MilesAway1980
New member
Hi All,
My first post here.
For starters, I have a 7.5hp Mercury Outboard 4 stroke engine. From the serial number, I *believe* it's an '81.
The boat and motor have been sitting for quite a while (maybe ten years or more.) The motor was kept in a garage so everything in it is nice and clean.
To freshen it up, I rebuilt the carburetor and replaced the needle and seat, as well as put a new impeller in it.
After getting everything put back together, I brought the boat and motor out to the lake and put it in the water. It took quite a lot of pulls to fire it up, but once it did the motor ran great and skirted the 14' aluminum boat around the lake nicely. I just figured the difficulty starting was due to the fact that it'd been forever since it had last fired up. I took it around the lake
and back. Thought all was well.
Brought it out again and, again, it took forever for it to fire up. Then, when I was a mile or so out on the lake, I stalled the motor and had to start it again. My hands were bruised from how many times I had to pull the cord to get it to fire (probably 50 - 100 pulls over a duration of 20 minutes). There was no catch, no sputter, no trying from the motor to get it to start. I tried different choke settings, tried adjusting the throttle linkage, pulled the plugs to inspect them, etc. etc. Finally, I got it to fire up and it ran like a champ. Just...took...forever...to get it to start.
The trick I found that helped to finally get it to start is that I squeezed the hand pump on the fuel line while I pulled the starting cord. When I'd do this, the carb was FLOODED. Meaning, gas was dripping out of about every orifice.
So, I'm not totally sure where to start and am a little gun shy to bring the boat back out again. Also, unfortunately, I don't have any means to fire up the motor at home, so I'm really looking for some strong pointers before I bring it out again (fortunately, it's only a 15 minute drive to the lake).
I'll replace the spark plugs, since I haven't done that yet, but they looked like they were in good shape.
Any ideas? Thoughts? Things to check? Parts to replace? Common culprits? (Both my wife and my vehicles are outfitted with aftermarket performance carburetors, so I know my way around a carb very well. Just never messed with one on a boat before. So any advice is appreciated.)
Thanks everyone. I'd like to get this motor trustworthy.
My first post here.
For starters, I have a 7.5hp Mercury Outboard 4 stroke engine. From the serial number, I *believe* it's an '81.
The boat and motor have been sitting for quite a while (maybe ten years or more.) The motor was kept in a garage so everything in it is nice and clean.
To freshen it up, I rebuilt the carburetor and replaced the needle and seat, as well as put a new impeller in it.
After getting everything put back together, I brought the boat and motor out to the lake and put it in the water. It took quite a lot of pulls to fire it up, but once it did the motor ran great and skirted the 14' aluminum boat around the lake nicely. I just figured the difficulty starting was due to the fact that it'd been forever since it had last fired up. I took it around the lake
and back. Thought all was well.
Brought it out again and, again, it took forever for it to fire up. Then, when I was a mile or so out on the lake, I stalled the motor and had to start it again. My hands were bruised from how many times I had to pull the cord to get it to fire (probably 50 - 100 pulls over a duration of 20 minutes). There was no catch, no sputter, no trying from the motor to get it to start. I tried different choke settings, tried adjusting the throttle linkage, pulled the plugs to inspect them, etc. etc. Finally, I got it to fire up and it ran like a champ. Just...took...forever...to get it to start.
The trick I found that helped to finally get it to start is that I squeezed the hand pump on the fuel line while I pulled the starting cord. When I'd do this, the carb was FLOODED. Meaning, gas was dripping out of about every orifice.
So, I'm not totally sure where to start and am a little gun shy to bring the boat back out again. Also, unfortunately, I don't have any means to fire up the motor at home, so I'm really looking for some strong pointers before I bring it out again (fortunately, it's only a 15 minute drive to the lake).
I'll replace the spark plugs, since I haven't done that yet, but they looked like they were in good shape.
Any ideas? Thoughts? Things to check? Parts to replace? Common culprits? (Both my wife and my vehicles are outfitted with aftermarket performance carburetors, so I know my way around a carb very well. Just never messed with one on a boat before. So any advice is appreciated.)
Thanks everyone. I'd like to get this motor trustworthy.