BruceWayne426
Recruit
- Joined
- Jun 18, 2018
- Messages
- 2
I have a 1981 OMC 40 HP originally made for the military. I purchased this motor about 12 years ago on eBay. It has been an excellent motor. I have a 16' Starcraft fishing boat and when when running properly, according to my gps, I can run around 26 mph. I have enjoyed working on the motor through the years and have learned a lot about its production. I do not believe that OMC produced a civilian 40 horse Johnson or Evinrude that year. I have added an electric start and had to replace the crankshaft six years ago with a special military model. About a year and a half ago, fishing took a back seat to life issues and the motor was not used. We have now relocated from Ohio to Colorado and started fishing again. My problem is the motor will not run a full speed. It starts easily, idles smoothly, but when I open to full throttle, I feel like it is running at about 75% power. Instead of 26 mph, I can only get up to 15 - 16 mph and can barely get the boat on plane. I have cleaned the carb, have been running high octane gas with the correct mixture, checked fuel filters, replaced and properly gapped the plugs. When running at wide open throttle, it feels like it is flooding out, but it does not smoke excessively. The only thing that changed since last running in 2016 is the Colorado altitude. Can that make that much of a difference? I am open to any thoughts or suggestions.
