Evinrude problems

I presume your motor is two stroke. The new ethanol gas is not especially good for older motors, it attacks some components of the fuel system.

If you have ever had water in your tank, your filter can be damaged. Water and the oil in your gas gum up the fuel filter.

If your squeeze bulb has stayed flat, you have a blockage in your fuel tank; there is a strainer in there. Or your squeeze bulb has been damaged by ethanol.

You said the motor took a while to turn off. It must turn off by stopping fuel flow. A faulty float or needle valve can allow extra fuel to be in the float chamber, extending the time the motor will run after the fuel is shut off. Ethanol can cause problems here, too. Some floats are synthetic, not metal, and can be easily damaged.

Fuel additives can contain ethanol, like STP fuel additive, or drygas.

We were able to quickly reinflate bulb before attempting to start motor and it stayed firm until rested for a period of time. Also we have always used premium unleaded fuel not sure if thats better for it.

Check the spark plug and mix ratio. Also premium is harder to ignite so that might be the problem.

If it takes a while to stop, I would suggest the mixture is rich and the head/plug is carboned up and the glowing embers are keeping it running. Pull the plugs out and clean them and fix the mixture problem.

If the plugs are fouled with excess fuel, it is unlikely any starting attempts will fix it.

It could be that the float needle and seat are worn and while at rest the fuel leaks into the float chamber (hence the soft bulb), so when you go the start it, it floods. Replacing these would fix this. In a four-stroke and with a cold engine and the choke off, it is possible to clear a flooded engine by cranking the engine with the throttle held fully open. Most outboard engines won't let you do this, using a stop to prevent wide throttle settings in neutral and reverse (for good reason). If desperate, you could take the cover off and manually pull the throttle open (either by the cable or the lever). Just make sure that the cable does not get fouled on anything when it starts as it will rev its silly head off (possibly literally). I would keep my hand on the kill switch if I tried this, to prevent engine damage if it did get jammed open. (I had this on a motorbike once when the throttle cable got snagged on the tank when I was putting it back on - it lived).

I believe this is an improper float bowl adjustment issue...

Before embarking on major surgery, just check that the fuel tank vent is operating correctly, I had a very similar problem with my Johnson outboard and thats what it turned out to be, after spending a small fortune having the boat yard overhaul the engine !

Good luck

Just on the off chance it helps - but in the automotive world there is the saying, "90% of carburettor problems are in the distributor!" ....and back to the equivalent for boats. I did have an intermittent start issue, that ultimately turned out to be a ignition module failure (CD ignition many years ago ?).

Is there a chance you are looking at two lots of symptoms:

1. run on because of a cyclidner hot spot via fuel ratio, plug or whatever problems, and

2. heat soak/temperature related ignition problem giving no/low spark when hot.

Is this Motor "sneezing"? After you start it does it make a sound as if it is every now and then "sneezing". It is a noise best described as a sneeze. Sometimes these engines run hot, get some mud in the water intake and the head heats up, it warps the head gasket a little. This allows a small amount of cooling water in the piston chamber(the gasket no longer makes a perfect seal). Which cause the "sneeze" when idling. This small amount of water will short out the spark making it hard to start. Leeds to problems with the Power pack eventually. You can confirm the head is warped by sanding the gasket area on a flat surface and emery cloth. If the head is warped- it will only polish on the two ends

Captain,

Good point on the warped head. This can be easily diagnosed with a simple pressure check of the cylinders. This is especially true on multiple cylinders where you check one pressure against the other(s).

Im with the guest here , if you have had frequent servicing , the tank vent is the first place to check . The motor could be fine but not getting gas after a short run because it cant get gas from the tank .?