1985 mercury 115 stalls when put in gear

[Bostanwhaler76]

I have a 1985 Mercury 115 outboard that runs great on the water hose shifts into gear fine but as soon as I put it in the water when I shift into gear it stalls. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[DeepCMark58A]

Fuel pump, last time it was rebuilt?

 

[racerone]

Open up the slow speed mixture needles 1/8 turn at a time and test again.

 

[jimmbo]

Idle speed might be set too low as well, if set while on muffs. The alcohol laced gas doesn’t help the issue either

 

[Bostanwhaler76]

I'll try that and let you know if it works. It will be a few days before I can test it again

 

[roscoe]

I suggest you test compression and spark on each cylinder, before you decide it is a fuel issue.

An I6 will run fine on 5, 4, and even 3 cylinders, until you put it in the lake and tried to put it in gear.

 

[Bostanwhaler76]

Will do thank you

 

[Bostanwhaler76]

So I did a compression test and all 6 cylinders are at 120. Replaced all spark plugs and used a spark tester to ensure I'm getting spark, which I am. Now the motor will not start. Any ideas would be great

 

[jimmbo]

If it has Compression, and it has properly timed spark, the next part of the equation is fuel, Is fuel getting to the carbs? work backwards towards the tank. air leaks, bad fuel pump, bad hoses, plugged hoses, plugged pickup in tank, etc. What is you starting protocol?

 

[Chris1956]

Choke the crap out of her......Is the enrichener working? Very hard to flood those motors.

 

[schematic]

some of the 6 cyl. had idle stabilizer modules. Everybody was gung ho at one time to remove them. The result was weak idle which could cause what you are describing.