1990 15hp Merc...........few questions

First off..........Is it normal for a little fuel to squirt out the side of the carb, when pushing the choke in and out?? I'm not sure if that will make sense??......When you press the choke in, it presses a plunger down on the carb. There is a small hole, on the outside of the part of the carb with the plunger in it, and when i pull out the choke, it squirts a small amount of fuel out of that hole.


Second i noticed a milky almost carmel substance on the side of the motor, under the cowel. When looking at the motor from the back, it is on the left side. Its not wet, but more sticky. It was there when i bought the motor, and i was finally able to get the boat out for the first time today. It is on the cover on that side of the motor,and appears to have leaked out at somepoint. I changed the gear case oil, and that was clean.......I beleve that is the exhaust side of the motor but not sure.


I am new to out boards, so any help would be great!

Your gas issue sounds like a shot primer gasket.That plunger is supposed to shoot gas into the carb for cold starting.

The other,carmel substance is probably 2 cycle oil form the exhaust.My 20hp Merc does that when I idle alot & I get home it will be running out a little.You could possibly have a base gasket out which is causing this oil. :?:

So where exactly is the base gasket??..........is that the "base" gasket on the exhaust, just like it sounds??...........is it anything to worry about?

The base gasket is between the power head & the mid section.

I had a 98 Merc 15 on my last boat and it did the same thing. It was my first boat and motor so I thought it was the way it was supposed to be. The motor ran great though...

The motor runs great!........it looks like the carmel like substance is old.......i'll have to run it some more, to determine if it is still leaking.