stator was not installed in the correct position. any thoughts would be appreciated. thanks.

Re: Starting issue with outboard

Get the shop manual for your motor and perform all of the link and sync steps. These steps are important and need to be done in the proper order. Running the motor without making sure the link and sync is correct risks serious damage to the motor.

Re: Starting issue with outboard

i do have a copy of the shop manual direct from mercury and have performed the set up procedures in the correct order, but the motor will not stay running for more than a second. when i disconnected the trigger linkage from the throttle arm and moved the trigger counter clockwise the motor starts right up and stays running. i need to get the trigger linkage and throttle arm together in the normal idle position and not have the trigger in a full throttle position to get the motor to run. any additional thoughts?

Re: Starting issue with outboard

Your symptoms still seem to indicate a problem with one or more of the link and sync settings or a restriction in the movement of a component/linkage. Which setting is wrong or which linkage/component is restricted is hard to say without redoing the link and sync and performing a visual inspection. I can only suggest going over the link and sync steps again and be sure that there is no restriction in the full movement of any linkage/components. Good luck.