1974 Evinrude 115 Starflite won't idle in water

The motor runs great with any throttle advancement whatsoever and idles fine with the earmuffs on in the back yard but once I put it in the water, and in neutral, it cuts off. As you can imagine, this can lead to some excitment when comming in to a dock when I try to put it into reverse and it cuts off! Thanks in advance!

Re: 1974 Evinrude 115 Starflite won't idle in water

Hi Easy....welcome to the forum.<br /><br />Don't know how long you've had the engine but it sounds like either a carb problem or the sync and link is outta whack. The sync and link syncs the throttle and timing.<br /><br />If you don't when the carbs have been overhauled, it would be a good idea to do so. The low end jets may be plugged or you have some junk floatin' around the bowls.<br /><br />First advice to any boater planning to do his own work is to get a manual. They pay for themselves in the long run.<br /><br />Other things to do, check compression. The cylinders should be with in 10% of each other. 90psi or higher is considered good.<br /><br />Check the spark. If you can rig a spark tester that can be adjusted to a 3/8 to 7/16 gap, and hook your plug wires to it, the spark should jump the gap WITH the plugs still in. The spark should be very strong and a blue/white in color.<br /><br />If ya can, give us a little history on the engine, how long you've owned it, last tune up, stuff like that. It helps to know as much as we can so we can help. <br /><br />Thanks.

Re: 1974 Evinrude 115 Starflite won't idle in water

Thanks OBJ.<br /><br />I bought the boat last year from a guy who had it about a year and only ran it a couple of times. He told me the guy who had it before him (original owner) had the engine rebuilt just before he sold it but I don't know about the carbs. I really don't know much on the history of the Evinrude other than what I've done to it which was replace T-stat, waterpump and rebuild lower unit. It seems to have real good compression but that's something I can check to make sure. <br />It could be the sync and link that you mentioned because the problem is primarily when I'm shifting to forward or reverse from neutral. When in neutral and starting to shift, the idles seems to drop lower than it should and then cut off. That's something I'm gonna look into but I really don't know what I'm looking for. I'm definately going to get a manual for this thing. I'm the type of person that would rather do things the hard way but it looks like I'm gonna give in to this thing and get the manual.<br />BTW, where is the best place to get an OMC manual.<br /><br />This site is great and thanks again!