1986 35 hp Merc Sputters But Wont Start

[aMeyers11]

Hi everyone. I recently tried to get my 35 hp merc going, but it wouldnt start. It would sputter up and act like it wanted to run for a couple seconds but would soon die. It seemed to backfire and pop quite a bit. Lots of smoke when it started too.(50:1 synthetic mix). I made sure it was primed with vent open. I found that the electric choke doesnt work, but choking it manually didnt seem to make a difference. Priming while starting made no difference. To me it seemed like it was flooding as I had to wait a bit between tries for it to fire. I noticed a little gas coming out of the exhaust. I also noticed a little gas dripping from carb but i didnt see where from though. Is there an idle adjustment screw or a throttle adjustment I can maybe make? Or should I just be going ahead and cleaning and rebuilding the carb? Any help would be appreciated, thank you!

 

[aMeyers11]

Also I should add that I was giving a bit above idle throttle using the neutral throttle button on my controls. I tried many different throttle positions but none kept it going

 

[The Force power]

how old is the fuel, do you get good spark?

 

[aMeyers11]

Fuel is like a couple week old premium(no ethanol) with stabalizer and 50:1 synthetic 2 stroke mix. I did replace the flywheel becuase the previous one was missing magnets. I know it has spark but I havent tested the strength or made sure that it's not intermittent. Bad timing could also be a possibility? I did find the idle mixture screw last night and found that it seemed to be quite far out so that might be why it was possibly flooding. I seated it and went 1.5 turns out. I plan to try to fire it up again tomorrow. I will also check to make sure I'm getting good consistant spark. Thanks for all of the help!

 

[The Force power]

Does this Flywheel only fit one way? key in crank-shaft?
If you did not adjust the timing/advance setting and it worked before; it should now
Did the Stator get damaged maybe? you said you lost magnets

 

[aMeyers11]

The flywheel is keyed onto the crankshaft so the timing should be the same as before, but when I received a new flywheel I had to assemble it. This involved bolting the keyed portion that goes around the crankshaft to the center of the flywheel. I used my old flywheel as reference to see where the key slot should be in relation to the magnets. I believe I got it right but it could be slightly off. I purchased the motor knowing the magnets came off. The previous owner gave the magnets too me but I accidently broke one, DOH! Hence the new flywheel. Previous owner said it ran good before it lost spark. I suppose it is possible the loose magnets damaged the stator? I also noticed with the flywheel off that the stator had a slight amount of rust or varnish forming on the edge. Should I have lightly sanded it? Tonight I plan to try and run it again with the idle mixture screw adjusted. Hopefully the mix was just too rich. But we shall see. If that doesn't go well I will check the spark consistancy and strength. From there I should know ignition or fuel issue? If the spark seems weird I will pop the flywheel off and test the ignition system. Hopefully it checks out though. I will hopefully post back with results tonight! Thanks

 

[aMeyers11]

Alright the wisconsin weather didnt cooperate tonight, so I didnt get to try and run the motor. I did do a little more looking into the electric choke and I'm even more confused now. I'm going to make a new post regarding that. Will post back here as soon as i try to run the motor again.

 

[The Force power]

A slight amount of rust is okay, if you want to clean it....a little wire-brush maybe a better tool to use & apply a small amount of wd40 or such to prevent rusting.
You could also put in some new plugs (look up what are the best one for your motor)