RichnSal
New Member
Hello, in 2021 I purchased a brand new Mariner 3.5hp four stroke outboard for my tender. It worked well all season, I ran it on the best fuel and ran it dry at the end of the season. I started the motor a few months ago, it started well on the choke and ran great under throttle but would not idle. I spoke with the shop i purchased the motor from who said that bad fuel would be the issue and that this was not covered under the warranty. I did some digging around on the internet and decided to take the carb off and have a look for anything obvious. This was a simple job and took 10 minutes. I blew all the jets through with an airline, the whole thing looked very clean inside. The main jet and atomiser tube can be unscrewed and checked for debris, mine were both clear. There is small black a rubber stopper/grommet next to the main jet, I took this out and inside saw a tiny idle jet which was the probable cause of my issues. Using a short length of very fine wire i gently worked it into the jet and eventually managed to clear it through. This jet is tiny and was clogged solid, after another blow though i rebuilt the carb and the motor ran like a clock again. Hope this this helps someone.