1998 Mariner 90 ELPTO Starting Problems

[Eyedude]

[FONT=&quot]I have a Mariner 1998 90 ELPTO, Serial # OG748734, which I cant' find anywhere from Mercury material, model# 7-090412GD. I've got a problem with the motor flooding and hard starting. Being a newbie at mechanics, I read tons of info sites and watched videos on You Tube, I thought it was because my carbs were dirty. Being retired I had the time to try fixing it myself, so I put on my big boy pants and dove in. After moving so much stuff out of the way, I finally got the carbs out and found them 99% pristine. I cleaned them anyway. put all back together and it was worse. It won't start with the fuel line connected every time starting out or every time I turn it off. I unplug the fuel line and after a number of cranks it will catch and run fine. Before all this it would happen only starting out and start fine the rest of the day. Also, when I pull the plugs it has a dark oily matter on them and carbon stains on the third plug. Please help! [/FONT]

 

[racerone]

Are you pushing the key in while cranking it over ?---Are you putting control box in throttle only mode and giving it some throttle ?

 

[Eyedude]

Yes with the key, no with the throttle. 9 times out of 10 it starts with key in.

 

[Chigwalla]

When you push the key in, you are opening an enrichener solenoid that allows fuel to dribble from the top carb down to the others for startup.
Hold it in for a few seconds, then start. If you hold it in again after a failed start, it'll flood. You shouldn't need to use it for restarts.
If you flood it, move the lever (throttle only) to WOT and crank. Be ready to back it down once the engine catches.
If it still floods, disconnect the enrichener (two bullet connectors or pinch off the line) and try again to eliminate the solenoid.

If you're used to looking at 4 stroke plugs, 2 stroke plugs will always look fouled. Do the plugs look different than they normally do ?

 

[Eyedude]

Thx for the response . When I first start out I push in the key for a few seconds and crank it. It will start to catch and die, try again and it just cranks won't catch. I unplug fuel line and try again 2 or 3 times for around a minute. It seems the flooding subsides and starts to catch another couple times and the almost only time it fires up is when I push in the key, and have to go through the whole process again when I shut it down and have to restart. The plug from the the bottom carb gets carbon deposits on it along with the most oil, The other 2 plugs are fine except for the oil.

 

[racerone]

Advance throttle then push the key in while cranking it over !!

 

[Eyedude]

Well, I'll try it again but in the past it hasn't helped. Thx for your responce

 

[UKMike]

Sounds like a blockage in your fuel line. If you've cleaned the carbs they probably run better and demand a better fuel flow, which is why it will start with FL disconnected. Check your fuel filter and if possible put a clean 5gal gas tank directly to the motor instead of the boats feed, and see what happens.

 

[Eyedude]

Thx Mike, I'll try anything that doesn't involve pulling those carbs again if possible. What a hassle, so much stuff in the way.

 

[UKMike]

No worries, and I know the feeling, trust me! I have a V6 and just rebuilding the whole engine, Drive unit and Prop. I want it perfect so have bought kits for everything, just finished rebuilding the carbs and they look great, cant wait to get the new oil pump and rebuilt carbs fitted, she will be ready to rock once the prop and bearings are done.
one thing to remember, the more you put into caring for your engine, the more fun you'll get back from it. Carbs are always difficult, especially old carbs, the have more wear on them and really need to be done correctly, you did make sure your floats weren't porous and you did make sure the floats were set to the correct height, and also the idle and main jets went back in the right holes?

 

[UKMike]

Check out these bad boys, locked and loaded ready to roar.....

 

[Eyedude]

Cleaning carbs and putting back together was the easy part, I did all that thanks to youtube videos. Like I said earlier the carbs looked new when I pulled them, cept for one small stain in the bottom carb. Seems like it was all for nothing now.

 

[UKMike]

Its never for nothing, at least you know they are good and wont have to touch them again for ages, all being well.

 

[racerone]

I usually get a negative response to the next tip for you.----Cranking speed-------If starter / battery / cables are not in perfect condition you may have starting issues.-As far as I am concerned you can check / test those items without spending a lot of coins.

 

[Eyedude]

I had the problem years ago with another boat I had, the battery was failing a lot and read to try cleaning everything. Well that worked even though the posts and cables looked clean. When reading up on trying to figure this new problem, I read one of your posts about you saying that, and ahah, I hope that's all it was.So that was one of the first things I did but didn't help. I don't know how to check the starter so I'll check on you tube. Thx Racer