1980 Merc 140 Tower of Power lacking power

Blue Orca

Recruit
Joined
Oct 11, 2012
Messages
2
I have a 1980 Mercury 140hp, 2 stroke, inline 6, O/B, on a 1982 175 Malibu. Recently it's hasn't been ramping up like it did earlier this year. when I took off the covers and started to run it, I did notice that the one of the carbs was leaking.

Here's a brief story:

While out on the lake one late spring evening a big storm blew in and we had a hard time getting to dock, burned up basiclly all the gas. The next weekend I noticed that it didnt plane as quickly and the max RMP/MPH was down a bit. I shrugged it off because it was so little, and was not degrading. Then while out tubing/fishing one summer night we ran out of gas. My brother, against my will, didnt like to belive the fact that we had to use the kicker to travel a long distance in the preussing darkness; so he tried turning it over for about 15 seconds. After that ordeal it has trouble planing, somtimes you have to throttle it all the way down and back up a few times, and even when it does start to plane it takes a lot longer than it did before. once its planed out the top speed and RPMS are down signifigantly. (RPMS down about 250-750)

The boat has some age to it and the fuel tank is a bit aged too; it probably sucked alot of gunk from the tank when it ran of of fuel. Would a good carb clean, fuel line flush, and fuel pump clean would be the best bet for my problem? and what would cause one of the carbs to leak?

Any advice would be much appreiated.
 

aussieflash

Lieutenant Junior Grade
Joined
Feb 5, 2011
Messages
1,004
Re: 1980 Merc 140 Tower of Power lacking power

Clean out tank and pickup screen.Remove carbs and service/clean all parts.Strip it down and soak in carb cleaner.Replace all needle/seats and gaskets.Reset float heights to spec.Change filters.
 

Chris1956

Supreme Mariner
Joined
Mar 25, 2004
Messages
27,963
Re: 1980 Merc 140 Tower of Power lacking power

Check the compression and make sure all cylinders are sparking. Inspect spark plug colors. If any plugs are steam cleaned, suspect water infiltration.
 
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