Power bogging

Hi, last time out my 1988 3cyl 60hp Evinrude, was not responding to the throttle. The power was off and would only take about half throttle. Idleing in to the boat ramp the engine stalled, pumping the ball made no difference in how it ran and the ball never lost prime. It would start right up and take throttle from the fast start lever. If I pushed fast start lever down it would idle fine but die as soon as shifted into gear. I finally revved it with fast start lever an shifted quickly, off fast start to in gear an some throttle. The boat rode at a faster than idle speed an felt like it would stall if any attempt to speed up or slow down was attempted, had to run 2 miles up river pushing a wake or stall it. The throttle appears to be moving carbs to wide open , when not running, but feels as if its not right?? Is it a hard job to take controls apart and check their settup?

Re: Power bogging

time for basic troubleshooting. 1st compression check with a tester, not a thumb. 2nd, spark test with a tester, not jumping to the block. spark should jump 7/16 inch, each cylinder. this is to rule these items out.

99% you need new alcohol resistant fuel lines, complete carb cleaning with rebuild kits, removing and cleaning all the jets.

read this. http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?t=299680

Re: Power bogging

Try checking the priming solenoid, I had similar problems and this was all it was. The priming solenoid should be on the right hand side of the motor by the carbs ( viewed from behind) and it will have a pressure release valve (looks like a tire stem) with a red plastic arrow right under the valve. It should be turned all the way it will go clockwise (should be pointing towards the back of the motor). Did this happen right away when you went on the lake or did it happen as the motor warmed up?

Re: Power bogging

Concur with TD. confirm spark and compression then that leaves fuel.

I got a dental syringe from CVS that has a plastic point on it and I used it to spray a bit of gas into the carb to help tell if lack of fuel is the issue.

Make it a project as TD said and change all your gas line, 1988 was a long time ago so it is probably in pretty bad shape, from the tank to the carbs, then figure out your problem.