Evinrude 6 hp carburetor

Listmates: Cal 20 #1220 is now on her trailer for the winter. We had 2-1/2 inches of rain on haul-out day but my hauler postponed it for a couple hours until the rain stopped and then we got her out without incident. But my 1967 Evinrude 6 hp outboard is grumpy again. It starts & runs, but periodically slows way down and smokes furiously. The problem is solved by cranking the low-speed mixture screw WAY down, but then it gets cranky when you move the throttle back to "slow." It did this yesterday as I was running the boat onto the trailer. I was trying to power on, and walked onto the transom to get the stern down & bow up, and could not fiddle with the mixture screw. It went through its slowdown/half power phase then sped up again. When I first bought it, I took the carb apart and cleaned and fiddled. After doing that umpteen times, I figured that I needed a carb kit so I bought one and did it to specs, checking the float height carefully. It's still grumpy. The little plastic lever/cam follower that moves the carburetor throttle valve from the ignition advance cam has some wear on it. This means that the throttle opens slightly less for a given amount of ignition advance. Could this affect it? Usually I can figure these things out, but this one baffles me. Chris Campbell

Just a question Chris...mine was really grumpy when the oil to gas ratio was not dead on as it fouled the plug immediately and smoked like a chimney. Perhaps there is something going on along those lines as it seem rather symptomatic of a prolonged issue? I would look at the ignition system as well is all that Im saying. best of luck /ch

On 9/24/2010 9:56 AM, chris123 wrote: > > Just a question Chris...mine was really grumpy when the oil to gas > ratio was not dead on as it fouled the plug immediately and smoked > like a chimney. Perhaps there is something going on along those lines > as it seem rather symptomatic of a prolonged issue? I would look at > the ignition system as well is all that Im saying. > Good point. This is gas from May. I keep the gas tank below now when not in use, with the vent closed, but maybe it's just gas that's lost its more volatile components. It's gas with ethanol, also--bought at a gas station. That stuff is OK in cars, where you tend to use it promptly, but less so in prolonged storage, where the alcohol can evaporate off. My other boat sips alcohol-free gasoline from the marina's pump, albeit at a high price. I'm willing to pay the price for stable boat gas. I hate to tout West Marine, but they have a nice plastic oil-measuring bottle with scales for various mixtures. You pick the right scale and add oil up to the gallon mark that you have chosen--or pick the volume of gas and add oil up to that mark. It's a sturdy bottle that's more accurate than using the oil container's scale of ounces. I've bought several, so as to have one handy wherever I use two-stroke engines. Chris Campbell

I would followup along those lines only because you seem to be on top of the carb. If you can get alcohol free gas which is rare try a small batch in that motor as see if there is a change. While your at it the other cheap fix is a new plug. The alcohol can really do a number on plastic and it wont evaporate out of your tank, rather absorb ambient moisture and sludge out in your plastic gas can or worse, you carb and any reservoirs associated with the fuel system. The A-4 seems to have no issues with ethanol based fuels, the hoses and filters do however. I swear that thing can burn rum if it comes to that. Love that engine. And with proper inspection and maintenance personally I don't see a greater risk then running your car or an outboard. She does need to be tuned systematically to ensure that fuel consumption remains reasonable and that's mostly a carboration issue which I still need to learn at some point. Best of luck /ch

Chris, You have reached the final impasse. The outboards have finally rejected you, and will no longer cooperate. Your only course is to move to an inboard. I had three outboards reject me until I became one with my A4. It's destiny. Of course you'll have to buy a bigger boat. David Dobbs --- On Fri, 9/24/10, Chris Campbell <cl… [at] charterinternet.com> wrote: From: Chris Campbell <cl… [at] charterinternet.com> Subject: [Cal_Boats] Evinrude 6 hp carburetor To: Ca… [at] yahoogroups.com Date: Friday, September 24, 2010, 8:11 AM Listmates: Cal 20 #1220 is now on her trailer for the winter. We had 2-1/2 inches of rain on haul-out day but my hauler postponed it for a couple hours until the rain stopped and then we got her out without incident. But my 1967 Evinrude 6 hp outboard is grumpy again. It starts & runs, but periodically slows way down and smokes furiously. The problem is solved by cranking the low-speed mixture screw WAY down, but then it gets cranky when you move the throttle back to "slow." It did this yesterday as I was running the boat onto the trailer. I was trying to power on, and walked onto the transom to get the stern down & bow up, and could not fiddle with the mixture screw. It went through its slowdown/half power phase then sped up again. When I first bought it, I took the carb apart and cleaned and fiddled. After doing that umpteen times, I figured that I needed a carb kit so I bought one and did it to specs, checking the float height carefully. It's still grumpy. The little plastic lever/cam follower that moves the carburetor throttle valve from the ignition advance cam has some wear on it. This means that the throttle opens slightly less for a given amount of ignition advance. Could this affect it? Usually I can figure these things out, but this one baffles me. Chris Campbell