I've got a 1988 Crestliner with a 35HP Mercury outboard, electric start, oil injected. It ran fine this year until I pressure washed it to get rid of the grease that had built up from the exhaust.

When I took it out on the lake, it started and ran, but I could not go more than maybe 1/4 throttle. Then, after shutting it off, I could not get it to run again. It would start if the Fast Idle was all the way up, but then it would die right away and it seemed to make a lot of white smoke right after starting. I had to use the trolling motor the rest of the day.

I thought I might have gotten water in the oil tank, so I drained it and put in a quart of fresh oil. I pulled the plugs to check for spark and they were good, but there seemed to be a lot of oil from the cylinder. I replaced the plugs and sprayed starting fluid in the carb, then it started but died as soon as the fluid was burned up. I discovered that my fuel pick up tube had fallen off inside the tank, so I fixed that, but still it will not run. The primer bulb holds pressure, I can start it with starting fluid but it will not stay running.

Any ideas on where to look next? Is there a fuel pump built into the oil tank, or is the motor supposed to pull fuel from the tank?

Your help is appreciated!

If it will start on starting fluid then the carb needs to be removed and cleaned. I would recommend removing the autoblend oil injection system and mixing a 50:1 gas/oil ratio in gas. The autoblend system has been known to fail without any warning and cause serious engine damage.

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Thanks for the advice. It was a bit difficult to get the carb off, but I removed it and cleaned everything, and it looks like the small line going to the top of the float bowl may have come off. The end was stretched out and it wasn't long enough to reach if I cut it, so I replaced the line, reassembled everything and now it's working. I may get rid of the Auto-Blend setup, as I've read about the problems with it recently while I was trying to find a solution to the problem I was having.