Hey Everyone! My'87 Mariner 2-stroke 4cyl (model# OB113850) runs idles fantastic ang great on startup, but after about 5 minutes at WOT the rpm's slowly drop and it begins surging causing the motor to shake. If I let off the throttle slightly it will smooth out and stop surging. It will keep doing this gradually reducing the rpm's. Primer bulb stays firm and gas tanks are vented properly.
After this happened on the lake today, we stopped and swam for about 30-45 minutes, then she fired right up and ran great again....but, the same thing happened like clockwork after about 5 minutes (rpm loss, throttle down, repeat cycle). It even stalled on me right when I finished trailering it.
I know this points to a fuel starvation issue. Carbs have been rebuilt with all OEM parts, cleaned thoroughly, and floats are set to spec out of the manual.
This all started when I took it on the water a month ago to test out a new prop and I kept tilting the outboard into the highest tilt/trailering position so I could move adjust the manual tilt to test which position was best b/c I was by myself. It started doing it that day and has been losing rpm/surging ever since. I assumed the carbs got flooded. I thought by letting it sit, the excess gas would slowly clear out and it would run right again.
Thoughts??? I know it was dumb for me to keep tilting the motor over and over (hindsight is 20/20
). This seems like a simple fix, just keeps eluding me. I need y'all's expert help here fellas. I've finally got this boat to run great and this is the only thing left for me to fix. What's some quick troubleshooting that could help me out? Throw out anything y'all think would help me out. Thanks so much!