Help starting motor that has not been started several years

[lumpy]

My son inherited a boat from my uncle that has not been run for several years. It is a 60 hp 2002 Mercury 2 carburated 2 stroke. Any ideas on what to do before trying to start this motor?

I suppose a new fuel filter would be needed. Anything else we can try before resorting to bringing it in to a shop?

[highlife4me]

What have you tried so far? I would spray some mixed gas in the cylinders, make sure the spark plugs are clean, put some muffs on with the water on and give it a try. It probably will be easier than you think unless there were problems with it before it was put in stoarage. Once you get it running be sure to change the oil in the lower unit.

[lumpy]

So far just put new fuel in the tank, new battery, and try to start it after priming the fuel line with the bulb.

[bobbymalone]

i inherited a boat that hadn't started in close to 15 years. 75h evinrude, 3cyl. I had no idea how bad it was after 15 years, so I did the work myself and spent as little money as possible.

I figured the carbs were full of gas from last time it was run and were left with a gunky residue, so i pulled them off and replaced the gaskets and whatnot. honestly i think it would have ran fine without doing this because the carbs were clean and the gaskets weren't too bad either. I also redid the fuel lines around the carbs because they were looking a little aged and cracked.

I put new plugs in, so cheap why not?

had to replace the starter, the bendix gear was welded with rust.

of course, new filter, fuel hose, bulb, etc. Then it fired right up. Needed a tune though.

after i established that it ran, I dropped the lower unit and replaced impeller, did the seals since i was already in there.

[Ed Carlson]

Replacing old rubber fuel lines was very smart. Older hose gets deteriorated internally and is not ethanol fuel friendly and the new fuels will accelerate the deterioration of the old hose and cause ongoing carburetor or filter screen issues.

A 2002 Mercury very likely is already be rigged with the new hose. Green or gray in color and should say on it if it's rated for the new fuels.

I had a couple older motors and fought this tell I replaced the hose with the new fuel friendly hose, then all was well. Big pain in the keister!

A light shot of 2-stoke oil in the cylinders to wet them and then the mixed fuel should take over from there may be a good plan. Pull the plugs, spin it over, install the plugs and wet run it for a while...then inspect the plugs to be sure they did not fowl up. You may need to tune the carb after you worked on it but let it tell you what she needs first.

Run a good dose of some Sta-Bil Marine Blue formula fuel treatment through the first tank, and keep using it as directed after...very good stuff. It will keep the fuel system in tip-top shape for you.

[Surface Tension]

First check to see if your man overboard switch is connected. Should be a red lanyard attached to it.

Did you choke it? You have an electric choke. Push the key inward then turn the key to start.

As long as you have the key pushed in the choke will be on. Once it starts let the key out. You might have to bump the key once in a while to keep it running till the engine warms.

If that doesn't get you going its time to pull the plugs and see if they are wet or dry.

[lumpy]

Latest update, put oil in cylinders and cranked engine, then gas in cylinders and it fired up and ran, albeit a little rough for 5 minutes before it was shut off. It would not restart unless gas is put in the cylinders though so replacing the fuel filter is next, any other suggestions as to why this happened?

[Surface Tension]

The rough idle could be from the oil in the cylinders and a fouled plug.

Being that it ran for 5 minutes means of coarse its getting some gas.

Or it could be a lean sneeze from not enough fuel.

Did you try choking it like I described?

How long did you wait between the time you shut it off and the time you tried to start it?

[boatfixer]

Replace the fuel filter anyway, but thats not why its not restarting. Frank described cold starting it, try that.

Those can tend to be a bit persnickety anyway. If it still wont start without spraying gas into cylinders the you will likely need to rebuild the carburators. You can always try everybodys favorite "Tune up in a can" seafoam, but you have to get it started and let it run for 10 minutes then let it sit, repeat that a few times. I would caution against running it hard at the lake until its running better because if you have a lean cylinder it may not be getting enough lubrication

[lumpy]

Sorry for being a little late on this, getting info second hand from my son. I'm pretty sure he choked it but it was 30 minutes between shutoff and trying to restart again. I told him to put in a new fuel filter.

He has a new impeller and will put that in too once we figure out this engine thing. I told him not to run it too long before putting the new impeller in. There are some good videos on youtube so that should go well.