6hp Tohatsu high idle

[stanirish]

My newer 6hp Tohatsu sat for awhile and would not start. Removed carburetor and cleaned with gum out. It started but would quit in seconds. Then removed the low idle jet screw and flushed with more gum out and now it starts right up but will not go into low idle, it just fires right up to a very high rpm. I did screw down the low idle jet screw completely off and then did 1 1/2 turn but still idles very high. I did notice that one of the carb gaskets was nicked up; could that be causing too much air intake thus the high idle?

[rslifkin]

An air leak after the carb can cause a high idle and will also make it run lean. Does the idle speed change when you adjust the idle speed screw?

[stanirish]

Thanks for that info.The idle speed does not change when adjusting the idle speed screw (the high idle speed screw) so am going to replace the gaskets and see if that fixes it.

[Shrew]

A new carb for that model is around $90. It would be worth it to me to not waste and money chasing gaskets, o rings, and jets. The full service kit for that carb is more than %60 of a new carb and comes with the mounting gasket.

With the new carb, I run either Startron or seafoam AND stabil for ethanol in ratio's for long term storage in 100% of my fuel. I also run the carb dry if the engine will be off for longer than overnight.

[Senojev]

Had a 6hp Tohatsu that had similar issues. Multiple cleanings helped for a short while but carb passages are so small they gum up very easily. The only long term solution was a new carb and always use Ethanol free gas. Get the old one ultrasonic cleaned and keep as a spare.

I did not run carb out whenever used and it was not a problem.

[stanirish]

Originally Posted by Shrew

A new carb for that model is around $90. It would be worth it to me to not waste and money chasing gaskets, o rings, and jets. The full service kit for that carb is more than %60 of a new carb and comes with the mounting gasket.

With the new carb, I run either Startron or seafoam AND stabil for ethanol in ratio's for long term storage in 100% of my fuel. I also run the carb dry if the engine will be off for longer than overnight.

I did put a new carb on and still had the high idle; I noticed though that the throttle linkage was not letting the throttle arm that sits on top of the card (name?) to return to a complete idle setting just too much of a gap. I've not messed with the throttle linkage before but with some wrenching around I figured out which nuts to adjust to allow the throttle arm on top of the carb to completely uncoil to an idle position and it worked!! Got the low idle back to normal.
Decided to put the old carb back on (I had cleaned and flushed) to see if it was still good and low and behold this one returned to normal idle too; but had to adjust the low idle jet to 2 1/2 turns not the 1 1/2 turns I've read about.