Have been having problems with my 2001 merc 15hp 2 cycle engine. Had to take apart the carb and clean it out due to old fuel in system. Put everything back together and after a couple of minutes of adjusting the mixture screw the engine started and ran fine. After about an hour of running it cut (due to a kink in fuel line), however after this was unkinked I could not get the engine to turn over, not even with starter fluid. Thought perhaps it was running hot and overheated, so went back to beginning and reset the idle mixture screw and idle speed screw back to factory specs. At the same time noticed that the idle timing screw is advanced very far ( to the point that the idle wire does not even make contact with the trigger assembly unlnless the fast idle knob is turned clockwise almost all the way). With these settings could not get the engine to start without having the priming knob out or having it turned all the way clockwise..runs extremely rough.. Is there an initial setting for the idle timing screw. It seems to me that with the set length of the idle wire the timing is too far advanced but if i back it off the engine cuts off. Any advice is appreciated.
Try premix fuel oil in a spray bottle or seringe.