[Ex-Navy MM2]

I have the above outboard that ran fine in the fall when we winterized it, and great before that, now that its spring i tried to start it at home, it started after the second turn of the key for a second (i had the throttle up high) and turned the throttle down maybe too fast stalling it out, and now it won't start again. I know when using a flushing device your not supposed to have the engine running fast. I charge dup the battery it looked at about only 50% capacity and will try it again tommorow, just wondering if anything else could have happened. The only thing i did during the winter in the garage at a constant 60 degrees was replace the brittle neoprene oil lines, Actually all of them, and i read a repair book i bought and found out that i'll have to turn the oil bleed screw and bleed out the air i suppose, would be a good idea..This is my first boat and i don't know how tough it is for the engine to start at first after the winter and all, any suggestions would be greatly appreciated...

[CharlieB]

Most probably the spark plugs are simply flooded/fouled from the fogging oil.

Clean or preferably replace them.

Hopefully you added fuel stabilizer, if not the old fuel may not be so 'fresh' but it should still burn. Remove the float bowl drain screws one at a time, pump the primer bulb to flush the carbs out.

Make sure that battery is well charged. The ignition system has a minimum cranking speed of 300 RPM, less than that it may not make any spark and will not start.

[Ex-Navy MM2]

I did replace the spark plugs after it started for a split second and couldn't get it to turn over after that and set all the plugs gap to what i measured from what one the old plugs were, the repair manual i have says to torque them to 20 ft lbs, but i don't have a torque wrench, so i just tightened them to about 3/4 of a turn past hand-tight. I did add fuel stabilizer (sta-bil ethanol treatment type) I could use some more insight on where the float bowl drain screws are and why to remove one at a time, to pump the primer bulb to flush the carbs out though....

[jeffdjpeat]

if i am not mistaken the float bowl drain screw is at the very bottom of the carb, maybe check how tight they are so you can re-install them the same after. i would think the motor should fire with a fresh charge. check the plugs after choking the motor and turning it over to make sure they are wet, smell like fuel?

[CharlieB]

If the carbs were not drained in the fall, over the winter the gas evaporated, leaving an oil residue behind. Sometimes we get lucky, flushing out one carb at a time rinses enough of this residue out that alls well again.

If all drains are pulled at the same time the fuel when pumped will not have enough pressure and flow to deliver the same amount to the top carb as taking the path of least resistance it will primarily flow to the lowers. Flushing one carb at a time you can be sure that full flow rinses the needle and seat to prevent any sticking/future flooding.

One squeeze of the primer bulb per carb is adequate to rinse any debris from the bowl.

I've found pontoon boats that gravity feed the carbs from the fuel tanks higher mounting, continued evap over the winter leaving almost pure oil in the float bowls.

Have absorbent pads in place to catch the fuel spill, adequate ventilation, no smoking, etc.

[Ex-Navy MM2]

my 89 4 cyclinder apparently has "c" type carbs type wmsomething - 3, the only screw i see is on the side of the carb bowls near the bottom(flat head big screws, is that the screws? I have a fully charged battery, i tried many times to run and all it is doing is igniting for a second with a little poof or just cranking, like it's not getting gas.. Do i need to disconnect the engine battery?

[Ex-Navy MM2]

I just found out the big common screw on my carbs is the main jet plugs, and the top carb only feeds the enrichener valve on my outboard, any suggestions on flushing this type?

[Ex-Navy MM2]

Great News !! She finally got up and running, i let it sit for a bit thinking it may be flooded, and it finally turned over, i ran it for a couple minutes, at lowest possible idle and it stalled but fired right back up the first time several times, i tried it. Thank you all for the advise, how do i submit positive feedback or whatever it's call for yall to move up the Mariner ranks?

[Ex-Navy MM2]

One question i have, i never noticed it before from the driver's seat but with the cowling off and standing on the port side of the power head i can hear a kinda loud tapping noise from the top port side of powerhead, and the motor does shake a little, is this o.k? Any knowledge is appreciated...