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Mercury 1150 hard starting

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markmolini

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"My merc 1150 is hard to start

"My merc 1150 is hard to start, even when choked.....the only way I can get it to fire up is to pull the plugs and squirt some gas in the cylinders.....then it fires and runs fine....it will start again no problem for about the next minute or two, but if it's any longer, it's hard to start again....and yea the primer bulb is firm,...I just changed all the fuel lines and that solved a stalling problem, but I'm still having the starting issue...any help would be great. Thanks."
 
"Mark,that sounds like fuel st

"Mark,that sounds like fuel starvation, when you changed the fuel lines etc. did you rebuild the fuel pumps,pinhole in diaphram? is the tank vent open?"
 
Mark if your motor starts by s

Mark if your motor starts by squirting fuel into the cylinders it sounds like you have a chake problem...make sure when you press it the choke activates
 
"Thanks....Choke button and se

"Thanks....Choke button and selenoid are working just fine.....I still need to change the fuel pump diaphram.....it's at least 12 years old that I know of.....and most of that was out of the water, stored in a garage....perhaps when just cranking it, that old fuel pump doesn't pressurize the carbs enough get fuel in the carbs while choking....we'll see. someone suggested installing "fuel enricher valve"??? I don't know how one installs it on an older Merc 1150....any comments??....thanks again"
 
"oh yea and yes the tank vent

"oh yea and yes the tank vent is open....and once it's started it seems to run just fine....haven't had it on the water yet, so there may be more questions!!!.....thanks"
 
"Hi Mark,How old is your motor

"Hi Mark,How old is your motor?I don't know if it can be done or would be worthwhile fitting one.Do you give it plenty throttle when you crank her cold?
Why is it always a her my wife wants to know
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"I believe the engine is somew

"I believe the engine is somewhere around a 1975 model year,....and forgive me cause I'm new to boating, but I don't know that I can give her any more throttle than what the cold start lever allows me......i.e., I can't start it in gear at WOT....and I'm afraid that I can't tell your wife why they are always a "her" or you might be in the doghouse for a while!!.."
 
"Mark if you post your serial

"Mark if you post your serial # we can tell you the year,it is usually found on the transom bracket.If you have a two lever merccontrol box the black lever moves the throttle cable only so you can advance the throttle while in neutral.
If you have a single lever with a button in the center of the shift lever,put the motor in neutral push in the button and move the lever forward and this works the throttle without shifting into gear.And if I spend much more time playing with my forty year old beautiful merc800 I'll be in the doghouse anyway,patient as she is.
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"Hi Noel, the serial number is

"Hi Noel, the serial number is 3945450,....and my research says it's a 1974..I think...and I have a two lever mercontrol.....one lever is for the fast idle/cold start and the other is for shifting/throttle...and one button for the choke.....so I still don't see a way to throttle the engine without being in gear....and I don't know what's up with the local Merc mechanic, he seems to think my motor is junk, and I know it's old, but I think there's still some life left in it...and they told me I can't put the enricher on, but we'll see, I can be pretty creative. thanks for your thoughts on this"
 
"Mark, your right,1974.The fas

"Mark, your right,1974.The fast idle/cold start is what I call the warm up lever.When I use this control I shift it as far forward as it goes,this lever works the throttle on its own.As for the merc mechanic saying the motor is junk,I was told the same thing when I bought my beautiful merc800.People don't want to work on them ,as they can be time consuming,parts hard come by,and don't know anything about them,as they were probably built before they were born.As one merc tech.,and this guy is a nice guy,you open one of these you never know where it is going to stop.So that's why there is a fourm like this one with people prepared to spend time helping people like me who want/have to do it ourselves.Most of what I have learned over the last year or so I learned here,and the Seloc manual.So it is,in my opinion, only "junk" when it throws a piston,or tears a cyl or seizes.Just my opinion for what its worth.
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"THANKS TO ALL for helping me

"THANKS TO ALL for helping me get this thing going,....was on the water yesterday afternoon, and everything ran great!!.....what a difference new spark plugs made........I can't believe I forgot to addres them in my "tune up".....my only concern was that the amp meter was showing that TOO much charging going on.......had the gage pegged when at WOT,.....any suggestions on that???"
 
"well I checked the rectifier

"well I checked the rectifier per the manual and didn't get any good results,....perhaps that part is bad, but I also check my parts engine's rectifer to be sure I was conducting the test correctly and it was bad too......I was kinda surprised that both were bad...I chased down all the wires for shorts, but didn't find anything,.....what would cause the rectifier to go bad????"
 
"Mark,did the battery leads cr

"Mark,did the battery leads cross,disconnect while motor running,loose connection,corroded switch loose harness connection?"
 
"Well, I'm the second or t

"Well, I'm the second or third owner on both of my 1150's, and I know that I have never crossed the leads or had any loose connections or disconnected anything while the engine was running....I can't vouch for the previous owners...perhaps my testing procedure isn't correct...I was surprised that I got the same results on both of the rectifiers....but maybe they both might be bad...I don't know...I'm not sure which "switch" you are refering to that might be corroded??....and my thought was too that I wouldn't have ANY charging going on if the rectifer was bad??..the gauge is pushing 17 volts at WOT,...I dunno, maybe that's normal??I've already removed any and all wires and cleaned repaired all connections a couple of months ago, and I was very careful to put things back the way they were and also cross reference the manual schematics so I know that most of that stuff should be good to go...I've NEVER had an overcharging situation in any of my rigs, so it's a new thing to me..heck maybe the gauge is bad??"
 
"Mark,when I was referring to

"Mark,when I was referring to "switch " I was thinking along the lines of an isolator switch.17 volts would seem a lot.Though the rectifier is not a regulator,ie regulates the charge to the battery,I think between 12 to 14 is normal.Test battery, as it acts as the regulator in an unregulated system,or maybe install a mercury regulator/rectifier,about$60..No I don't work for Mercury.
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