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I fired up today and she was running a bit rough, stalled a few times at idle (uh oh, never did that before), it ran o.k. with "cold start" lever up slightly.... under "load" at idle she ran o.k. when I hit the throttle I only gained a few rpm and the engine went kinda quiet, and flat, no bucking or stumbling but, no more than maybe 1000 rpm could be gotten (if that), I went back in, all look's to be o.k., fuel bulb good, fuel good, bulb stay's firm, tried to prime while advancing throttle, same result, so she's not fuel starved, it's almost as if she dropped a cylinder, I'm gonna pull the plugs later and check (1 month old plugs), I'm also going to try another fuel tank with fresher fuel but, I don't suspect that since I use my boat often (but, today's fuel is a common problem w/ "Alcohol added"), I did notice that it was very damp under the engine cowling but, I checked other boat's engines and they were too (lotsa rain). It's sound's like the Idle is too low... when I advance the "Butterfly's" on the carb's by hand in neutral, she bog's a tad (won't run rough) and stall's out with a slight "Kick" before signing off after releasing the butterfly's, very frustrating but, that's what boat's do, so getting "pissed off" about it is useless... any idea's ? I don't think it's anything major (then again this is "ME"), no smoke or clunking, just a smooth power loss, (it never get's up into the "power band" of rpm, just "Idle" and a bit faster under "load", at idle in neutral she'll run smooth then "Buck" once to a stall in about 30 second's). Any help is appreciated.
mw

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Sounds like the motor has gone into safe mode for some reason............I know this sounds crazy, but I had a Johnson that did that one time and if I'm not mistaken I ran it in reverse for a minute or so and it kicked back to normal. Mine was caused by over heating and that straightened it out.

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ya know, I was thinking that, I did have an over heat situation a few week's ago, and the engine does behave as if it's in "Safe mode" (but just started doing that today), it was in reverse however, today with the problem continuing, I'm wondering if she's running a tad "hot", maybe hot enough to set her into "Safe" mode but, NOT trigger the overheat alarm, the pump water is "luke warm" at Idle, nowhere near hot, so I discounted that but, It does run as if locked in "safe" mode.
matt

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A friend had suggested possibly bad plugs, I warmed up the engine today and checked plugs, they looked o.k., my friend stopped by after I called him to check progress, he was checking thing's out when he touched the cyl. head, he pulled his hand off and said "That's TOO hot", he pulled the thermostat out ( is it suppoed to be in 4 pieces ? ) and it ran a tad better at idle, and the head was A LOT COOLER, we took her out and punched the throttle "NO GOOD", same result's, no top end power ( like it dropped a cylinder), we went back in after about 10 minutes of testing, I was about to manuver into the slip when I punched the throttle quick, the boat "Leaped" with power :o, we took her out again and "puched it", Wham, RIGHT UP ON PLANE ! We ran her around for 15-20 minutes at all RPM, she performed flawlessly, so I'm guessing a bad thermostat put her into "Safe Mode" but, no alarm's for "Overheat" and the w/pump was running fine, pumpin good, Go Figure ??? I'll throw a new stat in on Thursday, I'm just very lucky to have such a good friend :D
mw

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Ain't it great when a plan comes together! :)

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Put the new thermostat in, testing went well, I'm back in the saddle again :D Let's RIDE !

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Hey, While at it, you might as well check the overheat alarm. I had a similar situation a few years back but the alarm sounded.

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Wow....sometimes the most obscure thing causes the biggest problems. Glad you got her fixed.

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Thank's, I was going to check the alarm but, I'm getting the "Chirp" confirmation signal from the alarm when I go to the "start" Position on the control box, I was working over the water "engine tilted up", my hand's were a tad slippery from greasing the thermo. housing bolts before re-installing. The rubber on the O.H. sensor wire "break away" connection did not want to come apart easily ( was going to do the ground test), and I didn't want to risk dropping a part into the creek (something I'm great at), someone else pointed out that I should'nt in case I lock into "Safe Mode" again from the alarm (not sure if it would do this, so I backed off). Yea, that tiny little thermostat made a whole lotta trouble for me, luckily it was a short lived and an "INEXPENSIVE" set back. It totally goes against "Boating" (Long wait's, and large repair bill's).
mw