I have a 40 HP 4-stroke motor that won't start. The motor sat for several months without running. The last time I cranked it, it cranked right up as always and ran perfectly. When I tried to crank it a couple of days ago it cranked and ran for about 1 to 2 seconds and quit. I know there are issues these days with gasoline getting stale so I disconnected the fuel line where it enters the vapor separator and used the squeeze bulb to pump fresh gasoline through to this point. I could not get to the drain plug in the bottom of the vapor separator so I removed the vs and poured the old gasoline out of there. Before I removed the vs I pushed in on the schrader valve to release the pressure. There was no noticeable pressure here. The gasoline in the vs smelled stale but not heavily varnished. I disconnected the hose to the fuel injection distribution manifold and did detect a varnish smell there. I pumped the vs canister full of fresh gasoline and reconnected all the hoses. Once complete I turned the ignition switch on and paused to give the electric pump in the vs to build pressure. When I turned the key to engine tried to crank very briefly and died. Upon repeated tries it will ocassionally fire but will not crank. I rechecked the fuel pressure at the schrader valve and there still appeared to be none. Based on my limited knowlwdge of this engine I am inclined to believe the high pressure fuel pump in the vapor separator is not working. Any other suggestions? Where is the best place to puchase this part? If this part is bad I believe it could be caused by ethanol gasoline. Are we doomed if we can't get ethanol free gasoline?
Thanks,
Steve Smith
Warner Robins, GA.

run some fuel injector cleaner thru the fuel system and let it sit. try fire it back up again in a couple days. might have to engauge the "throttle only" feature on your control box and pump the gas while cranking. this will give the fuel injectors xtra voltage and may "unstick" em if they r gummed up.