I had my boat out on Independence Day, and it cranked and ran fine. Made about a 10-minute run from my dock to my in-law’s dock, killed the engine (1997 25hp Johnson 2-stroke with tiller) for about an hour while we were hanging around and fishing a little. Then I cranked it back up easily and ran the 10 minutes back to my dock. When we were about 100 feet from my dock, I killed the engine so I could show my friend’s 11 year old son how to start the engine, then I was going to let him drive while the boat was idling. But, the motor wouldn’t start.
Luckily we were close to my dock and the wind blew us almost right to it. We paddled up to the dock, and I let it sit for about an hour then went and tried it again. It still wouldn’t crank. On a whim, I disconnected the fuel line at the motor and it cranked right up. Of course, it ran out of gas in a very short time. I reconnected the gas line, and it wouldn’t crank again. I had noticed on a prior trip that the bulb was semi-flat, but everything was running great so I didn’t worry about it. Is it time to replace the fuel line, or could it be something else? Fuel filter maybe? Can I replace just the bulb, or is it better to just replace the whole fuel line? Thanks in advance for any advice.
“You don’t have a soul. You are a soul. You have a body.” - C.S. Lewis
Could be a bad primer bulb as well… try squeezing the bulb with the hose disconnected from the motor and see if you can push gas. If you disconnected the hose from the motor with the quick disconnect, make sure you help there to push in the check valve ball on the disconnect. Also, aim the hose or quick disconnect into a bucket or something to catch the gas and don’t look into it to see if you can ‘see the flow’ like a kid on a water hose…we all know how that works out lol.
Could be a bad primer bulb as well… try squeezing the bulb with the hose disconnected from the motor and see if you can push gas. If you disconnected the hose from the motor with the quick disconnect, make sure you help there to push in the check valve ball on the disconnect. Also, aim the hose or quick disconnect into a bucket or something to catch the gas and don’t look into it to see if you can ‘see the flow’ like a kid on a water hose…we all know how that works out lol.