1988 SPL 88 runs rich & won't idle

I just picked up a used boat with a 1988 Evinrude SPL 88 and trying to get the motor tuned up. Engine was last run 2 yrs ago. The egine seems to have been well maintained but nonetheless, I put a new water pump in (old one was fine), cleaned the carbs (a little sticky from old gas but otherwise fairly clean - no carb kit though). I'm getting 107 to 115 PSI compression, and tested spark on all cylinders with 7/16" spark gap - all good.

The engine starts right up each time but dies when I try to idle. Also, it seems to be running rich - plugs are wet after running for a while (running on 50:1 mix). All testing was done on muffs.

These carbs have fixed jets so there no mixture adjustment that I know of.

Can this be a timing thing ?

Re: 1988 SPL 88 runs rich & won't idle

Any engine will die if the idle is set too low. The idle rpm's should be set to between 650 and 750 rpm's when the engine is running, the boat floating normally in the water and the engine is in forward gear. The idle is set by adjusting the idle timing-not by any carb adjustment. Double check to make sure the red lever on the choke solenoid is in the run position.

Re: 1988 SPL 88 runs rich & won't idle

Newbie alert, problem solved ! Turns out the red primer lever was in the manual position which I'm sure 99.9% of you knew that ! The motor runs like a top now.

For the other 0.1%, the following link has a picture of the primer solenoid with the lever in the automatic mode.
http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?t=305323

Re: 1988 SPL 88 runs rich & won't idle

Thanks emdsapmgr !