Any outboard mechanics here?

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Badfish740

Minister of Fire
Hearth Supporter
Oct 3, 2007
1,539
A neighbor gave me his old Gamefisher outboard-he hadn't used it in 5-6 years, but it was put away properly (ran the fuel dry, covered it up, etc...) and after filling it with fresh mixed gas and a little Seafoam it fired right up. It seems to run really strong, but there are a couple of problems:

-There's a lot of slop in the throttle so it's hard to get it in the right spot. When you try to get it into shift position you usually overshoot and the motor shuts down. Any ideas on how to tighten it up? I can't figure out how the assembly comes apart.

-The prop doesn't seem to fully disengage when shifting into neutral. It's definitely turning, but not very fast. Linkage problem?

-The idle adjustment doesn't really seem to do much either way. The motor idles the same whether its turned all the way to rich or all the way to lean.

-When the motor is in neutral there's no water coming out of the exhaust holes (they do spit when it's in gear)-is that normal?

-When the motor is running wide open fuel spits out of the cap vent-why would that be happening?

Despite these little issues I think the motor is worth tweaking to get it into top shape.
 
Not a pro at outboards but have done quite a bit on my old mercury.

Might have to adjust the shift linkage on the outboard, might not be fully disengaging.
I would rebuild the carbs
Sounds like you need a new impeller on your water pump, should be spitting water when it is warmed up in neutral
 
No expert either, but props will spin in neutral (mine do). Ever get behind a car with bikes on a rack and the wheels are spinning? where is that impetus coming from?
 
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