Merc 110 (9.8 hp), will not start

[FishinLite]

My neighbor came over about a week ago and told me that his little Merc wouldn't start.

He said his son (about 40) had it out and got it to start and made a couple trips around the lake.

He want to run it dry before he put it away but couldn't get it to start.

Based on what this motor looks like it came out of the showroom yesterday.

Since it only get used once or twice a year, without even trying it, my first inclination was that it needed a good carb cleaning. He had me order a fuel pump and carb gasket set.

When the gasket showed up, I took the carb apart, probed the small hole in the venturi, and ran the carb through my ultrasonic cleaner.

The carb came out looking like it just came out of the box. Re-assembled and re-installed carb.

Set the low speed needle to 1 1/2 turns out, connected a fresh tank of mixed gas, pumped the bulb hard, set the twist handle to start, pulled the choke out, gave the rope 30 + pulls, not even a hint of life.

Pulled the plugs to check for fuel (possibly flooded) not even wet.

At this point I am at a loss.

Any insight would be appreciated, thanks

 

[Jay1234]

Is fuel making it through the (assuming it has one) quick connect fitting on the feed side of the line?

 

[racerone]

Take sparkplugs out.-----Put 10 drops of fuel in each cylinder.----Put plug in.----Pull cord a few times.----What happens?

 

[FishinLite]

Took the plugs out. Tipped the motor back so that the plug holes were up. Fogged both cylinder well with "Seafoam Deep Creep".
Let the motor sit for 2 days with the plugs out to allow the "Deep Creep" to do its magic.

Took Racerone's advice and put about 10 drops of fuel in each cylinder. Connected the fuel tank, Pumped the bulb hard, Set the choke, gave it three sharp pulls; and it popped right off.

Thanks ALL for the input

 

[kimcrwbr1]

Did the son use premix fuel? First thing is to always to check compression. Pull the rope slow and see if it has good compression on both cylinders. If it pulls easy put a guage on it and see how bad it is.

 

[FishinLite]

I have no idea what the son did, he is surely old enough to know to use premix. The son grew up on the lake in the summer. I am sure he hook up the tank that his father had in the garage.

The neighbor is a little cheap, he may of had ethanol/pre-mix in the tank. As for the compression...who knows. It pulled over smoothly.

If this were my motor, unsupervised initial setup and operation is out of the question.

Since it starts and runs now, I am walking away.