Primer bulb gets soft, but starts with choke on?

[ricohman]

I took my first boat out for a ride today. I had a great time and I am hooked.
But when we went to put it on the trailer is stalled while my buddy was driving it around at slow speeds. We ran it a trolling speeds in the afternoon without trouble.
The 4cyl 80hp (1983) eventually fired up but only if I held the choke on. It wasn't flooded as it idled very nice. But the primer bulb kept getting soft. Took it for a blast and it ran to the dock without any trouble.
The tank is very old and the lines are the same age. The P/O said that he needed to pump the bulb once in a while as the motor would stall.
Would I be better off replace the tank and line before rebuilding the pump?

 

[Coloradolakeboy]

Re: Primer bulb gets soft, but starts with choke on?

You may have to do some or all of what you have mentioned, but start off with this diagnostic first.
http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?t=283363

This is actually what Merc says to do. Hkeiner found the Merc bulletin and it is the same (to me?)
the primer bulb will go soft during operation, but it likes to be placed in a vertical position. You would be best to just replace it with a Merc bulb (Not aftermarket) On a cold start, pushing in the key to choke is what I do.

 

[ricohman]

Re: Primer bulb gets soft, but starts with choke on?

You may have to do some or all of what you have mentioned, but start off with this diagnostic first.
http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?t=283363

This is actually what Merc says to do. Hkeiner found the Merc bulletin and it is the same (to me?)
the primer bulb will go soft during operation, but it likes to be placed in a vertical position. You would be best to just replace it with a Merc bulb (Not aftermarket) On a cold start, pushing in the key to choke is what I do.

I installed two new plastic fuel tanks, new lines and fitting. Starts and runs fine. The primer bulb does not stay completely hard like it would when disconnected but the motor seems to run fine.
I am going to take it out to the lake tomorrow and see. I still don't think its the fuel pump as it runs great wide open or in between.
I am going to try and keep the bulb in a more vertical location also.