89' Johnson 90VRO - running now, different problem?

[Azeal]

A couple weeks ago I posted looking for advice on my old Johnson... it had run great all day while springer fishing, but when we went to pull the anchor and head home at the end of the day, it would not idle (would start and run with the fast idle lever up, but when it was dropped down the engine would die).

Got some good advice, replaced all gaskets in the carbs last night and gave them a good cleaning, put everything back together this morning and it got it going again. Will run at idle just fine now, woo hoo!

Maybe a different problem now? According to my tach, it idles at 1800-2000 RPM with the muffs on in my yard (I did not change any settings on the carbs). Occasionally it will drop down to 1200 rpm or so for 5-10 seconds, then slowly climb back up to 1800.

Any ideas? Should I chock this up as normal? I have a sneaking suspiscion some crappy fuel from a gas station on highway 30 is the root of my problems.

[baitsauce]

Is the intake manifold(s) tight? Is (are) the carb(s) tight? Sounds like a vacuum leak to me.



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[Starfish]

Be sure to put the boat in the water before you make final adjustments to your carbs. There's not enough backpressure when running your engine on muffs so it'll run differently on muffs than in the water.