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Poor idle on 25 hp esh

Jimmie Leon

New member
I have a 2005 25 hp ESH 2 stroke that runs great at high speed but will not idle. It constantly pops out exhaust when idling. Carbs are clean and have changed spark plugs several times. No obvious damage to crankshaft seal. Could this be a timing issue?
 
<p>That pop out the exhaust is unburned fuel lighting off down in the tuner. At idle you have the most crankcase vacuum and the least airflow, so a lean hole will pop there and nowhere else. That is why it runs fine at speed.</p><p><br></p><p>Timing is not something you can set on that motor. The CDI does it. A sheared flywheel key would make it run bad everywhere, not just at idle. So I would put timing at the bottom of the list.</p><p><br></p><p>The seals. You said no obvious damage, but a lip can be hard and still look fine. It only leaks when vacuum is highest, which is idle. Pull the plugs and read them before anything else. If one is wet and the other is dry you are chasing one cylinder, and then it is that seal, that reed block, or that carb.</p><p><br></p><p>How did you clean the carbs? Ultrasonic does not always get the idle circuit. The fuel goes through drillings smaller than a hair and the brass plug hides the passage. I have had to rod those out with a torch tip cleaner and then watch carb spray come out of the right hole before I believed it. Check where the mixture screws sit too. About a turn and a half out from lightly seated is the book starting point on these twins, verify it against your manual.</p><p><br></p><p>And I agree with racerone on the plates. If the linkage holds them open a hair at idle the idle circuit is out of the picture and it will be lean no matter what you do with the screw.</p><p><br></p><p>What compression numbers do you have, and are they even across both holes? What do the plugs look like, cylinder by cylinder? thanks</p>
 
Thank you all for your very helpful advice. I gave up and called an expert outboard tuning company. He went through a long step by step procedure in the repair manual to set the timing and sync it to the carbs. The main culprit in my opinion was the idle timing, as the cam was not reaching the idle timing stop. It was being held off the stop by the plunger that i guess is supposed to dampen how fast the timing advance plate returns to the 7 degrees ATDC setting at idle. Of course he did lots of carb tuning as well. He took the carbs apart and used carb cleaner and compressed air to check those small passages, but he couldn’t find any problems with the carbs. Idling great now with little to no exhaust popping. Thanks again.
 
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