1978 mercury hard starting when cold

J

jimg984

Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Jul 16, 2007
Messages
403
1978 115 HP hard to do a cold start... after running for short period of time starts great..... the electric choke works good, on this model only two of the three carbs are factory equiped with choke plates... also this model doesn't have a fuel enrichment sytem....can spray gas into carbs starts great... anybody got informant how to make this better?
 
M

Moody Blue

Captain
Joined
May 24, 2004
Messages
3,136
Re: 1978 mercury hard starting when cold

Unfortunately that is the nature of the beast. The old Mercs are notoriously hard to start cold.

Check that the choke plates are closing fully when activated. Squeeze the primer bulb till hard, move the fast idle lever to the 12 o'clock position then crank it.

A weak battery won't help.
 
J

jimg984

Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Jul 16, 2007
Messages
403
Re: 1978 mercury hard starting when cold

ths moody blue for your reply....found out today to not use the cold start lever leave throttle plates closed and choke until it pops/its a lick... then open the cold start lever and choke,, it fired right up got this from a shade tree mechnic...ths again
 
M

Moody Blue

Captain
Joined
May 24, 2004
Messages
3,136
Re: 1978 mercury hard starting when cold

That's something I haven't tried before. I'll give it a try next time I'm out. Thanks for the tip.
 
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