Expert: Everett Peacock - 12/22/2009

Question
I am having an issue with this outboard.  The symptoms are as follow.  Starting the boat at the ramp is fine, once i leave the no wake zone and give it full throttle it does not reach high rpm's the highest it will reach is about 3500. I once had it up to about 5500-6000 rpm and it ran awesome. I haven't been able to get it to do that. Also i had to have my buddy stand on the front of the boat so that it would plane out. Please help. Thank you.

Answer
could be a couple of things...has the engine set with fuel in the carbs for any amount of time? if so the main jet could be clogged, try to hit the choke when running and see if it changes anything.  If it does not, how does it idle? if it idles lower than before, pull the plug wire off, one at a time,  and see if it is running on all cylinders.  if all other checks out it may be a weak stator with low voltage on the high side..