New boater here with Evinrude problems, please help.

I have been reading the forums and i see most people say the more info the better, so heres what i have and whats goin on.


First thing, I have a 1974( or 72 cant remember) evinrude 50hp outboard.

It has trouble cranking, It only cranks if the throttle is right about the "start here" arrow on teh control box, and oncei hear it try to actually crank up i have to throttle full then back it down, eventually it cranks... its very annoying to me, and the people who are waiting to launch, or bring there boat in when my trucks sitting there on the only launch pad for a few mins while im trying to crank my motor....

that WAS thie biggest issues, so i took it to a shop here and paid them 600 bucks to do all kinds of work, including cleaing the cars, re wiring alot of problems the boat had, installing a new drain plug, adding a killswitch..etc.etc..

i took it out and NOTHING changed on the starting problem...

the next day i took it out and now the boat wontt pick up speed liuke it would before, even at full throttle it just cruises on top of the water like it does if im using the trollingmotor. but a bit faster, the boat doesnt "jump up and go" like it used to.. please help me....


oh on top of all that, the starter seems to have gone out probably form me trying to crank it for 10 mins the other day, now it doesnt do anythign, even when hooking jumper cables up to it, it doestn do anything, ill probably take it back to the peopel who fixed it ( a diffrent shop then the one who did all the work to it) and get them to rebuild it it was 75bux the first time, hopefully the same or less this time. i bought the boat..trailer..motor a packaged dael for 300 bucks, it was pretty dirty so i did new carpet in it myself and such but basically the 300$ boats starting to cost me alot more money. upwards of 1200 bucks now.

Re: New boater here with Evinrude problems, please help.

thanks to everyone in advance for your help, and if you need anymore details, ill try my best to answer them and i can pics of whaterver if needed

Re: New boater here with Evinrude problems, please help.

First thing we need is to know what we are working on. Need the year!! They have different arrangements for the starting safety switches. Sounds like yours is in serious need of adjustment.

The no-power once you get it running is another subject. It is running on one cylinder. There is more than one reason it may be doing that. Somebody has to check it out and find out what it is. The other option is to start throwing parts and money at it in hopes of stumbling upon the problem. One simple thing to try without costing a bundle is a set of new spark plugs. You might get lucky.

Re: New boater here with Evinrude problems, please help.

First, I'll beat the punch: Get a factory service manual

Second: look up the "Top Secret File" sticky -- it's called Top Secret so that people will be tempted to look at it! A wealth of info from outboard experts. I would especially recommend that you compare the way you start your boat to the procedures in "Why wont it start?" and "Cold Starting Procedure" in the sticky.

Third, the holy trinity of combustion: spark, fuel, and compression. Failure to run well means one or more of these 3 elements are missing from one or more cylinders. Factors that can cause all cylinders to run poorly at the same time include: weak battery / dirty connections, old or mismatched plugs, sour gas, failure to open fuel tank vent, failing power pack.

A quick and easy way to gain info is to pull your spark plugs and look at each after the motor has run a little while. Are they black and wet? It's running rich. Are they dry and tan? That's good. Powdery, blistered and white? It's running lean (which can be especially bad). If one cylinder is not firing at all, it will be either much wetter than the others (either due to no/weak spark, flooded due to stuck carb needle, or poor compression) or much drier (due to carb jet blockage)

To confirm if the problem is confined to 1 cylinder, start the motor then remove one spark plug wire at a time, see if it changes the sound of how it runs, and then replace it and go on to the next wire. If the cylinder is going well, removing that wire should make the motor run much worse. If a cylinder's not firing, removing that wire won't change how the motor's running.

Assuming the problem is confined to one cylinder, check spark (as indicated in "Why won't it Start?") and assess whether the fuel/air for that cylinder is rich or lean.

Reply to this post with the info you find out from examining plugs and pulling plug wires sequentially, and I bet you'll be a LOT closer to getting the answers you're hoping for.

Re: New boater here with Evinrude problems, please help.

F_R said:

First thing we need is to know what we are working on. Need the year!! They have different arrangements for the starting safety switches. Sounds like yours is in serious need of adjustment.

The no-power once you get it running is another subject. It is running on one cylinder. There is more than one reason it may be doing that. Somebody has to check it out and find out what it is. The other option is to start throwing parts and money at it in hopes of stumbling upon the problem. One simple thing to try without costing a bundle is a set of new spark plugs. You might get lucky.

Click to expand...

im a city away from the boat now, im getting the starter rebuilt at the place that did it the first time

its a 72-74 evinrude im not 100% positive...
i had the sparkplugs replaced already... ill get the starter back today and ill beable to go outside and put it on the boat an work on it tomorrow, i tihnk the first thing i need to know is when i take the cover off, there are 2 screws that are in the carburater one on top and one on bottom, they both have been tampered by alot trying to see if that was the top end speed, and this is why it wont crank up.. i guess what im asking is if i tighten these screws how many full turns do i need to be the best place for it to start up? is it just a move a little at a time and see what works bests? and should i move both screws teh exact same amount?

Re: New boater here with Evinrude problems, please help.

i believe its a 74.. this motor looks identicle to mine but i have a silver starter.

Re: New boater here with Evinrude problems, please help.

My battery is definanltey weak, in fact after trying to start the motor about 20 times, the battery will not try to crank at all, ill have to swtich to my trolling motor battery....


with a weak battery will that cause me to have no top end at all?

And You said to check to see if both cylinders are working i pull one spark plug wire at a time to see if power changes, what is good? if it does or doesnt? and what is a good sign that only 1 cylinder is wokring will that make power loss or will it shut motor off completely??


--- but first things first, once my startrers rebuilt and i put it back on boat tomorrow, what/where do i need to adjust these screws in the carburator so it will actually crank?

Re: New boater here with Evinrude problems, please help.

Not familiar with the carb screws on this motor, so I can't help you there.

A weak battery won't affect how it runs once it starts, just affects starting.

If pulling one plug wire doesn't affect how the motor runs, but it dies when you pull the other, that tells you the problem is with the cylinder that DIDN'T make the motor die when it was disconnected. This is helpful information, as you can focus all your diagnostics on that cylinder. As F_R indicates, running on 1 cylinder a pretty likely scenario given that it starts but limps along.

Re: New boater here with Evinrude problems, please help.

well tomorrow ill definantly test this. if for some reason that it does die, and it is one of the cylinders is not compressing, is this a hard fix/ expensive fix?

and it happend all over night,

tuesaday this week i went out and it was fine, wednesday i took ti out and the second it got on the water it wasnt okay./

Re: New boater here with Evinrude problems, please help.

yikes! i just called a local place and they said somethign about a power pack, if one wasnt working, and thats 200$ and if the cylinder has no compresssion, ===1500$ to rebuild motor-- oh geez!

Re: New boater here with Evinrude problems, please help.

yeah,i bought a 600 dollar boat and its on the water 600 dollars after that first 600,,so i know what you mean,,,still havent ironed out all the kinks yet but im getting there,,,good luck on yours,,,,michael

Re: New boater here with Evinrude problems, please help.

Don't be jumping to conclusions. Find out why one cylinder isn't firing. It has to be compression, fuel or spark. Your first chore is to find out which one it is. Trying it with one wire disconnected (AND GROUNDED) is a good test. Don't just pull it off--if it is doing what it is supposed to do, it will knock you right out of your BVD's. And maybe ruin the coil too.

A compression test will tell if something busted inside.

We still don't know what year it is, so can't tell you about those screws. If they are just plain screwdriver head screws, you have fixed idle jets and those are plugs meant to be screwed all the way in snug. But if they are brass needle valves they should be open about 1 1/2 turns to begin, then adjusted for best idle when running and warmed up. They have nothing to do with high speed, so that is not your problem.