Hello,<br /><br />I have a Mercury 60hp inline 3 cylinder outboard, I believe to be a 1993. SN OD211448. I am new at outboards, but have some motor experience. I started by checking the spark and found it to be visually good. I could not make the motor start on its own while hooked up to a portable gas tank with fresh 50:1 gas. I checked the compression and found 106-96-106 from top to bottom. I injected new 50:1 gas into the three cylinders and cranked the engine while putting water into the water intake. It ran briefly on this gas. I then found out that this engine has a solenoid that allows gas to flow directly into the three carbs. I pressed this button and cranked the engine. It started and ran roughly at a manually held partial throttle. It would not idle. I noticed gas spitting out from below the crank case and upon reading further found that it was missing a hose that connected the bottom of the crankcase to the top main bearing. I added this hose and the engine ran more smoothly, but still not at idle. I did all the syncronization and preliminary carburator settings, but still could not get it to idle. Then I read that the timing might have to be adjusted. I loosened the idle timing screw and adjusted it a little. The engine stoped running and I have not been able to get it to run at all since. I hooked up a timing light and set the timing to 2 degrees ATC as the book stated, but no help. When cranking, there is no firing at all unitil I get one bang and a whoosh of blue vapors or smoke out of the center of the prop. It is not backfiring through the carbs. I have disconnected the fuel and tried to get it to start thinking it is flooded, but no firing except the one bang and whoosh. It ran for a significant amount of time and now it doesn't and that baffles me.
<br /><br />Dissaemble and clean the carbs. Prolly clogged from sitting. Put a fuel pump kit in it for good measure ($14).<br /><br />-W