1990 200hp, hard time starting in water.

Hello, first off, thanks for looking at my post. Ok, here's the deal, my 1990 200hp will run very well out of the water, but as soon as I put over, the motor has a very hard time starting. Yesterday it started backfiring too. In order for the motor to run well, I have to put it in neutral and give it a lot of gas and let it run for a minute. But when I run the motor out of the water it will fire right up and sounds absolutely beastly. I also had a 1989 225 EXCEL that did exactly the same thing. I need my boat to run so I can help with the Gulf oil spill clean-up.

Thanks,
Jason

sounds like carbs are gummed up

How would the carbs being gummed up make it start fine out of the water but hard to start in the water, where the correlation? Thank you very much for your reply.

well its fueling issue, so fueling system needs to be gone through

yep, carbs and old fuel..is it ethanol gas? If boat is old you have to replace the fuel lines with alcohol safe fuel line.

I have an outboard 1988, 225HP Johnson, i'm a first time boat owner and i'm having the same issue , once in the water, have a really hard time starting the motor. When i open the choke by pushing in the key , the flywheel turns and maybe on 5th attempts it starts to fire up then dies.. I haven't done anything on the engine since i got it in November last year, just winterized it. When i put the rabbit ears and a hose, with half a turn it starts. Not sure where to start, want to start with basics before diving in with big expenses at the shop. I'll replace the water/fuel filter and put new plugs in and will see if its still a problem. I prob should do that regardless, just as precausion to being a new owner and boat maintenance... Then i'll move on to hooking up an external tank and letting it run fresh fuel. After that i guess i'll move on to checking the carburator and making sure no water in the fuel tank and engine. From what i've read its a big job to check if there is a water in the tank. The person that i bought it had 1/2 a tank and before i winterized it i filled more up, for all i know he might have had this boat standing and fuel just went stale.. Can you guys recommend anything else i can try before i start spending tons of cash at the mech. Perhaps joined effort can help myself and Jason( GibsonTool) figure this issue out. Thanks guys, appreciate any advice.

Ed