1997 mecury 115 have to choke to start

[$BustOutAnotherThousand$]

please help have no more thousands to bust out!! Boat having trouble starting almost sounds like maybe missing at times while running, have to choke then hit throttle and slam into gear to keep running at times. replaced sensors/ fuel pump/stater/switch box/fuse pannels and fuses/throttle cable/did full tune up/oil sensor/ tuned carbs. this is an intermittent issue battery is good and cables, tested compression its awesome runs great on dynatel. Stumped here any suggestions would be greatly appreciated, have at shop and mechanic says its not fuel but im leaning in that direction, one of those things nobody can figure out please help,also my mechanic is certified in mercurys he contacted merc direct and did troubleshooting they were not sure also

 

[The_Kid]

Re: 1997 mecury 115 have to choke to start

Since you have to choke it to start and it won't idle it sounds like a fuel problem to me. You said the carbs were tuned. By tuned do you mean adjusted, or were they torn apart cleaned and rebuilt? If they weren't cleaned and rebuilt then that's the first thing I would do.

 

[murraymtn]

Re: 1997 mecury 115 have to choke to start

This may sound silly but check your firing order. I was having same problem
with my 100 hp merc. The firing order for it is 1-3-2-4. It was wired 1-2-3-4 and wouldn't run worth a penny.

 

[$BustOutAnotherThousand$]

Re: 1997 mecury 115 have to choke to start

firring order is correct thanks thats first thing we checked so did shop, carb rebuild is a no thats one we have tried to put off shop claims carbs dont need rebuild and its pretty expensive to have all 4 rebuilt at $100 per hour trying to avoid that if i can, any other suggestions would be great before i got a $Bust Out Another Thousand$ on those carbs