? on Starting my boat

[lmholmes11]

Hello all, i am new to boating and bought a 1992 Rinker Captiva 206 with a Mercruiser I/O. When starting the motor cold, the previous owner said to push the throttle back and forth a few times before cranking, then push in the "Throttle Only" botton and push it forward until it stops (not all of the way on full throttle) then turn key to start. My question is what does pushing the throttle forward and back do? Just gets gas in the carb? Also, how long do I leave it in throttle only mode before switching back to the regular mode? And this is just for cold starts correct?

 

[TilliamWe]

Re: ? on Starting my boat

You have slightly mixed up what he said. First thing you should do is to push in the throttle only button, and pump the lever a couple times. This squirts gas into the intake manifold through the accelerator pump. Don't pull the handle all the way back up straight, leave it forward, so the button stays in, but you aren't actually opening the throttle to the carb. (You'll feel it in the handle) Then crank the engine. When it fires, if it starts to stall, you can then push the throttle lever forward a little to keep it running. When it will idle on it's own, with no help, you pull the lever back straight up and down, and then you are ready to go.
It might need some help on hot starts too, but yes, for the most part, this is for cold starts.

 

[Bondo]

Re: ? on Starting my boat

Ayuh,.... Welcome Aboard,... The 1st motion to Wot(Full throttle), sets the auto-choke to "On", 'n the 2nd gives it another shot of Gas....

Like Tilliam,... I pull the button, before I start/ do anything...