Hard starting after standing for a long time on trailer 3.0 liter 4 merc

[MyLord]

My 95 merc 3.0 liter has a mechanical fuel pump that takes a long time to pump fuel to the engine after standing for a long time without running. I don't have a water front and need to trailer between runs. Is there any way to get fuel to the carb a make the engine start without a lot of grinding the mechanical pump.?

a mod , or an electric fuel pump?

thanks

 

[chs marine service]

the fuel should stay in the line from the pump to the carb, also the carb should retain enough fuel to fire the engine. you may have a carb issue that is allowing the fuel to leak into the intake manifold over time, that being said, you may also have a problem with the fuel pump wich is allowing the fuel to bleed down and out of it.
after it has sat for a while , pull the flame arrestor and disconnect the throttle cable from the carb, look down the throte of the carb and see if their is fuel shooting out of the jets when you manipulate the throttle linage on the carb. if no fuel is present, you should have a carb shop take a look at it. ,

then the fuel pump: again, after sitting for a period, disconnect the fuel line that leaves the pump and goes to the carb. while your taking the line off, fuel should be leaking out, if not, i would change the pump.

 

[jimbo_jwc]

I just pull the flame arrestor and use old gear oil bottle of gas and pour some in the large open vented fuel bowl . It will evaporate fast from heat in covered boat , it happens to mine after about 2 weeks of non use .My 1987 3.0L MCM has a oval opening next to the center screw and reinstall flame arrestor before starting .Its saved me a few starters over the years .

 

[2550SX]

Which carb is on the boat? My last two boats had quadrajets and I could let the boat sit for a while and they would usually fire pretty quickly. My new (its a 1992 so its new to me) boat has a AFB style carburetor and it wont go for more than a few days without gas evaporating. I had to crank and crank it to fire up. I don't like the thought of that much cranking when the starter is buried between the transom and stringer. So I bought one of those squirt bottles with the narrow tip used for ketchup you typically see at hot dog stands with checkered table cloth, yeah you know what I am talking about. I think I got it at the dollar store for... $1... I put a couple ounces of gas in it before I drive to the marina and squirt about 1oz down each vent and the boat fires quickly.

I don't know what you have but I assume a quadrajet? The quadrajets with the divorced choke should have a straight vent tube you can prime like I do. The quadrajets with an electric choke are supposd to have a J tube pointing into the barrel opposite to the electric choke so I wouldn't know how to prime one of those suckers. For some reason the CG mandates this J tube on quadrajets but not AFB carbs.

I see a bunch of posts in this section about hard start problems. As many technological advances are making things better in this world gas is getting worse. The EPA does not care about us folks with carburetors any more. Gas evaporates too quickly now a days.

 

[Scott Danforth]

first, define long time? are we talking hours, days or weeks.

if its hours, your dealing with a leaking anti-siphon valve and a dirty or leaking carb - the corrective action is to fix your broken fuel system.
if its more than a few weeks your dealing with evaporation. - the corrective action is to fire it up on the muffs.