1999 Evinrude 90 V4

[Nathan86]

I am completely new to the boating world! I inherited a 1998 Evinrude V4 90 hp from my father-in-law. I was in the process of doing some general maintenance due to the boat sitting for a year and a half. The motor was running good and my buddy changed the fuel separator filter and tried to prime the system. The motor will not start in neutral or idle, we have to throttle the motor up for it even start. I thought he washed the plugs, so I replaced the plugs and blew out any gas left...motor continues to act up. I am not sure if it is a carburetor issue or a fuel pump I'm assuming some trash may have traveled into the carburetor or maybe air in the lines or motor. We disconnected the fuel line pumped the ball spraying out as much as possible, after that it seems that fuel is making there but the motor is most definitely starving for fuel.

I also tried to run off my little external tank to see if it was fuel line issues and it continued to act the same way. Any help is greatly appreciated. I'm nervous to pull the carburetors and clean them if I'm not sure that is the issue. I don't want to get in over my head.

 

[Crosbyman]

corrected... yep

J have carb E have injectors according to the parts place....


confirm the mdl # !! 1998 v4 had carbs (see pic) certain you have a 99 version ??

 

[racerone]

Fact-----You need to post a model # as I do not believe there is a 1999 Evinrude 90 HP V-4 with carburetors !

 

[Nathan86]

Fact-----You need to post a model # as I do not believe there is a 1999 Evinrude 90 HP V-4 with carburetors !

Actually, the boat is a 1999 and the motor is a 1998 Model: E90TSLECM

 

[racerone]

So it is a crossflow 1998 model.----Knowing what motor certainly helps.----Are you raising fast idle lever and pushing the key in for cold starting ?-----Make sure the oil injection system is working before running straight gas into your fuel tank.----Perhaps run with 50:1 mixed in the tank.----Do that and monitor oil level in the oil tank.

 

[Nathan86]

corrected... yep

J have carb E have injectors according to the parts place....


confirm the mdl # !! 1998 v4 had carbs (see pic) certain you have a 99 version ??

Correct the motor is 1998 the boat is 1999. So in theory....I could just get the jets out and clean them and it should be fine? I don't really want to have to rebuild carbs if possible.

 

[Nathan86]

So it is a crossflow 1998 model.----Knowing what motor certainly helps.----Are you raising fast idle lever and pushing the key in for cold starting ?-----Make sure the oil injection system is working before running straight gas into your fuel tank.----Perhaps run with 50:1 mixed in the tank.----Do that and monitor oil level in the oil tank.

The oil gas mixture is mixed in the gas tank 50:1, it doesn't have the VRO system anymore. Yes, pushing the key in and the fast idle on the throttle. Makes me think the carbs must be clogged cause it isn't getting enough fuel.

 

[racerone]

The electric primer is a valve.----It opens when you push the key in.----During cranking the fuel pump will push fuel through the valve.---This fuel goes directly into the motor for near instant starting.----That fuel bypasses the metering circuits in the 2 carburetors !

 

[Crosbyman]

you could always try counting turns and unscrewing the idle screws and blow some carb cleaner to dislodge any crud reinstall the LS screw with same count

same on the bolts at the bottom of the carbs remove and push a fine monofilament in the hidden jets blow out with carb cleaner and rebolt


but a good carb job is always better

 

[racerone]

There are no adjustable low speed mixture screws on this motor !

 

[Crosbyman]

part #34 ???

 

[flyingscott]

That pic you put up is a looper intake not a crossflow intake. The OP has a crossflow which will have traditional carbs. So no it will not have adjustments.

 

[Crosbyman]

ho well :-(

 

[jakedaawg]

I dont think you would need to "rebuild" the carbs. Just clean them.

Remove each carb. Take the bowl off. Being careful to note location remove the four orifices/jets. Each bowl has four jets. They are deep in the holes, 2 horizontal and 2 vertical. Blow carb cleaner or compressed air. If you use a wire to poke make sure it is softer than the brass orifice, we don't want to screw up the diameter of the hole.

On the body of the carb, just use a can of carb cleaner with the little red straw, blow in each teeny tiny hole and make sure it blows out somewhere else.

WEAR A FACE SHEILD you don't want spray in your eyes and it WILL get there.

If there is dried up stuff scrape it out gently. You want the corrosion or build up out but try not to dig into the coated metal casting of the carb.

This whole rebuild a carb thing sounds scary. As a pro mechanic many times we say rebuild. That just means we bought the kit with all the teeny little parts and cleaned the carb and installed the kit. If we say cleaned a carb it means we probably didn't use a kit, just cleaned what was there and put it back together. It's a judgment call on whether it needs new bits. Takes the same amount of time and attention to detail either way. They are simple and nothing to be afraid of. If you use a kit you need some knowledge as not all carb need all the pieces in the kit. Some kits are getting ridiculous prices, mercury for example, the other day I bought 3 80$kits that did not have a float needle or seat, just a couple gaskets and plugs. They happened to need the kit. Sometimes you don't though and can save the cost.

 

[flyingscott]

How about before you do anything do a compression test?

 

[Nathan86]

How about before you do anything do a compression test?

It was running fine that morning and once we changed the fuel filter we started having issues. I doubt anything is wrong with compression at this point.

 

[Nathan86]

I dont think you would need to "rebuild" the carbs. Just clean them.

Remove each carb. Take the bowl off. Being careful to note location remove the four orifices/jets. Each bowl has four jets. They are deep in the holes, 2 horizontal and 2 vertical. Blow carb cleaner or compressed air. If you use a wire to poke make sure it is softer than the brass orifice, we don't want to screw up the diameter of the hole.

On the body of the carb, just use a can of carb cleaner with the little red straw, blow in each teeny tiny hole and make sure it blows out somewhere else.

WEAR A FACE SHEILD you don't want spray in your eyes and it WILL get there.

If there is dried up stuff scrape it out gently. You want the corrosion or build up out but try not to dig into the coated metal casting of the carb.

This whole rebuild a carb thing sounds scary. As a pro mechanic many times we say rebuild. That just means we bought the kit with all the teeny little parts and cleaned the carb and installed the kit. If we say cleaned a carb it means we probably didn't use a kit, just cleaned what was there and put it back together. It's a judgment call on whether it needs new bits. Takes the same amount of time and attention to detail either way. They are simple and nothing to be afraid of. If you use a kit you need some knowledge as not all carb need all the pieces in the kit. Some kits are getting ridiculous prices, mercury for example, the other day I bought 3 80$kits that did not have a float needle or seat, just a couple gaskets and plugs. They happened to need the kit. Sometimes you don't though and can save the cost.

That makes sense...I'll try that. I have cleaned a few simple carbs off mowers and small engines. I just don't have any experience with outboards. I was so close to getting it ready to put in the water and now this! I'll see if I can get them pulled off and clean them out. As long as I'm just pulling the bowl off I shouldn't mess up any adjustments.

The boat has a fuel/water separator but no inline fuel filter in the fuel line going into the cowling. Should I add an additional inline filter after the separator? Or will this restrict the fuel too much? I would rather be safer than sorry.

 

[Nathan86]

ho well :-(

Yes, this is the carb setup!