Earlo
Well-known member
I bought a 20 hp off of CL for 300 bucks at the end of February. Ran great at wide open, but coughed, sputtered, bucked and died at low speed. I figured a carb rebuild would fix it, and took it to a guy nearby that rebuilds old outboards.
Once a week I called the guy, who said it still would not idle. He rebuilt the carb, and even tried two other carbs on it, checked all the firing system with no luck. This past Saturday, I'd had enough, and just went and got it. At home, put it in the trash can and fired it up, same thing as before – coughing, spitting, would not idle. Tried adjusting the low speed needle, still no good. Then I noticed it was not pumping water. Shut it down, dropped the lower unit, the impeller looked fine. Put it back together, tested again in the trash can and it purred like a kitten. WTF???? The only thing I can figure is that I jarred something loose when checking the lower unit. Any issue with the impeller would not affect the way it would idle, would it?
Took it out on the lake yesterday and it never missed a lick, started easy and idled great. I'd like to say I fixed it, but I'm not sure what I did.
Once a week I called the guy, who said it still would not idle. He rebuilt the carb, and even tried two other carbs on it, checked all the firing system with no luck. This past Saturday, I'd had enough, and just went and got it. At home, put it in the trash can and fired it up, same thing as before – coughing, spitting, would not idle. Tried adjusting the low speed needle, still no good. Then I noticed it was not pumping water. Shut it down, dropped the lower unit, the impeller looked fine. Put it back together, tested again in the trash can and it purred like a kitten. WTF???? The only thing I can figure is that I jarred something loose when checking the lower unit. Any issue with the impeller would not affect the way it would idle, would it?
Took it out on the lake yesterday and it never missed a lick, started easy and idled great. I'd like to say I fixed it, but I'm not sure what I did.
