OK, well I turn to the wisdom of other Mercury owners. I've got a 1998 Mercury 50 hp 4-stroke that has been giving me starting problems now for the past 2 summers. Starts ABSOLUTELY GREAT when cold (squeeze the bulb till hard, up and down once on the throttle lever, and turn the key and it fires right up) but it seems after it's been run for a while (20 minutes) and it's at full operating temp. once I shut it off, 10-20 minutes later when I try and restart it I have difficulty getting it started. Then when it finally DOES start it acts like it's loading up with too much gas. I suspect for whatever reason, the automatic chokes are closing (even when it's hot) and consequently the engine gets flooded very easily. I stored the boat/motor etc all winter in our boathouse on the lake and just like always, when I took it out of storage (first time on the water) it fired right up on the very first key turn (GREAT I THOUGHT). Took off for our first fishing spot (2 miles away) and shut it off. Fished for 30 minutes and wanted to move to another favorite location and had to break out the starting fluid just to get it running again. Then once it starts it takes 1-2 minutes of rough running before it snaps to and runs like it's suppose to. I'm getting to the point that I am considering trading it in on something else. Please advise. Thanks. P.S. Fresh gas, 91 No Oxy gas and new plugs.
