I have been gifted with a 2.2hp mercury outboard.I had a problem getting it to start but once running it is fine.I was wondering if anyone can help with a few questions:
I think the engine was manufactured around 1989 and wonder if it is possible to get an owners manual for it and if so can anyone suggest where I would get one.
On starting how much choke should I use and also how much throttle.
The person who gave me the engine said it runs on a mixture of oil and petrol on a ratio of 50/1 but when I eventually got it started there was a lot of smoke and I was rather concerned that I used too much oil,(I used 100ml of outboard oil to 5 litres of petrol) I started it in a plastic bin full of water in my garage and ran it for 15mins on half speed but the smoke never cleared.
I know the engine has been well maintained but it has been unused for a long period of time.
Any comments welcome.

The excessive smoke is probably a result of the evaporation of mixed fuel that was left in the tank and carb when the outboard was last used. This leaves behind the oil and so the engine will run very smoky until this oil is burned off. This can take quite a while, depending on how much fuel was left in it.

Generally, this will make the engine tough to start because all those old oil and varnish deposits are gumming things up. Do you have the fuel system cleaning product called Sea Foam over there? If you do, this stuff works wonders on this kind of problem, a couple of splashes of Sea Foam in the gas and it cleans up that old goo.

If you drain the fuel tank and carb, disassemble them, and run any parts that are full of goo through a parts washer, you can speed up the process, but this is fussy and takes a lot of time. Personally, I only do this if the engine won't start or run. If it runs, I say crank it up and give it the old Italian tune up by running it until it stops smoking or at least smokes less such that it's acceptable for use.

As far as starting the outboard, every outboard has a way that it likes to be started. You just have to fiddle around until you find it. Some are thirsty and like to be primed a lot, some are very sensitive to flooding and will start with almost no choke or priming. You just have to experiment.

I have a 25 HP Johnson that you almost need to pour gas down its throat to get it to fire. It's cold blooded and therefore LOVES to be primed with lots and lots of fuel, but then it fires up on the first pull. By contrast, I have a 9.9 Johnson that is hyper-sensitive to flooding when cold. You pull the cord twice and away it goes, no choke, no prime, and if you do choke or prime it, it's flooded and won't start for half an hour.

Owners manuals can be purchased, but for Merc it's tough to find them online for free. If you want to order one, I can give you some sources, but I don't know of anyplace where you can just download one.

Before you run the outboard too much, I'd replace the gearcase oil in the lower unit. You want to make sure the gearcase has lube. Also, you probably know this, but just in case I'll mention it. Make sure the water pump is working. Generally, you can tell the pump is working because of the "indicator stream" which is that little jet of water that shoots out the back and side of the outboard when it's running. This shows that the water pump that cools the engine is working. It's very important that the water pump is working properly or the engine can go into meltdown mode.

Grouse

A simplier way would be to leave it in to a main agent to service it,
any of the shops that sell 2 stroke engines or lawn mowers power washers, it will be in good hands and wont cost you the earth,
nice wee engine the mercury, everything grouse said is correct but if your not mechanically minded leave it in for a service.

True, Hobble, but before he does that, I'd suggest running a half a tank of fuel and some Sea Foam through it in the test bin of water in his garage. Since the Merc fires up, I'm betting all it needs is to be run a bit to flush out the old oil and varnish that's built up.

Two stroke engines are marvels as far as thier ability to take all kinds of abuse including improper storage and still fire up after just a bit of tinkering.

Grouse

FG, as usual, speaks words of wisdom on matters nautical.

Goo in the carb and residue in the tank is undoubtedly to blame.

If it continues to be difficult to fire up until this has cleared, try some of this stuff - should be available in Halfrauds or most motorcycle accessory dealers. It's Australian, of course

__________________
Game fish are too valuable to be caught only once - Lee Wulff

Holy Moses, Shuck. From Australia, you say? Surprising, to see such profanity from down there.

I'm sure Shuck knows this with his motorcycle experience, but . . Be very careful when using ether (ie "starting fluid") to crank up two stroke engines. Because the lubricant for a two stroker is hitching a ride along with the fuel, when you run them on a blast of ether, you're essentially running them without any oil.

I've used it to start outboards at -10 F (don't ask), but generally I don't think it's great idea. A shot of ether to get a 2 stroker that's recently been run to fire up is probably not going to hurt because there will be a film of oil on all the moving parts from previous use. But I'd say one shot and that's it.

Shuck, can you get Sea Foam over there? It's a fuel system cleaner and it also cleans up water in the fuel. Fantastic stuff, it costs about double what other fuel system cleaners cost and it's worth even more.

Grouse

Not available in UK, AFAIK. Spoke to a guy from the Honda GoldWing Club here, they imported a case from US for their members (doesn't say much about that particular motorcycle!) and he reckoned it did the trick OK.

Anyone interested in doing the same could contact

customerservice@seafoamsales.com.

__________________
Game fish are too valuable to be caught only once - Lee Wulff

bradex easy start is ether based- but not such a snappy title as the australian product