Hard to Crank 25 HP Mercury

[qwkfish]

I have a 25 HP Mercury outboard that is hard to crank. It also frays the pull rope after minimum pulls. It will crank eventually and seems to run fine after it cranks. I cleaned out the fuel bowl and blew out the filter. I have to put it into "F" to get it to crank and choke it. I have taken a dremel tool and tried to smooth out the hole where the pull rope comes thru but it still frays the rope. I change the plugs a couple of years ago and it really has not been used much since then. I think I set the gap to .030". I am thinking about converting it to electric start.

 

[jbjennings]

Re: Hard to Crank 25 HP Mercury

Take the cowl off and choke it, and see if the choke butterfly is totally closing. If not, it will be really hard to start cold. If the choke isn't totally closing, find out why not and fix it. Also, if your'e float isn't adjusted I don't know which mercury you're speaking of, so I can't really give any help on the frayed cord. Some of them I believe, had a little pulley on there to help reduce the friction. What's the year of your motor?
Later,
JBJ