18 hp mercury

[haynes]

can anyone please help me out i have an 84 mercury 18 hp i have had it for years and it has never really ran great so put it up for a while now want to try an get it running again the problem is it will not idle or run for that matter unless you are manually squirting gas into the carb but when you do the motor runs great i mean really strong i have put the motor in the shop a few times over the years for tune up but shortly thereafter everytime it would start doing the same thing i really like this motor and would love to preserve it does anyone have any idea what could be wrong

 

[Barnacle_Bill]

Re: 18 hp mercury

How long has it sat without being ran?

 

[haynes]

Re: 18 hp mercury

maybe two years or so, see this has been an on going problem with this motor i have put it in the local shop three or four times and every time it would run strong for a couple of outings and then start acting up again as if it wasnt gettng fuel. so finally i just hung it in the shop and bought another one recently decide to get it out and play around with it, i would spray gas in the carb and it will crank right up and go dead, it will run strong as long as you are spraying gas in i figure it has to be somthing simple it just runs and idles to good as long as you are spraying gas in thank you so much for your reply

 

[Barnacle_Bill]

Re: 18 hp mercury

Since it has been sitting that long I would rebuild the carb and fuel pump.