'95 Mercury 20 spews white smoke then sputters and dies

Hi all,

Total newbie here, just looking for some advice on my uncle's Mercury 20. I believe it's a '95, though I'm not totally sure. It was up and running two-three years ago and has been stored ever since. I drained out the old gas and prepared a clean mix of gas/oil and cranked her up. The result is shown here:

https://youtu.be/_9722dHdezQ

I'm glad to hear it rev up and get going, but the sputtering and white smoke are obvious signs that it's in need of repair.

Any things I can check / do before having to bring it to a mechanic?

Thanks in advance,

Dylan

I should also mention the spark plugs look ok and the inline fuel filters are clean

It really needs repair after you have ran it with no WATER hooked up!!! Run a compression test!!!

faztbullet said:

It really needs repair after you have ran it with no WATER hooked up!!! Run a compression test!!!

Click to expand...

Oh boy, yeah I’m a dummie. I had it run with no water twice for about 15 seconds each time. It had been stored for 2-3 years before that so it must have been bone dry.

Do you think I trashed it?