I purchased a 1992 Tracker deep V 16' with an all original Evin-rude 40 HP (TE40ELENM ) outboard motor last year and from the start, it has had idling problems. My grandfather owned this boat and he is over 80. The boat is in pristine condition with very low hours. The problem is that he had it sitting under a carport down in FL and used it only a couple times within a 10 year span. So before I picked it up, I had a mechanic down there clean the carb. out and get it running. Well, the mechanic said that since this boat had been sitting for a very long time and since this models fuel and oil pump was a single unit, that the gaskets (or flanges) inside could be dried up and brittle. Therefore, the mechanic said that the removal of the VRO was necessary. So, I ran the boat all last year (about 2 or 3 full tanks of mixed 50:1 gas through it) to run the hell out of it as the mechanic suggested. Throughout the year, the engine would always run, but didn't like to idle. The idle screw is turned in as far as it can go and I still have to speed shift into reverse to keep the boat from stalling when leaving the dock. I would always have to give it more gas and then it would run fine as long as I gave her enough throttle. Runs well at high speeds, but chugs a little at idle and idle first gear. Also, it will quit sometimes, and when it restarts after a few tries, it tends to omit some blue smoke. So, this year I get it de-winterized and take it out on the lake and run almost a whole tank of fresh gas with new Quicksilver oil that I was told might help the problem. I put new NGK plugs in it last year that were cross-overs from the original Champion plugs because my plug number was said to be obsolete (QL78C). I had the mechanic check it out a bit when they de-winterized it and they said it ran fine. They made a few minor idle adjustments that didn't seem to help at all. The engine still does what it did last year. It may run fine on a hose, but under load it likes to quit. If I troll with it for more than a couple minutes, I can almost hear and feel that the engine starts to hesitate and sound like it temporarily loses one of the cylinders. I then floor it to blow the oil out and it acts like it wants to quit at first (severe hesitation). It won't go for a few seconds, but then it kicks in and we're running good wide open again. When I bring it back in to the dock to trailer, it will start to do it again. It gets to the point where it's embarrassing at the dock. I'll rev it in neutral, but that doesn't seem to help much, it just smokes a bit.
I was told that the VRO being removed would make it idle a little rough, but this is ridiculous. It shouldn't lose cylinders and quit all the time should it? If so, maybe I should put the VRO back on. I don't know what to do and I am extremely frustrated. My next step would be to completely rebuild the carb. since I have my suspicions that the mechanic in FL did a half-assed carb. cleaning job on it. Can anyone with any experience with this please help me out. It would be GREATLY appreciated to say the least. This is my first outboard, I had an I/O before where this type of problem didn't exist. Thanks so much for anyone's help in this matter.
-Shane
Model# - TE40ELENM
I was told that the VRO being removed would make it idle a little rough, but this is ridiculous. It shouldn't lose cylinders and quit all the time should it? If so, maybe I should put the VRO back on. I don't know what to do and I am extremely frustrated. My next step would be to completely rebuild the carb. since I have my suspicions that the mechanic in FL did a half-assed carb. cleaning job on it. Can anyone with any experience with this please help me out. It would be GREATLY appreciated to say the least. This is my first outboard, I had an I/O before where this type of problem didn't exist. Thanks so much for anyone's help in this matter.
-Shane
Model# - TE40ELENM
