I’m getting a 1976 9.9HP Evinrude outboard from a friends dad. It has been stored indoors and not used for about 20 years and worked good before it was put away. It looks to be in very good condition. I’m told it wouldn’t start when he pulled it out, it spins freely but wouldn’t fire. I’m going to go pick it up Tuesday. What would be the first steps for trying to get it to run? If this isn’t something that I can do myself through research and watching videos, what do you think a marine repair shop might charge to get it running assuming there is no major damage? My friends dad said it probably needs the carb cleaned, I watched some YouTube on that and it seems like something I can handle. I’ve read that older motors also usually need a new impeller, I’m completely new to outboards so I haven’t read up on that part yet but plan to in the next few days. Thanks for any suggestions.

That might be a little over my current skill level, do you think a marine repair place would do all that for $400 or under? If I could have a good running motor with no work for $400 I’d just do that as I don’t have a ton of time to learn and fix everything right now, if not I guess I will get to learning!

Picked up the motor, built a stand and got a garbage can full of water for it. Tried it out and nothing, got it narrowed down to bad spark plugs after checking fuel lines, coils, stop switch, etc. got new spark plugs and it started up on the first pull. Ran in neutral and spit out water good. Motor sounded pretty good, put it in gear and propeller was churning up water pretty good, then it reved up real high on its own and shut off. Started it and ran it in neutral a few times after that, and it would run good for a bit then die. Will do some more research and get back to it in a few days.

The rich and lean settings I don’t really get, how do I know when to turn the dial more towards rich or more towards lean? I just had it in the middle yesterday.

I bought a carb rebuild kit today to address the carb issue. Will be diving into it this weekend.
It has a dial that says rich and lean and you can change it, I just left it in the middle as I don’t know how to look or listen for the engine to know if i should be changing that dial one way or the other.
One thing I learned though was I may have caused the dying out by not venting my gas can. I’ve never used anything that had a separate gas can hooked up to it and it is the original metal can so no separate vent that I could see like with my plastic cans I use to fill up a lawnmower or snowblower. Looks like with this metal kind the cap just partially unscrews and comes up to vent so the fuel can flow to the motor. I’m still going to do the carb rebuild before I run it again but I’m guessing using the gas can correctly will help.

It ran in neutral just fine with the can vented. Putting it in gear caused it to stall out. However if I hit the primer bulb every so often it ran in gear fine too. Found out the hose where it connects to the motor is leaking as well, it’s the original fuel can and hose. Ordered a new fuel hose with fittings and primer bulb, as well as a new fuel pump. Hopefully those two things along with the carb rebuild will get me going. I’m at $90 so far in parts so not bad. I called a local marine place and they wanted $300 just for the carb rebuild. Hoping I can stay under $200 and have a nice running motor.

Quick question, what’s this little hole here?
It seems to be leaking some dark oily stuff. I’m thinking it is the gearcase seal? And the stuff coming out of it is the gearcase oil? Hopefully not. In my manual on the other side but below the propeller is the oil drain fill plug. There are no screws or plugs opposite this little hole, I can see the hole in my manual but it doesn’t say what it is
2C511E4B-0D74-4863-B625-EC3245840CE5 (resized).jpegimage (resized).jpg

That would be better than an oil leak! Thanks. It’s been a very interesting and informative few days for someone who has zero experience with this stuff. Reminds me of when I got my first pinball machine and had no clue how to do anything! Hopefully this will be a good learning experience for me and will help me troubleshoot any future problems.

Yep it’s a weep hole. It was running clear today after some work and testing and running some sea foam through. Replaced the fuel pump and the leaky old gas line and we look to be in business. Ran in the barrel great today, shifts good, idles good, read through how to properly adjust the rich/lean settings and did that. It’s ready for a test drive in the water now!
Thanks all for the helpful comments and suggestions!

Thank you! Yes it’s a 2 stroke. I will check the spark plugs and see how they look. I took it out on a lake this weekend and it ran fantastic! Got the boat up on plane with 2 adults and 3 kids and just flew across the lake. It idled great, never stalled, went in reverse no problem, started on the first pull every time. Had some family that was with us so took turns taking the kids out for a spin, they had a blast. Will probably take it out again this weekend if the weather is good. I’ll have to see if my wife took any photos of us out in the water.

Couple pictures of the boat and how it looks like packed up in the car. The photo shows the motor, gas can and the box with all the life jackets, oars, pump, transom wheels, anchor, etc. the boat itself is rolled up in the trunk but it can be set right on top of the box and strapped down if I need the room in the car. It’s really the perfect boat for someone like me who wants to be able to get out on the water for fun and fishing but doesn’t want to pay storage fees or have half my garage taken up by a real boat. In the winter the motor sits on a stand behind my furnace and the boat is rolled up under my stairs so no winterization needed. I also don’t have to put in at a boat ramp, with my transom wheels I can load the boat up and get in and out of a lake or river pretty much anywhere by myself even over sand. This model is the 16 foot Saturn heavy duty Kaboat. 17” tubes, a little over 4 feet wide, air deck floor. It’s very stable, you can walk on it, stand and fish, and people can be moving around at opposite ends without rocking the boat.

086B1486-CDCF-41CD-A6C2-C97CDC85C23F (resized).png

166DE6DF-F137-4A9D-BE14-A90C82C25EFD (resized).jpeg

537BF563-DF9A-4E5A-8EB6-F19DD7EF88AF (resized).png

6C2688C0-72C9-4CAA-83D0-E0BB79FE91FB (resized).jpeg

A02C21E2-419C-4462-A80A-2C00DBBD119E (resized).jpeg

C04D7D87-B841-40E8-806C-070C0140F795 (resized).jpeg

EEDC41BE-D1ED-47A4-903B-8C63D4D949C6 (resized).jpeg

EFCAC3B4-3A29-431F-B164-68303AF16C1E (resized).jpeg

How much gas does that eat up?
We were out on Lake St Clair today, did about 15 miles and used a whopping 2 gallons!

Not too bad, that’s a lot less than I thought it would use. There were plenty of jet skiers and fisherman out today but not many big boats. We drove around some canals and by some marinas and a lot of people with the big boats were just sitting on their boats in the marina.