2003 mercury 50 hp two stroke 3 carb

I have a 2003 50 hp mercury two stroke I am having starting issues with. It has 91 non oxy, new starter, new solenoid, new fuel line and primer bulb, rebuilt fuel pump. The carbs were cleaned earlier this year after finding the fuel line deteriorating and leaving black pieces in there.The motor does run great once it starts. No surges or cutting out. It’s seems to only want to fire over and then eventually start only if I place the throttle cable in a different position. Usually it will fire over when the throttle is at about way. Once I get it to fire over I put it neutral and then it it will eventually start. Is this the neutral safety switch going bad? What’s the best way to diagnose this starting issue?
My normal starting procedure is lower motor into water, prime the bulb until hard, then move the throttle to wide open and back to neutral, try to start with it in neutral. If it doesn’t start I then push neutral safety switch in and have the throttle about halfway open. Most times will not start or fire over until I move the throttle to different positions. Once it fires over I will put in neutral, then it usually starts and stays running after about two or three attempts. Thanks

What type of remote control do you have? The usual ones have a cold start lever that has to be wide open for cold starting--Merc like a lot of throttle when cold.

You might also check to see if the enrichener (assuming it has one) is working properly.

Jeff

fastjeff said:

What type of remote control do you have? The usual ones have a cold start lever that has to be wide open for cold starting--Merc like a lot of throttle when cold.

You might also check to see if the enrichener (assuming it has one) is working properly.

Jeff

Click to expand...

Ok thanks

Last night I had this started and running after all the cranking. Today I went to start it and had an extra set of ears to hear if that enricher was making any sound. We left the cowl cover on and did not hear anything. So I went through what I did last night for a short time to get to pop. It never did. I pushed the key in and turned it over many times. I do believe the enricher is bad then. How would I force the enricher to get it started? Or is maybe just try to get some gas in the carbs to fire up.

This afternoon I was able to do some more trouble shooting. I took the engine cover off and had my neighbor turn the key on and press in for the enricher to work...there was nothing, no click or sounds. Then we checked for spark and that was working great. So I pressed the bulb/button on the top of the enricher about fifteen times. Nothing then did the bulb/button about fifteen times again. This time it started right up and stayed running. I am assuming either the enricher is either bad or else the the part of the ignition where the key turns is not sending a electrical charge to the enricher. So I suppose I can try to see if I have power going to it with my light tester with turning the key and pressing down, but engaging the starter. I would assume I would be able to feel the enricher turning on and working if had my hand on it, that’s what I did and felt nothing.