b81 Johnson 70 hp restarting

"I am new to power boats &

"I am new to power boats & i recently purchased a used boat with a '81 Johnson 70 hp 3 cylinder engine.

The controls have a bar to lift up all the way to where it says "High idle/start". Also it says to push the key in when starting to choke. The engine starts right up time after time but..... when we shut the engine down to fish for awhile (20 -30 minutes) I have trouble restarting. What is the procedure for restarting the engine? Do you again need to lift the start bar? push in the key to choke the engine? pump the gas tank again?

what am i doing wrong?

Thanks, bill. [email protected]"

"Bill.... That lift lever you

"Bill.... That lift lever you mention is a warm up lever that applies throttle without putting the engine in gear. It's difficult to start a engine at a dead idle unless it's only been stopped for a few minutes, therefore the proper procedure would be to lift that lever somewhat if the engine has been sitting for any length of time. The choke situation will vary from engine to engine. I'd suggest you try the warm up lever by itself first, then if that still results in a hard starting engine, to apply a slight choking action. The pumping of the fuel bulb shouldn't be necessary unless one the valves within the bulb are faulty which would allow the fuel to possibly siphon back into the tank.

Joe "