Re: general fuel question
Actually, I'm afraid I have to disagree with that. The old inline carbs have very wimpy float valves. It's actually not at all hard to overcome them with a decent primer bulb. In fact with the motors that are pretty worn out, that's about the only way you can start them. For every other motor I can think of, you shouldn't be able to overcome the float with the primer bulb.<br /><br />If you have a timing light, you can flash the inside of the carb throat and see a pretty obvious stream of gas shooting out the tube in the lower middle of the carb when the motor is running. You should see the vast majority of it going in towards the motor. Some will also spit back, but the amount should be very small. If it were significant, that would mean a bad reed.<br /><br />The problem you are describing is common with inline Mercs with a lot of hours on them. The reed blocks inside the motor wear and leak between cylinders making any attempt to run them in the water difficult. They can run great on muffs all day long, but as soon as you get some exhaust back pressure, they fall apart. Unfortunately the only cure is an overhaul. But don't assume that that is the problem. It could be a few other things as well. You'll want to repost under the Mercury heading, but I'll bet a moderator will be around to move you anyhow. In fact I'll alert them.
