A friend of mine was just up at Canada and a big storm hit leaving his 40 hp Mercury submerged for 3 hours til he could get it out. Here's what he did, got it out of the water and took the plug out and turned it over, spraying the water out of the cylinders. Said he wiped it off, drained the fuel from the tank, installed new and it started fairly easy with a shot of starting fluid. He then ran it on the lake for about 45 minutes and said it worked great. THEN al at once it just died and wouldn't start. Now there's no spark. First of all it's a 1982 and does that have points or power pack? Could something have shorted out? Maybe if he removes the flywheel and spray everything down with WD-40to aid in removing the moisture. I don't know, never had this happen but I did tell him he should've oiled the cylinders good and he removed the water. NOW WHAT?
