1986 90hp Mercury IL6 dies when put into gear

[Bakilby]

Hello,
I have a 1986 90hp Mercury IL6 dies when put into gear.
It idles fine, WOT runs great.
When I put it into gear I have to throttle up immediately and then throttle down in no wake zones but I cant throttle down too far or it will die.
Thanks for your input.

 

[racerone]

Fact-----When you have it idling real smooth and sounding fantastic it is often too lean.------So the no $$$ spent thing is to open all 3 low speed mixture needles 1/8th turn and test run at the lake.---If it still stumbles open another 1/8th turn.----May not idle as smooth but that is the way they are !-----Those motors need a new water pump impeller about every 3 years too.

 

[Bakilby]

Thanks Raceone,
I have replaced the water pump.
When you mention the low speed mixture needle are you refering to the idle screw adjustment?
I believe its the only thing I can adjust.
Also, the bottom carb is tucked below where the shroud seats, is there a way to adjust the carb without having to take the carbs out?

 

[racerone]

There should be no issue adjusting the carburetors with the motor running on your favorite lake or river.

 

[Texasmark]

Idle RPM may need to be set higher also. I had an '88 115 and don't remember where the idle set screw is. Usually it's on the linkage and probably is a white nylon finger adjustment kind of set...with a lock nut. On later looper engines the RPM was 675 in F gear in the water boat moving.....fast enough to keep from doing what yours is doing but slow enough so that when you shift there is no KLUNK!

The other thing is the manual for later loopers says the final setting for the low speed jets is to firewall the throttle from idle (mentioned above) causing the boat to get up on plane...if it stumbles back off (like R1 indicated) until it will take the throttle and not stumble. If you have trim, trim plays a big part in this exercise...you need to find the sweet spot for your boat on that.