Mechanical help

[grumpster4320]

Hello all,
I am in need of engine help for a 1990 60 hp Johnson outboard. It is a three cylinder and has three carbs stacked vertically. My problem is stalling at low speed. I have recently had the carbs rebuilt twice and the shop put this orange wax stuff over a side screw on each carb. I don't know the significance of the wax or what the screws do. Perhaps they should be my focus? I have spent hours tinkering with it but to no avail. I have been through both the selock and johnson manuals that I have and am not smart enough to figure this out. Most recently I emptied the gas tanks and cleaned them out for any water and adjusted what I thought was the low speed idle knob/screw. There are these two big black knobs/screws that the throttle cables go through, they are vertically stacked on the bottom left of the motor. They are threaded about 5 inches along the cable to adjust forward or backward. The top one seemed to be controlling the low speed idle and I ended up adjusting it forward an inch and a half. This adjustment seems to end at some sort of stop arm for both cables. I had the motor in a tank for resistance and thought I had fixed it but the engine still dies when it idles, even when it is hot. I constantly have to restart the thing and it is incredibly frustrating at the dock when it is crowded not to mention the rest of the day trying to troll or move. I have dropped a lot of money on this thing and was hoping to fix it myself before spending any more money that I don't have. Thank you in advance for any help you can throw my way.
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[Sawz]

Try going over to Iboats.com they have a bunch of good advice giving mechanics and forums just for repair work.

[AFDan52]

I agree , go over to IBoats .com , I have found a lot of Great advise in there.
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[wiperhunter2]

First of all welcome to the site.
The orange wax is a tamper proof seal that a lot of mechanic use to make sure a screw has not moved. It could void the warranty if you mess with it or it could be just to make sure the screw has not moved, if for some reason that has been a problem in the past for that type of carb.
Have you tried to call the mechanic that rebuilt the carb to ask him how to adjust the idle or low speed? Any decent mechanic should at least take the time to adjust the carb if he is going to rebuild it or answer your question if you are having problems with it IMO. If he doesn't help you by at least answering your questions I sure would not go back to him. Does the mechanic work at some local shop or just out of his garage?
WH2
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[grumpster4320]

That was part of the original problem. I took the boat to the shop to get the carburetors rebuilt and got half a job from a mechanic who was quitting, it was completed by a new person, that had no idea how to repair carburetors. I had to take the boat back twice because they could not get it right. I will definitely not be going back to them. Heringer was the shop in orem. Finally I was told that I would have to do a simple adjustment on the water. I could not keep the engine running long enough to do anything so I tinkered with it at home in the tank, their customer service is terrible. By the way the other site iboats.com is a good site for repair info, thank you.
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[Coldfooter]

Sounds to me like your low speed adjustment is set to lean. If so the engine may, or may not, run while in nutral but would likely die when the engine is under stress while in gear..

Being your not doing to take the boat back to where the carbs were rebuilt,, and if it were me, I'd crack the low speed adjustments open (counter clock wise) a 1/2 turn and see what that produces. If it seems to help try another 1/2 turn. Btw,, a pop/back fire sound before the engine dies while running at a low speed is usually an indication its running to lean on go go juice..
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