Pontoon Boat & Deck Boat Forum

Hey guys I got a problem with my little mercury 40. It's on a 21' 2002 tracker, it performs great, runs fine, goes all day. Problem is when we beach it for a couple hours and raise the motor up it looses its prime and won't start right up. I pump the bulb and choke it and fast idle and eventually it starts back up and runs fine. We did kind of a test this week and left the motor trimmed all the way down for five days started right up no hesitation, trimmed it up and let it set for two hours and lost prime ( I assume) Re primed with bulb, fast idle and it started. I'm afraid I'm going to drain my battery and be stranded some evening on the beach. I've had the boat three years and this is a recent development. I thought the second fuel filter was maybe leaking out the cap while trimmed up but I replaced it with a new one today and same problem persists. Thinking about taking it to the shop on Monday but I wanted to check with you guys and maybe get some input. Thanks

I think I would start looking for loose connections, hose fittings (maybe the one that goes into the engine). It sounds like your loosing prime when tilting the engine.

Isn't there a check valve in the primer bulb?

^ Like he said, bad primer bulb so too much fuel drains back into the tank?


Have you noticed fuel leaking out into the water while tilted? Perhaps a carb float is stuck and the bowl is draining when tilted?



LC.