90 hp honda running rough

[Ringwood]

Hi,

I have a 97 Honda 90hp 4 stroke. The first few years I used it about 10 - 20 times a year. After that only once or twice a year. When I was only using it once or twice a year, I was very careful to run fresh gas with stabilizer in it before leaving it.

It ran ok last fall when I last used it. This year I again put on a fresh tank of gas but when I started it, it ran like crap. It would not idle and did not run smoothly when I tried to accelerate.

At idle, I individually pulled each plug wire. Pulling plugs 1 or 2 made no difference in the running of the engine at idle. Pulling 3 or 4 stalled the engine.

Before I pull the carbs, I wanted to ask if there is anything else that would cause #1&2 this problem. I can hear the spark jumping to the plug when I pull #1&2 so I don't think it is ignition. #1 & #4 share a coil and #2 & #3 share a coil. So it doesn?t sound like it's the coil.

Any ideas?

Thanks for reading the post.

Ring...

 

[skawtay]

Re: 90 hp honda running rough

I posted a few days ago (can't see it for some reason now) with similar problems on a 2006 BF90. It runs fine at high throttle but sputters etc below about 2500 rpm. The advice I got from a few folks was that the fuel stabilizer didn't prevent the low or medium speed jets from clogging with gellied or varnished gas. Their remedy was to remove the carbs and clean them all out.
Next fall I'll drain the bowls after trying to run the engine out of gas. I normally do this with my other engines and got too rushed last year and forgot.

I asked for advice on how many new gaskets etc will I need but I can't find my post or the replies. I only get to my boat about 4 times a year, so I may continue to run it with the problem until fall and then dismantle the carbs etc.

I wish I waited for the fuel injected model. Carbs suck. Hopefully the 4 carbs come off nicely and doesn't require a wrench with 5 bends or having to pull the cam (sort of a joke!). Good luck.