groundloop
Active member
...I did find out the reason the prime bulb would never get hard, the water separator unit was clogged up....
You've probably seen enough suggestions from everyone here to last several years, but I read through this thread and the deal with your filter/separator leaps out. I had a run-in with bad gas a couple of years ago, it took a LONG time to get it all out of the system even after I had put fresh gas in a portable tank and hooked it up. The engine would run for a little bit then shut off. Start it back up, run for a bit then shut off. Start it back up, run for a bit then shut off. After a while of that I started to convince myself that my problem wasn't the gas so I did a bunch of other stuff, none of which did any good. Finally after God had laughed at me long enough the engine would run longer and longer each time, until finally it would keep running.
I know how frustrating engine troubleshooting can be, I was ready to call the guy I bought that boat from and cuss him out for ripping me off. Good luck, and hang in there.