More yamaha drama,, input needed !!

[stripminer]

I apologize for this but please bear with me. I got my boat ready for the water this year, I have a 1988 Yamaha 130 outboard hanging off of it. I changed the gear oil, plugs and stats. During the thermostat change I snapped a bolt and had to drill it out and ended up tapping it short and using a larger bolt to hold the housing cover on.

I test ran her and had not leaks, she started on the first turn of the key. I took her out that afternoon and she ran great, no problems but I noticed upon my return after she sat for a while a grey / black substance coming from the prop housing. It was oil like. I figured that maybe it was old fog oil or possibly WD-40 from all the work on the tap job I did.

Took her out the other day and she stalled out while idling. Had a very hard time starting the engine up and could only do so after advancing the throttle all the way in "cold start" .

Since that day she will stall and be very hard to start. I checked the gear oil and found it not to be milky but it is still discharging the grey / black oily substance from the prop ( exhaust )after I run it. It seems to run fine at high RPM's.

I was thinking blown lower seals but now I am thinking bad gas from the ethanol sitting in my older ( 1988 ) fuel tank.

Any input is appreciated as I am confused, is this an engine problem or a fuel problem. I will be running the engine off of a six gallon tank tomorrow.

Thanks,
Tom