Home › Forum › Ask A Member › Evinrude 18HP 1960 low power › Reply To: Evinrude 18HP 1960 low power
OK, so the reeds look fine, and you didn’t mess with them. The engine ran OK during your initial run, so it seems as though you had the intake gaskets properly oriented as well. I’m not quite sure just where the fuel leak is you decribe, almost seems like you are talking about a leak where the fuel hose connects to the carburetor. If so, replacing the rubber fuel line usually solves this issue. Or, for now, just cut a little off the fuel line so it fits more securely onto the carburetor fule inlet nipple.
Many of these ebay sellers are less than honest, and want you to assume you are buying OEM parts, when you are not. The engine ran OK for awhile, and then did not. So, what changed? Are you sure this engine is running on two cylinders? You mention it is low on power, does it run OK/properly at low speeds? When it misbehaves at high speeds, does it run smoothly (except for the lack of power), or does it sound rich? If it sounds rich, then perhaps the carb is at fault, or perhaps the fuel pump diaphragm is leaking flooding one cylinder. If the engine sounds relatively smooth at high throttle settings (just low on power), it would seem as though it is running on one cylinder and probably has an ignition issue. I would run the engine again using those inexpensive inline neon spark testers to monitor spark while the engine is running.
But again, let’s not overlook the simple stuff. Perhaps one of you plugs is fouled/bad, even though it might be new. Perhaps the throttle linkage is messed up preventing the carb from opening fully, or ignition from advancing properly…