Mercury 6hp wont stay running - oil and wh. smoke from exhau

Okay guys, this is a new-to-me motor. Sat in a storage unit for a year an was used with no problems the previous summer/fall - this is what the previous owner says. It's a 1996 2-stroke Merc 6hp. I'm still hopeful that the previous owner was truthful regarding the condition of the motor and it just needs a little tuning to get it running after sitting.

Couldn't see it running prior to purchasing but got it for pretty cheap as a result. Had to send the lower unit to the shop because I pulled the cam out of the gearbox and that was beyond my skill level to repair. Yes, I was the one that pulled it out - shifted fine before I did it.

Just got the lower back and installed it without any problems. All gears work as they should. I've got $400 in the motor at this point. New impeller, lower was disassembled enough to re-install the cam/shift rod and fresh oil/seals, so all should be good down there.

Set it in a barrel of water, pumped some fresh 50:1 mix into the fuel pump and it fired up on the 4-5th pull. A little oil (few tbsp worth, I'd guess) and white smoke out of the exhaust. It stayed running long enough to ensure all of the gears and everything worked and prop spun as it should. Water was being pumped through it.

Motor ran a little rough as you'd expect a cold 2-stroke that'd been sitting but I assumed it was just old fuel being burnt out. choked out and died. Now it won't start without the help of some starting fluid.

Took off the top plate on the carb and sprayed it out real good with carb cleaner, pulled both fuel lines and cleaned those out, dumped all the fuel out of the pump and re-filled with fresh fuel/oil rather than a mix of old/new.

Ran until it burned all the carb cleaner out then died. So the carb isn't getting fuel. It ran better when I pulled the throttle cable back (increasing RPMs) when it was initially running, but doing so now only has a brief effect - it'll rev up for a second then die.

Tank and line don't need to be connected do they? Not really familiar with carb rebuilds/adjustments, as a result not familiar with how they work too well. Fuel pumps are for injectors, aye? Not carbs, I believe. So how does a carb draw fuel? Wondering if I need to pressure from the tank to push fuel through? Figured few oz of fuel in the filter was plenty getting it running.

I have seafoam to run through it... once I get it getting fuel. Assuming that's the problem.

Some reading has informed me otherwise... there is indeed a fuel pump. Going to assume that's most likely the cause here.

I'm now assuming that the water pump is located directly on the carb and throttle housing area? That's where the feed line from the fuel filter leads into the carb. Looks like it'd be easy enough to replace with a rebuild kit assuming that's what I'm looking at. Will have to get photos.

" Tank and line don't need to be connected do they? "

Yah


" I'm now assuming that the water pump is located directly on the carb and throttle housing area? "

Probably not.

If you mean fuel pump, most are powered by pressure off the crankcase and located on side of motor, diaphram type.

Tim