won't start

water beetle

Recruit
Joined
Jul 30, 2003
Messages
4
motor ran fine till i stopped to fish,now it wont start.Cranks over but thats all.Ball on tank line has pressure.Plugs look ok, what could be wrong?<br />40H.P. Mariner 1980
 

Mod2

Senior Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Jun 19, 2003
Messages
713
Re: won't start

Water Beetle....I'm going to move this to Mercury/Mariner forum. You should get answers there.
 

ehenry

Commander
Joined
Jan 6, 2002
Messages
2,393
Re: won't start

Gotta have fire and fuel to run. Check to make sure you have fuel coming from the fuel pump to the carburator. If you have fuel to the carb then check you fire. Make sure your kill switch lanyard hasn't popped out.
 

greasemonkeyozi

Petty Officer 1st Class
Joined
Jul 16, 2003
Messages
282
Re: won't start

Yes do make sure your lanyard isnt tangled on something, I made that same mistake on a lake about 6 miles out by myself. After 3 hours of cussing, checking plugs, wiring, i noticed that. I felt so stupid.<br /> (1)Disconnect your fuel line from your carborators. Have someone try to start your motor while you look to see if the fuel pump is forcing fuel to your carbs. If not, you can rebuild your fuel pump for cheap. A fuel pump diapfram sould be around $4.00 to $10.00. (2) Inspect all of your fuel lines from your fuel tank to your carbs for any type of possible fuel leak. If there is, that means your fuel system is taking on air.Look real close to where your fuel line connects to your motor. Sometimes, the o ring goes bad in those things. It will be leaking if it was. Make sure your bulb is working right also. You can buy all these fuel line parts at wallmart to save you some running around. Also, it wouldnt hurt to put hose clamps on all the connections to make sure everything is sealed.(3) disconnect your spark plug wires from your plugs. While someone tries to start your motor, hold the plug wires close to the motor and look to see if its getting any spark. Check all of them. (4) Could have trash in your carbs. If everything else seems ok, remove your carbs from your motor. Take them apart and look for any kind of trask. Take your needle out, and blow on the fuel line, or where the fuel line connects to. You should be able to blow through there. If not, thats your problem. You can use a wire or something to clean that out. Its alwats a good idea to take the carbs off once every year to clean them out. Spray the hell out of them with some carborator cleaner. If you damage the gaskets upon removel, you need to replace them.<br /> Let us know how it goes, Good Luck.
 

water beetle

Recruit
Joined
Jul 30, 2003
Messages
4
Re: won't start

Thanks for your help,this is what i did i sprayed fuel into the carb and it started, but would not hold a idle, so i ran some fuel injector cleaner through it for about a half a tanks worth. Installed new plugs and new fuel and it seems to run fine now. havent taken it out on the lake yet,but keeps running in the water tank at home,what do you think?
 
Top