1988 Mercury 35HP strange smoke plus dumping gas

tigerbake

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Joined
Oct 7, 2007
Messages
16
First let me say I was so excited to find this forum as I am a new boat owner and need lots of help. The motor on the boat ran fine on the hose when the previous owner demontrated and I tried yesterday to run it yesterday on the hose and all was well again. Today I took the boat on the water and I pumped the ball to prime then pushed the choke on the key a few times and attempted to start. With no luck I continued pumping and choking then realized the power to the motor was off I then changed the switch and it started up. Once it started it had smoke coming from under the cover and was dumping out a good deal of oil/gas out of some small holes on the back top of the motor. It sounded terrible and I decided to cut it off. Later after talking to a friend he said maybe I just flooded it but it would not start later. Did I maybe foul the plugs or something>? I am new so any help would be great. I am trying to decide if I need to take it to a repair shop as I am trying to go this weekend camping. I just didn't know why it was dumping out so much gas/oil. Thanks for any help anyone can give me.
 

Laddies

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Sep 10, 2004
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12,218
Re: 1988 Mercury 35HP strange smoke plus dumping gas

Either the choke is stuck or the inlet needle is sticking
 

tigerbake

Cadet
Joined
Oct 7, 2007
Messages
16
Re: 1988 Mercury 35HP strange smoke plus dumping gas

Ok great...is this something I can look for/correct myself or do I need to take it somewhere..thanks again so much
 

Laddies

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Sep 10, 2004
Messages
12,218
Re: 1988 Mercury 35HP strange smoke plus dumping gas

You can take the cowl off and see if the choke is closed or if while pumping the bulb fuel comes out of the vent on top of the float cover If it's coming out of the vent the inlet is stuck. I don't know if you mechanically inclined or not it's a matter of removing the top of the carb and replacing the inlet needle while the top is off ck for crud in the carb bowl if it's dirty it should come off the engine and be cleaned
 
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