Evinrude Outboard Question

K

KYLE LEFFERT

New member
I recently purchased a boat and it has an Evinrude 55 horse outboard on it. I believe
the year is a 1979. Took it out yesterday for the first time and ran across the lake
and ran great until I got almost to the other side of the lake and it started sputtering
and died a couple times. When I did get it restarted and throttled up it acted like it
had no power and took a while for it to get up to full throttle. I was able to nurse it back to the
ramp but when I went to load it onto the trailer I couldn't get it to restart at all, well it did a couple times
but would promptly die.
Obviously no one will be able to give me exact fixes but what should I be looking at?
I'm was thinking carburetor and or fuel filter/pump?

I do have new gas in the tank and a new fuel line.
 
(a) vent open/closed on fuel tank?

(b) clogged/gummed up carburetor

(c) weak fuel pump

Those are the obvious and easy fixes.

The worse case may be worn main bearings causing internal leakage of crankcase pressure. If your engine runs good during the first few minutes but performance deteriorates as it warms up, then it may be the crankshaft bearings. If the bearings are in need of replacement it can be an expensive fix.
 
Did you put new fuel in the fuel tank? I had a Evenrude 50 hp. , it layed up for about thirty days , took it out for a run with the same results that you experienced . Changed the fuel in the tank, ran great after that.
 
Yes I have new fuel in the tank, it is the old tank though, don't know that
that would make any difference, I also have a brand new fuel line and bulb
assembly.
 
Do you mean fuel line inside the motor, like from the hook up line to the pump to the carb?
I do have new line from the motor to the tank.

It actually appears that this motor has 2 carburetors??

I can easily replace the fuel pump and lines myself but getting into the carbs and rebuilding them
I won't attempt, luckily I work at a Career Center and we have a Mechanics class and I'm 99% sure
that they could rebuild the carbs for me
 
Sounds like water sitting in the bottom of the carb.

My 50 Evenrude did the same thing till I put a Racor Water/Fuel separator on it.

Get rid of the old tank!!!

If it's plastic, it's pre-ethonal materials & it's probably degraded on the inside.

1) Blow out the lines.

2) Put in a Racor (with the peacock on the bottom).

3) Double dose with Sta-Bil.

Also, use only hi-test fuel, she'll run better!!!
 
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If it would be the main bearings would the motor make any grinding sounds while running under power?
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Kyle,

No, the bearings do not have to be worn enough to make any noise, just worn enough to leak crankcase pressure internally between crankcase cavities. The age of the engine is why I mentioned it. If this engine has a lot of hours on it and it may well be worn out. If so, no amount of tinkering will make it run right. Not saying that this is the case with your engine , just saying that it is a possibility. Some boat engines of this vintage have hardly any hours on them and will be good for many more years of use.

Frankly I'd check the easy simple things that are fairly inexpensive to fix. After that, I'd consider a replacement engine.

View attachment crankcase.jpg



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Well I've been out tinkering with it and found some vacuum hoses cracked and
pretty sure one of the fuel lines had a hole in it on one end, I am replacing all those hoses.

When this is hooked up to the hose adapter it runs fine.

Also have found some repair parts online, are sierra parts good or is it better to stick with
OEM?

The gentleman I bought this from said it had sat for a year or year and a half so I'm hoping that
it's just gummed up and the holy hoses.

I realize completely that the motor may very well be worn out but will definitely try the easier fixes and go
from there!
 
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Well I've been out tinkering with it and found some vacuum hoses cracked and
pretty sure one of the fuel lines had a hole in it on one end, I am replacing all those hoses.
Click to expand...
Good, you may have found the problem. I'd check the fuel pump while your at it and clean/ rebuild the carbs. If you don't feel confident in taking the carbs apart, at least drain the fuel bowls on the carbs.


When this is hooked up to the hose adapter it runs fine.
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Sorry, this doesn't really tell you how the engine will run when under load. Running fine when hooked to a cooling hose is good but it is only an indicator of how it will run under load. Most shops will have a test tank and the better shops will have a dynameter to put a load on the engine for testing purposes.

Also have found some repair parts online, are sierra parts good or is it better to stick with
OEM?
Click to expand...
Depends on the individual part but, there are a lot of engines out there running on aftermarket parts.

The gentleman I bought this from said it had sat for a year or year and a half so I'm hoping that
it's just gummed up and the holy hoses.
Click to expand...
Last but not least, if your hoses have been "blessed" and are truely "holy", than you should be good to go! :>) :>) (I think you meant to type holey)

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You say it ran fine then started lacking power ? Full tank? Check the pick up tube inside the tank. Their known to cavitate rule that out. Check the diaphram in the fuel pump for pin holes or a tare . Sounds like its starving for gas.
 
Check the diaphram in the fuel pump for pin holes or a tare . Sounds like its starving for gas.
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Forgot all about the diapfram!!!

I forgot I replaced mine last spring & it turned out to be the problem.

They are paper thin & when they dry up from lack of use, they tighten up, stretch & tear.

The fuel pump has a single screw to remove & it's a cheap & easy fix!!!
 
Well I replaced the vacuum hoses and fuel hoses, put a good dose of stabil marine in the gas, took the air cleaner cover
off and sprayed some carb cleaner in and around the linkages.

Just got back from another run on the water and had minor hesitation at first, ended up pretty much running
a full tank (6 gallons) while out, by the time we left it was running great!

Hopefully the hoses and old gas in there was the problem!

Thanks to everyone that gave me ideas on what the problems could be.

I'll post pics of it on here soon, I have been working on it the last two weeks and got it all painted up and camo'd up.

Thanks again
Kyle
 
Good that its running now, I would keep up adding stabil or better yet SeaFoam,
Get those carbs cleaned out and keep them cleaned out that way.
I put Seafoam in every time I add gas to the outboards
 
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