99 4stroke wonbt run without hand over intake

"Okay, it's a 2000 9.9 4-s

"Okay, it's a 2000 9.9 4-stroke Tohatsu. The guy I bought it from accidentally knocked the fuel hose loose and it sucked water into the fuel. Now it only runs if you cover the air intake with your hand. I only got the motor so it has a new fuel tank, hose and fittings. I replaced the plugs and cleaned the carb and fuel pump. I changed the fuel filter, engine oil and oil filter. It runs great with my hand over the air intake, but dies as soon as you remove it. Without the intake blocked it still starts on first pull but dies within 5-10 seconds. Anybody have any ideas?"

It sounds like your auto bypas

It sounds like your auto bypass choke switch on the carb isn't working.

"Okay, thanks. I took that of

"Okay, thanks. I took that off and sprayed it down with a little carb cleaner, but I didn't know if there was a way to test it. I'll test the circuit continuity tonight, look for loose connections etc. I assumed that was the "choke" on this motor, but it was simply a needle that went into an orifice on top of the carb. I already priced them at $122 online because I considered "swaptronics" as a troubleshooting means. Thanks for the help! Great site by the way."

"You can test it by pulling it

"You can test it by pulling it off the engine, hiting it with 12 volts and seeing if the needle moves."

"Great news, I got it up and r

"Great news, I got it up and running. I removed the carb again, stripped it apart, soaked in carb cleaner and ran a small piece of wire through every orifice. I blew air through everything then reassembled and tried to start it. It nows runs like a brand new one! It seems that 99% of people's problems on this site are from dirty carbs so I wanted to exhaust that before moved on. The first cleaning I gave the carb was a quick once-over (just soak, wipe and reassemble) but the thorough cleaning did the trick! Thanks for your help and this site, it saved me $110/hour at my local dealer."