1992 200HP Spring Start up Idle problem

I have a pair of 1992 200HP on a 27 Whaler Center Console that I have owned for the last 13 years. Great motors. Never failed me.

This Spring, I started the motors on the muffs before launch and for some strange reason, both would not idle below 800-900rpms. They usually run about 600rpms each and have for all the time I have owned them.

I disconnected the throttle linkage at each to make sure they were sitting on the idle screw and they were. When I backed the screws out to reduce the idle, they would not drop below 800. Otherwise, they seem to operate normally.

The boat did sit out last season so it spent two winters and a summer on the hard. They were fogged and winterized before being put away.

Any ideas what I could be missing here?

Thanks in advance for your help.


Whalerman

[boats.net]

Check timer base to see if sticking and not coming all the way back against stop screw. Lube all linkage on carb, oil pump, throttle cable and timer base.

Thanks,

I pushed the arms back with the screws backed out and the idle did not go down at all. I will check all the other linkages to make sure they are not getting hung up on anything. The problem does seem to lie in the motors and not the controls since there was no change in RPM's with the throttle cables disconnected.

Thanks again,

Whalerman

Found out something interesting that I did not know.

Before I tell you, I must say that I rarely run the motors on the muffs before launch and when I did I never noticed the high idle before.

So the reason for the high idle is that with the motors out of the water, there is no back pressure on the exhaust system which will cause the motors to run a higher idle than normal. The boat will be launched this afternoon which should confirm this report.

Since both motors were doing the same thing, it suggested that it was something other than a problem with the motors.

Sorry for the panic!

Whalerman