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This motor starting having intermittant issues towards the end of last season, but always started and never left me stranded. Even so I was never fully confident in it, and decided to take it in this season for service. The mechanic is pretty close by my house, and since this is high season he asked me to go through the basics before we take it out for a test drive, saves him time and me money.

I had replaced the external lines a few years ago with the good black fuel line, canister filter replaced last season - no water in seperator, fuel bulb good, no leaks. Found the in-casing fuel filter for the first time - checked it and good.

Took it out for a test run, same issue as last year. Idle out through the no-wake then give it throttle and it falls on it's face. Shift to neutral and rev it up a few times and then it works fine. Gets up on plane and runs fine for a few minutes then begins to lose power. Repeat the neutral rev up action and it it runs fine again. Last year it might run fine for 4 hours or for 5 minutes.

So... back at the dock with the engine cover off I start it up to check the idle and I notice fuel dripping out of the manual primer valve. This engine has the lever with with the pressure valve built in. I lever it back an forth a few times still leaking, and on closer inspection I see a small crack going down through the lever.

I'm hoping that I'm on to something, I always use the solenoid primer to start the motor when it's cold. Anyone experience similar behavior or a cracked primer lever.

Looking forward to a good season...

BTW: This motor has the VRO system bypassed