Re: 1940 Evinrude Mate hard to start…

[jerry-ahrens]

There has to be some sort of packing washer around the mixture adjustment valve. Without it, that engine won’t run, because of the vacume leakage around the shaft of the needle. That may be your fuel leak that you see. Maybe you could bench test the carb, to see if it floods? Try removing carb completely from the motor. Hook up a fuel supply to it, maybe with a flexible line with a clamp, or take off the tank and thread the fuel line on to the carb. Any sort of gravity fed [small in size] fuel supply device will work. Now, when you turn on the fuel you can watch for flooding. Check around where the poppet valve seats. If memory serves, I believe the poppet valve must seal completely, or you will see fuel [flooding] seeping out of the teeny tiny hole that i mentioned above. If you think about it, when you move the mixture knob to ”prime”, you are pushing down on the float needle, while at the same time holding open the poppet valve. This gives a little extra fuel drip directly into the intake of the engine, for the extra fuel for cold starts. I’m thinking that you may be flooding the engine if the poppet valve is allowing fuel to escape when it shouldn’t be. Does this make any sense?