1995 Mercury 40hp Tracker, Trying to Fire It Up.

[dillon]

Hello, just picked up this motor and would like to see how it runs, I have no cables at all. Its an oil injected 40hp 1995 Merc pro series. 0G267648. I'm trying to start it up by just running power to the starter and ground to the motor. (I did disconnect the starter hot line from the solenoid). The motor turns over good and did fire a couple of times. I guess my question is... should it start without running 12 volts to any other part of the motor? I was wondering what the solenoid in conjunction with the fuel pump did, the solenoid has a push button under it, what is the purpose of the button?? I also pulled the oil jug off to get to the carbs for inspection, should the motor still start with the oil jug out? the small oil line is covered just lying there with the alarm probe. Thanks for any advise on getting this motor started up.