Fuel Issues with Mercury 60/45 jet

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Jetdrive

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I went to run my Mercury 45 Jet for the first time since a rebuild and winterize. Needless to say, after doing the recommended gas/oil mix, The motor was very hard stating. I finally got it to run and let it idle. It ran for a bit before shutting down. It started back up after I pumped the ball. I let it idle and then hitting the throttle to leave it didn't pick up and bogged right down. It wouldn't start again until I pumped the ball back up and waited a bit. Way too hard starting. After at least a half hour of trying I put it on the trailer and came home.

I'm totally bummed out especially after seeing it run in the shop. For whatever reason the motor seems to be starving for fuel. The ball does not stay hard as I imagine it should. Could you please offer me a suggestion on what I might be able to do to run this thing.
 
It's normal for it to take a while to start up after it's been sitting because all the fuel is out of the carbs, fuel line, etc.

Were you using the same gas tank, gas, and fuel line on your boat as when you were in the shop?

It could have gotten flooded after you turned it over so many times?
 
Yes, everything was the same. The shop replaced the bulb and hose. The boat bogged down and shot off at throttle up after idling for a good while.
 
First things first.
The ball will not remain hard once the engine has started as the ball is on the suction side of the fuel pump.....make sense now?
Secondly, if you have fresh fuel it is probably Winter blend fuel which runs much different and not very good in warmer weather.
If you have an idle mixture screw, richen it. Run the engine again. In addidion to WB fuel you are probably dealing with varnished up passages in the carburetor. Let the new fuel do its work to clean them up. Do not run the engine hard if it is indeed lean. Extra oil will help here in protecting the engine and cleaning up the passages in the carb.
You did replace the old bad fuel....right?
Not just dump good fuel on top of the old bad fuel??
 
Pappy has sound advice as usual.

Another thing to check would be the fuel line fittings on your gas tank, fittings around the ball itself and the fuel line fitting connection at the outboard. Just to make sure you don't have an air leak or a pinched fuel line anywhere (easy to start with that).
 
Check to make sure the fuel line was clicked all the way into position on the engine. I had a similar problem with mine last year and thought it was the fuel pump and noticed a tiny air bubble stream getting into the fuel filter. I pulled the line off at the engine connection and saw an air bubble on the O ring. I pushed it back on and made sure it clicked all the way into place and the engine was fine after that. Hopefully it's something simple, but watch the fuel filter when it starts up and idles to see if the fuel runs out until it stalls.
 
Pappy said:
First things first.
The ball will not remain hard once the engine has started as the ball is on the suction side of the fuel pump.....make sense now?
Secondly, if you have fresh fuel it is probably Winter blend fuel which runs much different and not very good in warmer weather.
If you have an idle mixture screw, richen it. Run the engine again. In addidion to WB fuel you are probably dealing with varnished up passages in the carburetor. Let the new fuel do its work to clean them up. Do not run the engine hard if it is indeed lean. Extra oil will help here in protecting the engine and cleaning up the passages in the carb.
You did replace the old bad fuel....right?
Not just dump good fuel on top of the old bad fuel??

Thanks for your reply...I expected it to be hard starting after the winterize. All is new except the tank. I got it running today. . I throttled up just for a bit and it kept running. It was good back at idle for awhile before quitting on its own. It wouldn't restart after.a few tries. Most times it would kick right over after running like that. Looks like the half day trip back to the shop as much as I hate to think it.
 
Sounds like a bad fuel pump or air leak. Have you tried to continue pumping the bulb while running it. If it keeps running that would make me think it's a bad fuel pump. I'm guessing it dies with a flat Blaaah instead of a blahblahblah kind of stutter. Flat blahs a lean condition a stutter is flooding it.
 
Lil' Blue Rude said:
Sounds like a bad fuel pump or air leak. Have you tried to continue pumping the bulb while running it. If it keeps running that would make me think it's a bad fuel pump.

This is the method I used to troubleshoot my 40 hp Johnson when it did the same thing you are describing. It would start to stall out, but if I squeezed the fuel ball it would keep running a little longer. It turned out to be the diaphragm in the VRO fuel pump so I converted it to pre-mix and rebuilt the fuel pump portion. It went bad again 5 years later. I think the ethanol is eating up fuel pumps and fuel lines more than people realize. But you should check the connection, the o-ring in the connector, the fuel filter, try a different fuel line with different fuel ball, try a different fuel tank. These are all easy things to test and it's always good to have a backup fuel line anyway. It only takes a tiny air leak to lose the pressure.
 
Pappy said:
So you are not going to try any adjustments?
Takes less time than your trip........
Yes I tried all the advice and even went asfar as to draw the gas from a bucket rather than the tank. It made an attempt to turn over but failed.
 

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