Problem starting motor Mercury Mariner Outboard

I have a Mercury Mariner Outbo

I have a Mercury Mariner Outboard 135. I am having an issue when I start the boat. It only starts when I put it in neutral and throttle up. I pump the ball until it gets hard and then try to start the engine and when I check back the ball is soft again. The already tried replacing the ball. What could be causing this this issue? Any suggestions? I have also replaced the gas filter. Thanks

The bulb should get soft soon

The bulb should get soft soon as the motor starts. It's only hard when you pump it up.

Jeff

"look down each carb with a fl

"look down each carb with a flash light, pump the bulb, any fuel dripping is bad"

"Thanks very much for the info

"Thanks very much for the information I am mostly concerned about the
problem I am having starting the motor. Only way to start is to get
control in neutral and high revs, start quick and jam into gear again
. Not sure why this is happening. It does this when hot or cold. Any
suggestions?"

"I was thinking one of your fl

"I was thinking one of your floats might be stuck flooding the engine, thats why you would have to open the throttle to get more air. Do the above check with the engine level. Its not going to fix itself so lets not jam it in gear any more. "

"Patrick
Sounds like mine yes

"Patrick
Sounds like mine yes, but mine does it only now and then, also mine is fuel injection"

"Asuming that it's a jette

"Asuming that it's a jetted carb(1989 and older), the bleed restricters on the intake manifold should be checked.Suck and not blow to check them.
If your running it over 2000ft in altitude then I would increase the idle jets to lean it out. if you have the stock reeds in her you may want to start @ .008 over stock on those jets. If it doesn't stop "sneasing" when warmed up then set your idle jets to a smaller size. Leave all other jets stock.
The factory sometimes didn't do a great job setting up the reeds.If you remove the reed block and tap the reeds they will make a clacking sound (which is good). You should see some clearance between the reeds and the block. If the reeds are up side down they have too much pressure on the block and will make it tough for the motor to suck fuel making it run too rich. Do not flip a tight reed to make her loose. This will cause it to break off, get sucked into the motor...boom goes the motor. When replacing the reeds take the time to true-up the reed block. Tape some wet/dry sand paper to some glass and move the block over to sand paper in a figure 8 patern and check the block often to see when it looks true.
You might have a leak on the crank-case seam. put a can of Ether in the freezer overnight. If you stream ether down the seam and the motor's rpm tanks off...you gotta leak. Sorry for your luck.
If the motor is 1990 or newer with the adjustable carbs...bad nightmares"