Mystery hiccup on 9.9 Evinrude

This is just in an effort to regain my sanity, I thought I would pick the experts' brains to see if anyone can come up with a rational explanation to solve my "hiccup" mystery.
I just acquired a 1984 Evinrude, in close to mint condition (pics posted on other thread), and I took it out for a spin to see how it would run under load after replacing impeller and L.U. oil.
The motor (as expected) ran like a champ at every level, idle, slow, mid range and wot, and always fired up in 1 or 2 pulls.
So when I got back home, I ran it with the muffs to rinse it as I always do, and ran it with no fuel coming in until it died, so as to empty the carb, to avoid having fuel sitting in there.
Then about an hour or so later, I take it off the dinghy transom and drop it on the stand, into the test tank, and just "because", I decide to run it again in the tank, because I believe it circulates water better than the muffs, and I wanted to be sure it was rinsed well (it was its actual first time EVER in salt water)!
Guess what?... no start. Not even a caugh. So I'm thinking I'm not getting gas thru to it and I pump and pump and pump, and pull the rope again. No start. Pull the rope again and again and again. No start.
Before I get blue in the face, I'm taking a look at the plugs, and they were wet indeed. I'm thinking "maybe I flooded it?", and I install 2 spare plugs that I had, and were nice and dry, after verifying the gapping, and pull the rope. No start.
It was getting dark, I was getting frustrated not understanding why all of sudden, and after running like a champ for hours on the water, and the on the muffs just a moment ago, it would refuse to start. So I'm deciding to call it a day, and get inside for the night with a head full of question marks, and other expletives not fit for this forum.
The next morning I go to work, and when I come back from work in the evening, I'm thinking "let me just see if that thing came to its senses in the past 24 hours", and go pull the rope. The thing almost started at first pull, but did on the second, and ran like a champ again, as if nothing ever happened!
I have been starting it on first pull ever since.
What do you think happened? I'm hesitant holding on to the "flooding theory" since the dry plugs didn't get it started either.
I know these things can have a life of their own sometimes, but I find this very puzzling.

You had it flooded more than the new plugs could handle. So after sitting and settling out, things dried up just enough, so she fired up. That's my idea, its happened to me.

timguy said:

You had it flooded more than the new plugs could handle. So after sitting and settling out, things dried up just enough, so she fired up. That's my idea, its happened to me.

Click to expand...

Makes sense. Thanks Tim.

For starting do you rotate the throttle against the neutral stop, yes or no ?------Does spark jump a gap of 3/8" or more on this motor ?-----Have you made sure choke closes and stays closed while pulling the rope ?

racerone said:

For starting do you rotate the throttle against the neutral stop, yes or no ?------Does spark jump a gap of 3/8" or more on this motor ?-----Have you made sure choke closes and stays closed while pulling the rope ?

Click to expand...

Yes to all the above, I even removed the top half of the carb silencer to check the choke butterfly, and verified the link & sync wasn't out of whack.
I guess it can't be much else than a bad case of flooding.
I also noticed a substantial amount of unburnt fuel spilling out in the water after all these attempts to start it...

Yep.... In agreement with Racer and Tim.

The thing with small engines.... we're forever laying them down without giving it a thought, and whatever fuel is in that thing will find its way into the crankcase. The new plugs should have made a difference unless you neglected to crank and blow all of the fuel out of the crankcase first.

Strange though since you stated that you did run the single carburetor out of fuel before you removed it from the dingy. However it still comes across as a flooded engine.

Let us know if this happens again... and your cure. BTW... large paragraphs are difficult for us older guys to read... every thing tends to flow together. Better to break it up into shorter paragraphs so we don't miss anything.

I don't think Tim has hit 80 yet... I'm pushing 90 in a couple years... Racer, I'm not sure, probably about 106.

Does the primer bulb go hard , yes or no ?

racerone said:

Does the primer bulb go hard , yes or no ?

Click to expand...

It does.

However (and for full disclosure) I had a doubt on fuel getting in there for the following reason:

I am using a "see thru" gas line that has hardened over the years and lost all its flexibility.
I know these are not as good quality as the black or grey ones, but I like see-thru lines because you can actually see the fuel moving and therefore eliminate any possibility of a bad bulb; but in this case, I could see a bubble in the gas moving toward the motor, and getting back to where it was after release of the bulb.

But come to think of it now, instead of meaning that the fuel wasn't getting in there, it may have meant that there was already TOO MUCH fuel in there to allow any more of it? Maybe?...

Joe: Thanks for your input, and I'm already working on "airing" my posts as you can see.

As to pushing 90, man.... I hope I can still form a sentence in proper English, should I be lucky enough to get there myself!
But 106.... forget about it! lol

Jupiter, it "sneaks" up on you but it really is all about how you took care of yourself in your younger years, diet and exercise......plus factor in a good "luck of the draw".

Racer is certainly likely getting up there with Joe and we are so fortunate to have these exceptional men here to help us. This is information that has been "experienced" and not "taught".

For me, only my mid 60's, I have some decent ideas and hope I can help as well, I started mechanic, auto body and welding very young. Started girls very late! Kept me out of trouble.......at least for awhile.

Clear lines are fine, you just have to change them out more often. I had one snap on my big Merc, and it lost oil injection......running at night, didn't see the oil. Needs overhaul now.

timguy said:

Jupiter, it "sneaks" up on you but it really is all about how you took care of yourself in your younger years, diet and exercise......plus factor in a good "luck of the draw".

Racer is certainly likely getting up there with Joe and we are so fortunate to have these exceptional men here to help us. This is information that has been "experienced" and not "taught".

For me, only my mid 60's, I have some decent ideas and hope I can help as well, I started mechanic, auto body and welding very young. Started girls very late! Kept me out of trouble.......at least for awhile.

Clear lines are fine, you just have to change them out more often. I had one snap on my big Merc, and it lost oil injection......running at night, didn't see the oil. Needs overhaul now.

Click to expand...

Thanks for that Tim.

I shouldn't complain really, as at 57, I still outrun many guys much younger than me on the tennis court, but it definitely "sneaks up", which some will argue, beats the alternative....

I do get on the treadmill 3 or 4 times a week to keep the cholesterol / tri-glyceride level in check, and watch what I eat, particularly the sugar intake (so hard to find anything to eat without sugar in it in this country! it's as if they had an interest in keeping the diabetes epidemic going in the population...)

I think I'm definitely due for a fuel line replacement, problem with clear ones is I can't seem to find them anywhere other than online.

In my opinion there is no need for clear line.-----If you run the carburetor empty then you should feel the gas moving as you operate the manual fuel pump.-----If it does not feel right there is something wrong that needs to be corrected.

timguy said:

Jupiter, it "sneaks" up on you but it really is all about how you took care of yourself in your younger years, diet and exercise......plus factor in a good "luck of the draw"..

Click to expand...

Works for you & Jupiter huh? Me?.... as I reminisce back through my younger years, there was this thing about late hours, cheap booze, and wild women! And what I would give to once again live my life through the 50's (sigh)