1966 mercury 650 cranking HOW TO?

[iamwill1973]

Ok I bought this motor on a 1973 glastron v178 that was gutted. The engine cranked and idled very well when I bought it, sit for a couple weeks with the motor down, now when I hooked a battery to it it turns over but just will not catch it sounds like it is not really even trying I have it in neutral and the throttle has been tried in different positions with and without choke. After it cools off some more I am going to try it again maybe try and get video of it someone may be able to hear it and advise better than just reading descriptions I guess.

 

[hotrod53]

Re: 1966 mercury 650 cranking HOW TO?

Probably your needles are stuck in the seats and you're not getting fuel. This happened to me about 3 times on my '77 500 Thunderbolt. Remove the starter, pull the carbs, remove the bowl and see if the needles are stuck. If you find it stuck, you'll need a needle nosed plier to pluck them out.

Old needles have a rubber tip, ethanol in todays fuel swells the rubber causing them to be jammed in the seat.... and no, tapping the carb will not get them loose. New needles are ethanol compliant and have no rubber tips.

I run an ethanol treatment and I pull my fuel line at the end of each run. I let my motor run on high idle at the dock before pulling the boat out. The purpose is to burn some of the fuel out of the bowl and allow the floats to lower and drop the needle from the seat. Do not run the motor completely out of fuel, no need to unless the end of the season. Running out of fuel also runs the motor out of oil, probably not a good idea.

 

[iamwill1973]

Re: 1966 mercury 650 cranking HOW TO?

Thanks hot rod but I think it was just not getting enough power from jumpstarting it I finally got it to run idled fine you could tell as soon as I adjusted the cables it popped off. I need to look at replacing the battery cables though they are cracked and brittle, especially the positive one. I am going to take the trolling battery I have in my other boat out tomorrow and try it like that. I mixed the oil a little richer than 50-1 because I wanted to make sure it was enough afterall I bought this engine to replace one I ran out of oil in the res. Would it be a good idea to add marvel mystery oil to the gas also what about carb cleaner? Mainly I wanted to know the procedure to start a 2 lever control motor. half throttle full none little choke no choke unless needed etc.

 

[kazek]

Re: 1966 mercury 650 cranking HOW TO?

Good tip about needles and seats.very helpfuff