Help please
Ok guys i have a 50 hp 2 stroke motor.I go to start it today and she started on the 3rd turn of the key ran about 5 seconds and died.that happened 3 times.I checked the primer ball and squzzed it.It did not come back to form.I then called 3 marine shops 2 said its the fuel line and 1 said something electric.
Any help would be great
If the bulb doesn’t get hard, it could be a bad fuel line or bulb. Easy to replace and not terribly expensive. Might be a place to start.
How old is the motor and fuel lines?
SR
Something to check: my starter switch spring was broke, that allowed the engine to die at any time of the key was not in the correct location.
unhook the gas line, rehook and hold the bulb vertical, from the tank, straight up and down, with the fuel being pulled up into the bulb. bulb should get hard after about 4 pumps and be good to go. if not, then you have a plugged line if it caves in and doesn’t reshape.
to add to what big-g said,is the tank clear full and the vent not open if it has one??? a full tank does not take long to run the motor out of fuel when there is a vacuum on the tank.
another scenario could be that something is blocking the tanks pick up tube,like the tin foil cap off of a oil bottle or seafoam bottle,seen this more than a dozen times in the last thirty years or so.
iowaboy1: You are a fountain of knowledge! Kudos for your contributions and help. 
iowaboy1: You are a fountain of knowledge! Kudos for your contributions and help.
thank you RW,Lord knows I try to pay back all of the help I have had over the years,I didnt get this way all on my own.
Sounds like the primer bulb to me. The have check valves in them to allow the fuel to run only one way. If the check valve is stuck it will give this problem. Like someone else said, aim the primer bulb upwards in the direction of the fuel flow – toward the motor. If that doesnt work, whack each end of the bulb near the connector and see if it suddenly inflates again. Then as a last resort, change out the bulb.
Even with a bad primer bulb, I’d expect the motor to run longer than 5 seconds. More like 20-30 seconds or longer after a few pumps of the bulb. I’m going to toss out another possibility. Bad carb/fuel pump diaphragm. Have had this happen on 2 mercs over the years. Always had this fixed at the shop. Other symptom for this problem is you will see gas/oil spitting out the exhaust port. Both times the problem happened suddenly. No warning. Worked fine one minute, would not start or run the next!
Let us know what you find out. Good luck.
-J.
Well guys it ended up being my anchor was on the gas line.
kudos to you for having the nads to admit to that one!!!!!
thats funny right there!!!
glad it was an easy fix!!!
I’ll bet there’s 100 guys in this site that have done the same thing. Good news, your motor works!
SR
I can’t say I’ve done that before Gabe, but I can say I’ve had one of the three spark plugs pulled out before checking to see if the kill switch was turned off. 
I love cheap fixes!
LOL. The question is did you have to bring it in to figure it out?
I had a weekend ruined once when my motor refused to turn over. On the drive home, it dawned on me. I pulled over on the side of the highway, knocked the shifter back into neutral, and it turned right over. 
I was on the river once and the motor kept bogging when I tried to give it throttle. Decided it was best to take it back to the ramp and call it a day. I get home and find that I didn’t open the relief valve on the gas tank….
..Yup
LOL. The question is did you have to bring it in to figure it out?
I had a weekend ruined once when my motor refused to turn over. On the drive home, it dawned on me. I pulled over on the side of the highway, knocked the shifter back into neutral, and it turned right over.
Same for me except I at least figured it out while I was still on the water. 
Still felt like an idiot!
Here’s my “always check the simple stuff first” story.
I towed a larger Bayliner style pleasure boat one time that waved me over out on Pepin. Apparently their motor had “just stopped” mid-cruise and they couldn’t get it re-started. I asked if they were out of fuel, etc. but dad was convinced it was a more serious issue. Mom was visibly “unsettled” and the kiddos were getting on dad’s nerves so I offered to tow them back to Colville where they’d be able to call a friend and bring their trailer down from Red Wing to load the boat. I was towing with a C-Liner with 175 HP big motor clipping along at 5 MPH and the process was slow and I was starting to think about lost fishing time. We were well around Point no Point when the antics of the kids caught my attention. These kids were bouncing off the walls and all over the boat. That’s when it dawned on me… I throttled down and let the two boats get close to each other. I hollered over to dad…”hey, you checked your kill switch, right?”
I don’t even need to finish the story. Everyone should know how it turns out from here.
Now that i got that fixed i cant get the connecter out of the motor its a 84 mercury im f
Trying to replace the fuel line on it and ut seems to be stuck.any help there fellas thanks for the laughs to 
Now that i got that fixed i cant get the connecter out of the motor its a 84 mercury im f
Trying to replace the fuel line on it and ut seems to be stuck.any help there fellas thanks for the laughs to
Push in and turn to the left??
Back in the mid 90’s I was on Winni for the openor’. 60 horse 2 stroke kept quitting on me at high speeds. Plenty of gas I thought? Whats going on! Leave it to the 80 year old in the boat to find the problem. Breather cap was tight on top of the 6 gallon gas tank. Grandpa looked at me and hollered, “Damn thing nearly sucked me in!”. Yup look for the easy things first…RR
What if she dont push
What if she dont push
How about a photo?
I’ll keep most of my “stupid” stories out today. Innocent, not a chance. That breather valve on the gas tank gets me. Not when I started boating mind you, age 40. Got a few fuel line, kill switch, and plug embarrassments too.
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