I have what I believe is a 1988 Force 125, Model 1258FC8C, Serial 1206. It is on a 16' Nitro Ski boat that I bought towards the end of last summer. Even thought the floor was rotten it ran like a scalded dawg ( after decarboning w/seafoam deep creep). I replaced the stringers and floor and did a whole lot of other stuff to it this winter.I began having problems with plugs fowling around the third tank(18gal) of gas this season. I can take the plugs out and clean them or put fresh ones in and it runs fine again. They will foul again after about two tanks. I double checked gas/oil mix and bought extra plugs. I also experience rough idling and it will go dead if I try to go from forward to reverse. I took it to the local marine mechanic who thought it might be flooding. He was going to put carb. kits in it that would probably fix the flooding he thought it was doing. When he got to it the first thing he did was check the compression with the engine cold. All looked good, I believe he said 150 on all four cylinders. He then put the muffs on it and warmed it up. He said it had excellent water-flow and sounded good. He then checked the compression again. OH- NO! 135-140-140-135. (The #1 cyl and # 4 cyl are the ones that foul out first.) He then squirted some oil in the cylinders and checked again. 150 on all four. He told me the rings are going and he did not think that a couple of carburetor kits would stop the fouling. He did not see gas where he thought he would if it was the carbs. No charge because he said I was already hurting enough. It was obvious how much work I put into restoring it. His advice- Have fun while it lasts, keep extra plugs with you, forget rebuilding because of parts issues, find a used motor.<br /><br />Could anyone make any suggestions that might help prolong the life or have any better ideas? <br />I believe what happened is the previous owner let it get hot enough for the buzzer to sound and then replaced the impeller. Then sold it to me.....Scorched the rings maybe?
