Submerged Outboard - Fix Myself?

[donw_s11]

I've got a lot of experience with outboards. Its hard to troubleshoot without seeing the thing in person, but idle problems are often traced to the idle jet in the carb.

The idle jet is a tiny pinhole in the carb body that allows a tiny amount of fuel to seep through when the butterfly valve is closed (at idle). Anyone who has looked at them can testify that for small outboards they are _tiny_. Almost anything can plug them, and if they are plugged, the outboard will _not_ idle.


Hope this helps,

Don W.

[captain465]

Hello!!!!!!!!!
have you tried to replace the ignition wires to the plugs yet???????????? moisture will play havoc with them!!!!!!!!! at the very least spray them down with WD-40!!!!!!!

[theonecalledtom]

Thanks all,

I'd ruled out the wiring as an issue because it runs fine except for no idle. Am I missing something?

[theonecalledtom]

Quick update. I flushed the carb out multiple times with carb cleaner and never got the motor to idle. In the end I left the carb in cleaner for a week. Turns out this isn't the brightest idea as the plastic (there were pieces I couldn't remove) melted to some extent and coated the whole piece.

So I said **** it, and bought a new carb. The motor now purrs again and is able to lift the two of us onto a plane in our new 310 compact RIB, but only just.

I've still got the old carb, and one day when I have some time might make another pass at cleaning it out.