2002 nissan 4 stroke 4hp will not start...PLEASE HELP

Hi... I am new to the forum and I am hoping someone can help us... I just bought a 4 stroke 4 hp 202 nissan for my sailboat and I cannot get the thing started! Actually, I can if I squirt starter fluid into the intake.

This outboard was used for a few years, then the guy had it tuned up and stored for a year and a half. We have done the following, yet the thing still won't start on it's own unless we use starter fluid... but even then only runs for a couple of seconds and dies.

We have taken off carb and cleaned it.. everything in the engine looks clean. We have taken off the fuel filter and it looks fine... blew trhough it... totally free of obstructions.

The spark plug gets wet when we choke it.

We have tried choke on, choke off, throttle up, down, pretty much every scenario we can think of. The gas (internal tank os to the "on" position, we are perplexed and really want to go sailing! Any ideas? anyone? Thank you!

Year does not matter; Model is everything. You probably have an NSF4A2.

Stop using ether-based starting fluid; It can easily crack a ring. Better to use a spray bottle of gasoline. However, your testing using ether gives us some clues.

You clearly are not getting fuel into the air stream. Have you verified that you have good fuel flow to the carb? If you pull the fuel hose off at the carb (and pull off the stop lanyard to prevent spark), you should get a pulse of fuel whenever the fuel pump cycles (as you pull the starter handle). If you don't, check the fuel system, from the tank to the carb. Keep in mind that you need the fuel to get through the pump, which takes a full tank, and a couple of minutes, if only gravity is making it flow.

Since the plug comes up wet when you choke it, apparently something is making it wet. Is the fuel fresh, or could it have water in it? I repaired a 4A2 last week that had a full cup of water in the gas. Of course, since the fuel was E-10, the tank had to be dumped and flushed out, carb cleaned out, and then the motor was OK.

The most common issue with a motor of this model that has been stored (possibly without draining the carb) is varnishing in the carb passages. How did you clean the carb? If you did not do a complete disassembly, including the jet and emulsion tube "nozzle", followed by a 4-hour soak in real carb dip, and then a blow-out with carb spray or (depending on the dip), clean water and compressed air, you have not cleaned the carb passages. When you reassemble the carb, check the needle, and verify the float height.

Hi... Thank you for your help!!! HOwever, now we found two new issues and have already fixed one.
The Fuel cock was plugged. Cleaned that out, got it flowing to the filter. NOW.... we pulled the hose off of the "in" to the metal square box (fuel pump?) and nothing... nothing is going through the pump. So we have fuel up to the pump... we cannot get those two screws off the pump... they are stuck and the bolts are starting to strip.
Thanks for the starter fluid info!

Help! We took the carb apart and cleaned it out with spray .... it looks spotless.

Also Paul, It is a NSAFA2d...what does the d stand for. ok... so we got the fuel cock all cleaned and put back in... we only put in a half tank of fresh brand new gas..... could that be it? We need to fill it up full? Does rotating the throttle back and forth help pump the gas... because we did that too and no gas is going through the pump. I think what happened was the guy had it... the shop worked on it... turned off the gas and it gummed up and jammed up at the fuel cock. Fixed theat and have flow to the pump... but not THROUGH the pump and into the carb.

THanks again so much for your help.

The fuel pump only operates when the camshaft rotates... so operating the throttle does not pump gas. Do you in fact have fuel TO the pump? If not, keep disassembling and cleaning the entire fuel system. If it was that gunked up, the pump may be full of gunk too... But start with a full tank of fuel, because the gas level in the tank must be above the level of the fuel hoses at the fuel pump abd carb if you expect gravity to push the fuel through... and... since everything else was so gunked-up, you will definitely want to soak the carb in dip for 4 hours, followed by carb spray.

Paul, you are the man! Thank you! I just filled the tank all the way up (to get gravity feed like you said), had gas flowing all the way throught the system... two minutes and two pulls later... shzaam! If I was in NY I would buy you a beer! Thank you so much!
Christy

Glad to help out.