1991 mercury 90hp misfiring

Eoughphilly

Cadet
Joined
Jul 13, 2019
Messages
28
I have a new to me boat I purchased with a 1991 mercury 90hp outboard. When I start it up, it seems to be misfiring and will not idle. Once it gets below 1200 rms it starts to shutdown. I cannot get it to idle long enough to put in gear when in the water or under load. But I can when I have the hose hooked up. I started troubleshooting and have exhausted the possibilites of what is causing this. Below is a list of things I have done so far.

Current idler screw adjustment
Top - 1 1/4
Middle - 1 1/4
Bottom - 1 1/4

Seated idler adjustment screws and pulled out 1 1/2.
No change, still misfiring at low rpms and not idling.

Checked compression.
Top - 95
Middle - 95
Bottom - 100

Ignition coil resistance test
Top - posts .4 and wire to post .951
Middle - posts .5 and wire to post .917
Bottom - posts .3 and wire to posts .918

Attached in line spark tester on each plug and all are lighting up good.
Performed 1/4" spark gap test - has spark

Replaced fuel hose between inline filter and carburetor. There are no air bubbles. Fuel pump should be good.

Rebuilt carburetors, no gunk or anything found to be causing any problems.

Inspected read valves through inlet while carbs were off. Also examined carbs with air vents removed for any blow back. None seen, also air vents were clean.

Replaced spark plugs even though they looked ok.
Here is a video of it running.
Misfire?

Replaced inline fuel filter with a clear view glass filter. In the video you can see it looks like the fuel filter doesnt fill up and doesnt keep up very well. I don't know if this is normal or not because i didnt see any bubbles when i had the clear hose on.
At this point I am unsure if this is fuel or spark related. I havent done a cdi test with a dva adapter yet because I dont have one. Any thoughts or ideas to help point me in the right direction would be so much appreciated. Thank you in advance.
 

racerone

Supreme Mariner
Joined
Dec 28, 2013
Messages
37,826
About 50 years ago it was a common question.----" The filter bowl never fills when motor is running , yet my motor runs fine ".-----Based on that I say normal.-----Tried opening low speed mixture screws 1/8th turn at a time?----Thermostat in place ?-----Some will argue , but I would pull off the exhaust cover ( 20 screws ) and look at pistons and rings.----Flywheel key checked ?
 

Eoughphilly

Cadet
Joined
Jul 13, 2019
Messages
28
About 50 years ago it was a common question.----" The filter bowl never fills when motor is running , yet my motor runs fine ".-----Based on that I say normal.-----Tried opening low speed mixture screws 1/8th turn at a time?----Thermostat in place ?-----Some will argue , but I would pull off the exhaust cover ( 20 screws ) and look at pistons and rings.----Flywheel key checked ?
I will play with the carb adjustments a little more this afternoon. Is there a way to tell when the thermostat kicks in? Being that it's on muffs and low rpms, I dont think it will get hot enough to open. I dont have a spare gasket to pull off the exhaust cover. However, with the compression where it's at, would that even be necessary?

The guy I bought the boat from said the motor was just serviced and should be good to go. He was a rich guy so didnt think I had anything to worry about. Quite frustrating I took his word and didnt test ride it first. But heck, it was only $3700 for the 16' aluminum boat and 90hp motor.
 

Eoughphilly

Cadet
Joined
Jul 13, 2019
Messages
28
So I went out and played with the carb settings. No adjustments I made seem to improve or make the misfire/popping any better or worse.
 

Eoughphilly

Cadet
Joined
Jul 13, 2019
Messages
28
I'm thinking the issue may be ignition related. I did some further tests on the stator and trigger. I dont have a dva adapter yet for my voltmeter, that will be arriving on monday. Below are the ohm readings i got.

Serial number
0D028331

Trigger
Range is 800 - 1400
Wht/blk to brn 1216
Wht/blk to wht 1218
Wht/blk to vio 1220

Stator
Red to grd (low side)106 range is 75-90
Blue to grd (high side) 3780 range is 3250 to 3650

My readings are a little high out of range, could this be an issue?
 
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