Old Evinrude running rough?

[Larryrsf]

With zero experience, I wonder whether my old 1979 Evinrude 150 runs rougher than it ought to. It has sat idle for 14 years before I bought the motor and started it. The compression numbers were ideal! The powerhead had been rebuilt before it was sold and then stored.

We got it running. But my mechanic said ideally the carbs should be taken off and completely rebuilt, jets cleaned and floats reset, etc. That was in mid-May. He admitted that he wouldn't be able to do it for weeks, and that rebuilding the carbs would be expensive because he is swamped with work right now. I wanted to get the boat into a marina slip and use it several times a week now that it is Summer here. So it's down there.

It does function. It starts immediately and runs fine. But in order to keep it from dying when I shift from neutral to either reverse or forward, I had to set the idle pretty fast. When it shifts into gear, I get a significant clunk-- and then minimum speed is really too fast. I would love to slowly troll, but I have to shift back to neutral in order to keep it safely moving slowly between slips in my marina.

I added a fuel additive the mechanic suggested that is supposed to be cleaning the carbs and engine-- and maybe the more it runs, the better it will run.

Should I just live with this fast idle for the season?

Larry