Hi there i posted earlier this year about my motor and fixed that now i have a new problem. my first thought on what im going to say is carbs but i would just like other advice or options. My motor will start but runs pretty sluggish. while i start the idle is beutiful in reverse has hardly any power seems to bog down bad and doesnt produce power, in drive if i hammer down it falls out bad and almost dies in neutral she will rev up to about 4000 rpms then starts to bog as well. also while in drive i hear small clunks nothing loud but i dont know if this is just because its out of wack or what the last time i had it out it ran like crap then all of a sudden ran strong and fine for about 20 seconds then started acting up again and hasnt run fine again. any thought or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. thanks jim

I would start with the fuel system. It sounds like really bad gas. Is the gas still fresh? When was the last time you changed the gas filter? If you don't use a filter, your fuel pump screen may be clogged. What is the condition of the fuel hoses? They last only a couple of years due to ethanol.

Other simple things you can check:

Are the spark plugs old? You can pull them out and check the color. This is sometimes telling on the health of the engine. They should all look very similar in color. If there is color difference, you should check the compression.

Are the plug wires making good contact?

Are the small fuel lines around the carbs in good condition?

I've changed the filter and plugs and gas is about couple weeks old but I put stabilizer in it the plugs look all the same

I've changed the filter and plugs and gas is about couple weeks old but I put stabilizer in it the plugs look all the same

It might be a good idea to have someone trained and certified in outboards check your motor.

It might be a good idea to have someone trained and certified in outboards check your motor.

You are absolutely correct. It's often cheaper in the long run.

bad switch box or stator, replace them. there are two switchboxes(one on top of the other) if one is bad the other isn't far behind. if you're going that far and the rest of the motor is in good shape I would replace the trigger too. there are ohm tests you can use to check the stator and packs. not sure offhand what the values are but I'm sure it's easy enough to find on the web somewhere. it's called the merc tune-up. also...it's not good to rev up in neutral. good way to snap a crank.

My first though would be a plug wire breaking down. A problem like that is going to be hard to diagnose without a tank or dino. You need to be able to check the spark while it's under a load.

You could back it down to the water, trim it down and position the trail so the anticav plate is about an inch above the water, being sure you leave the tiedowns on it and the winch cinched down tight. With the motor in gear, you can rev it up for short burst, just check you tach and make sure you don't go past redline on motor. If it does, back it in a little more to get it about 1/2" or so deeper. A test prop for that motor would simplify all that.

Now is when a six cylinder spark checker would be nice, then you could see if and which cylinder is loosing spark. Without one, you will need to rev it until it starts bogging, then pull off and put back one plug wire at the time until you determine which cylinder/cylinders makes no change in the way the motor runs. It helps if you go ahead and pull them loose so just the boot is holding them on the plug. If you have a large fuse puller to take them off with, it saves a lot of religion. Once you identify the cylinder/cylinders, you need to determine if it has a good spark with a spark gap tester set at approx 7/16", it should have a good stready spark when it's bogging.

If it is loosing spark, then you have to determine if it's the wire, trigger module, stator or what ever all the things a merc has that can make it not fire.

Now, with all that said, you say it's making a poping. Might want to make sure it hasn't broken a reed.

By the way, do all this testing from the back of the boat or the bow of another boat tied up against your's, DO NOT try and stand in the water to do any of this. Not only is the shocks you get gonna be a hellava lot harder, but there is a very good chance you could end up with a leg or two several inches shorter.

My first though would be a plug wire breaking down. A problem like that is going to be hard to diagnose without a tank or dino. You need to be able to check the spark while it's under a load.

You could back it down to the water, trim it down and position the trail so the anticav plate is about an inch above the water, being sure you leave the tiedowns on it and the winch cinched down tight. With the motor in gear, you can rev it up for short burst, just check you tach and make sure you don't go past redline on motor. If it does, back it in a little more to get it about 1/2" or so deeper. A test prop for that motor would simplify all that.

Now is when a six cylinder spark checker would be nice, then you could see if and which cylinder is loosing spark. Without one, you will need to rev it until it starts bogging, then pull off and put back one plug wire at the time until you determine which cylinder/cylinders makes no change in the way the motor runs. It helps if you go ahead and pull them loose so just the boot is holding them on the plug. If you have a large fuse puller to take them off with, it saves a lot of religion. Once you identify the cylinder/cylinders, you need to determine if it has a good spark with a spark gap tester set at approx 7/16", it should have a good stready spark when it's bogging.

If it is loosing spark, then you have to determine if it's the wire, trigger module, stator or what ever all the things a merc has that can make it not fire.

Now, with all that said, you say it's making a poping. Might want to make sure it hasn't broken a reed.

By the way, do all this testing from the back of the boat or the bow of another boat tied up against your's, DO NOT try and stand in the water to do any of this. Not only is the shocks you get gonna be a hellava lot harder, but there is a very good chance you could end up with a leg or two several inches shorter.

This might sound like the best angel at what im looking at. when i had the ear muffs on it, it had ran fine but when i put it in the water ran like crap. thanks i will check this out and thanks to all other suggestions if this doesnt work will be taking others into deep consideration.

One heads up, when you test one like this, there is going to be one hellava prop wash as much as 50 feet behind the boat. I do this to set my timing because it needs to be reving at least 5,000, under a load the set it, and riding down a lake a 60 mph on the back of a boat with a timing lite in my hand is not what I consider fun.

A little deeper with the motor lowers the rpm, a little higher raises the rpm the motor will reach. What you are doing is controlling the cavitation.

I was having a similar problem with my xr6 and I don't know how different it is than an xr2. my problem was that somehow when putting the cowling back on the motor, I guess the latch on the cowling caught one of the wires to one of the spark control modules and disconnected it. needless to say I was running on 5 cylinders. just thought I'd throw that out there.