difficult starting, dying

[ward dewitt]

I have a couple of problems with my 1995 4-stroke 9.9 hp Yamaha outboard, ser. # F9 9MSHT 6G9 S 009147 Y

1. It is hard to start. I have best results by slowly pulling the starter rope out pretty far, then giving it a hard, sudden ****, and most of the time it will start but frequently will then die quickly, before it really starts to run.

2. At times, after it starts it seems to be "running on one cylinder" (half speed) for a few seconds to a minute or two, and then it will kick in to full power and run fine, at maximum speed, until I throttle down to low speed and/or put it in neutral, when it will die completely.

I have new plugs and fresh clean gasoline.

Any suggestions for easier and smoother starting, and for preventing it from dying when I throttle down to lowest speed and/or put it in neutral?

[boats.net]

Check compression, check for spark at spark plugs. May need to remove and clean carb, fuel pump and filters.

[sherwin]

Like my T9.9, I think the most likely thing is a blockage of the jets in your
carb. Gasahol will dislodge any dirt in your fuel system, and it doesn't take
much to block up these fine jet openings. Probably it is your low speed or
idle jet that is blocked. You may want to try something suggested to me by
Yamaha for cleaning the jets without opening the carb. Take out the air/fuel adjusting screw and put compressed air (they sell this in office supply stores for cleaning keyboards) into it. You may get lucky and dislodge the blockage. If you have not done so already, put a 10 micron
filter in your fuel line and a solvent like Stabil in the gas tank. With Gasahol, it doesn't take long for that gas to go bad.

Sherwin