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I was on the water about 2 weeks ago and I had her going full throttle. Suddenly, the motor cut down to well below 1/2 her rpms and sounded pretty weird. It was vibrating pretty bad too. I brought it back to neutral to try and recover and it sounded like it was going to stall. After that, I headed for home - didnt want to chance a total breakdown out there. The whole ride in, it was the same story.
I started it up in the driveway afterwards. Its starts fine, as it always has, but still sounds pretty bad when its idling. It sounds pretty much the same when I increase the idle speed too. I checked all the plugs and plug wires to make sure I was still sending a spark to all cylinders. I isolated each, but the sound in the motor never changed. I doubt this is a carburetor issue since I just rebuilt both of them last season. Some of the old salts I know suggested it might be a power pack starting to go.
Any advice/suggestions? If you think it is a power pack, do you know of anyplace where I can get a replacement for a decent price?
Lost spark to a cylinder
Dirty carbs (often takes 2 or 3 cleanings)
Running a motor on the muffs will not always show the problem since there is no back pressure or load on the motor. Don't rev the motor in neutral above 1k on the muffs. There is not sufficient water pressure.
Check for spark on every cylinder then report back to us.
Taking a methodical, slow and deliberate approach will source the problem.