1985 140hp VRO problems

[StephanZ]

Hello everyone. We received this boat & motor as a project from the previous owner. He told us the motor has not been run in years. (the motor is complete). I changed the water pump, new rebuild kits for the carbs, new thermostats and cleaned all electrical terminals. At the house, she starts with a little help from using starting fluid. Turn it off and restart, beautiful. Take her to the water, and now, hard starting and acting like she is starving for fuel. When I can get her started, she rev's up on her own, and then shuts down like a common NO MORE FUEL problem.Could it be the fuel pump since she is acting strange especially when you engage the lower unit then she sputters out and stalls. I'm gravitating to the fuel pump as one of the problems, it seems that it is working some of the time. (I keep hearing a clicking noise).
But I also feel that the existing wiring harness for the entire engine is old and frail. So the line voltage drops due to internal corrosion. I plan on adding an in-line electric fuel pump to see if that corrects the fuel issue. I will do both a by-pass, and a help to the existing fuel pump. But I would like to change the wiring harness as well. You can plainly see the age of the wires, and how brittle the copper has become. Due to the vast knowlege base this forum offers, should I be looking at another area of the motor I have not mentioned? I do have the Seloc manual for reference. Thank you all in advance.

[terencegriffith]

Yes the fuel pumps fail on these engines and you can verify this by subsituting an electric pump.....But this is a fire risk and is not advised as a permanent solution.....
First make a mix of fifty to one gas and oil ( you do not want to run the engine if the problem is with the oil injection side of the pump)
Situate the electrical pump low down near the gas tank... my experience is that these pumps are OK at pumping gas but are poor at lifting ( meaning that if you install the pump in the engine it may not lift enough gas from the tank).
If the engine runs with the electric pump in place there is a good chance you have identified the problem..... you are now faced with a rather expensive replacement for a new pump....sorry!!!!
GOOGLE Johnson fuel pump problems and you will get a lot of further information..... Good luck...

[StephanZ]

Thank Terence for your direction, we changed all fuel supply lines and the fuel tee, it had a break in it that a hose covered the break. Primed up the fuel system via the bulb, the fuel pump did it's clicks, and she starts well. Bring her down to the ramp, just to see if that stalling persisted, and sure enough, she won't start for no money while in the water. Now I'm thinking it must be a timing issue? According to the SELOC manual, this motor does not have the adjustment brackets and screws the manual says it is suppost to have. So while I try to figure this out, if anyone has any advise, please throw it our way. For conversation sake I did a simple compression check, these are the numbers all in psi naturally. 1. 140 2. 130. 3.130. 4.135 Could the motor be loosing pressure through a seal or gasket? There is a little spray in #2 carb, but nothing I would write home about. But being that this is our first outboard it has been a learning experience for eveyone. Thanks in advance.