evinrude 140 crossflow troubles

[usmma2013]

Hey guys,
Evinrude 140 here, 1984 year. I went to start the motor for the 1st time this season. She fired up after several cranking and priming sets. Ran for a few minutes then pulled the plugs to inspect, the stbd (looking fwd) bank of cylinders has clean plugs - I mean CLEAN, no whitegrey water/oil mix, nothing. The port side looked normal. Stbd bank felt colder to the touch as well.
Previous history on this motor, bought the boat 2 years ago from a guy on this forum actually, great boat. Haven't had time between school and sea (Marine engineer in training) to do much work on her. I had her out once last year and she wouldn't get past 2k rpm or so. It revs up fine with no load. So I rebuilt the carbs, new primer bulb and fuel pump, adjusted Spark advance and carb link n sync. Compression is 120 120 125 115. Then I had to go back to school so put the boat away. I did notice that the p/o had removed the thermostats (which I put back in today).
So my question is, is this more likely a water intrusion issue or somehow is the stbd bank is somehow not getting enough fuel?

I've attached a video of the motor running today, maybe one of the OMC gurus can listen to it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBdZjdLv_6E


I've also attached a picture of the plugs. The dirty one is from the port side and clean one from the stbd. Plugs on each bank look identical.

[phatdaddy]

i am by no means a mechanical guru, but i wll throw out the first (probably wrong) opinion.
are you sure that side is firing? that might explain why only 2000 rpm under load.

[usmma2013]

Well there is good spark on that side, I have yet to get a real spark tester and make sure it's jumping within spec though so maybe its not strong enough.
But I figured even if there wasn't, there should be a little residual fuel left on the plugs (like most other 2 strokes I have owned) right? That's why I believe it is somehow not getting fuel. I don't understand how with two 2-barrel carbs (freshly rebuilt) could be feeding only one side of the engine.

Another question, this motor has small vacuum (i think) lines coming off nipples on the transfer covers. One I can see leads the bottom of the front of the intake, the others I can't see. What is the function of these lines?

[Skools Out]

first thing what ever cylinder that dry plug came out of it has no fuel so it is a dead hole for sure. second get a set of Champion L77JC4 plugs for it, those V plug suck usually on the older ign. systems. as for first problem it is pointing to your reeds since you rebuilt the carbs or you have a carb stopped up some where. from hearing it you have a skip / dead hole for sure. you may have a broken reed for that cylinder or a bad carb.

[usmma2013]

PUlled the intake today, reeds were in great shape. Pulled the exhaust covers and found a huge mess of water intrusion, see pictures. I guess I'm going to inspect the manifolds for cracks and go from there..

[Skools Out]

hold the reeds up in the light and make sure you can't see any light around the reeds.

[usmma2013]

Well a little update for you guys, turns out the inner exh gasket was the incorrect one (for a flatback 115). Replaced that, and no more water in the cylinders. However, she still wouldn't plane out on the lake. Tested for spark, no spark on cylinders on the stbd side. Troubleshooted it out to a bad power pack, replaced the power pack and it ran like CRAP - misfiring and surging and such! Went through the entire ignition system checking coil wire colors and such..on a suggestion from an Iboats member, tried switching the plug leads on the malfunctioning Stbd side and WOW! Started and ran like it's fuel injected. Now, the wiring is now incorrect (orange&blue coil wire leads to bottom cylinder) but the motor is running excellent. So, I'm not going to question this.
Now onto my cuddy re-finishing project...it never stops

[reelapeelin]

Originally Posted by usmma2013

Well a little update for you guys, turns out the inner exh gasket was the incorrect one (for a flatback 115). Replaced that, and no more water in the cylinders. However, she still wouldn't plane out on the lake. Tested for spark, no spark on cylinders on the stbd side. Troubleshooted it out to a bad power pack, replaced the power pack and it ran like CRAP - misfiring and surging and such! Went through the entire ignition system checking coil wire colors and such..on a suggestion from an Iboats member, tried switching the plug leads on the malfunctioning Stbd side and WOW! Started and ran like it's fuel injected. Now, the wiring is now incorrect (orange&blue coil wire leads to bottom cylinder) but the motor is running excellent. So, I'm not going to question this.

Hallelujah!!...

Before I discovered the V-20, I had a 17' Thunderbird w/an '84 Evinrude 140...that was one GREAT MOTOR!!...came to me used on the boat, checked out and never gave me an ounce of problem...a real workhorse of an outboard...it won't be speedy, but if it's as good a motor as mine was, it'll serve you well...

[usmma2013]

Well, got the boat on the lake and the motor still runs like crap.
After much cursing and a beer or two in, I was checking the connections on the problem stbd cylinders and wouldn't ya know one of the wires leading from the stator to the powerpack connector was corroded and grounding to the block through the broken insulation. Some electrical tape and moved the connector away from the block - 100% fixed. It's always the simple things....
I didn't expect much out of this motor after hearing guys on here with much bigger motors but she runs great. We made 39 mph on GPS @ 5400 rpm WOT. Seemed to cruise real happy at around 4100. RPM is a little low I think, but the motor is sitting 1 hole too low on the transom so I hope raising it to proper height will bring a few more rpms outta her. The motor ran great all four days...seemed a bit cold blooded but it was fairly cold out and idled great once warmed up.
Water was too cold for any watersports, but fished, cruised around - took a look at North Anna Generating station (parking lots were packed, they must be in an outage).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bn2Ujzahs8

[usmma2013]

Also, if anyone lives in VA and looking for freshwater...Lake Anna State Park is great. I stayed in one of their cabins, like 90$ a night you get 2 - 4 bedroom house right on the lake w/private dock.