I recently purchased a 97 pontoon boat from the original owner who had only taken it on the water three times and has an estimated 10 hours on the Nissan 40C 2-stroke 2-cyl outboard on it. There has never been any maintenance on the motor nor winterizing. The only thing the old guy did when he finished one of his three times out was to pull the fuel line out and let it run till it stopped.<br /><br />I just recently put fuel in it and a new battery and it started right up and puttered around the dock for about 5 minutes. Later on that day it would not start for nothing. I kept trying it periodically and after about 20 attempts in about an hour period it fired up. I took it out on the lake and it ran perfect for about 20 minutes. <br /><br />I was running about ½ throttle and started to give it some more and it started to stall and sputter and totally stopped. We were stranded for about a ½ an hour. I made sure it had plenty of fuel and the fuel was pressurized to the engine. I kept trying to start it and it would not start or do anything for about a ½ an hour and then it all of a sudden started to go and it did start and I ran it about ½ throttle and it got us home. Later on I noticed that the fuel tank might have had some rust in it and the fuel was not real clean looking. <br /><br />Any ideas on getting it repaired? I really do not want to take this out on the water again until I know it will stay running. Is this motor worth putting money into?
<br /><br />Outside of the issue and even though it has low hours, the water pump impeller and other rubber components might need to be checked. The original impeller lasted quite some time, but if the original owner started just once without water, its probably in sad shape. I would also recommend doing a decarb, and then replacing plugs (NGKs), and lower unit oil, if you haven't already.