Smokey Outboard

[robmcg]

I have aquired a Mercury 2.2 2 stroke outboard as a spare. The engine starts fine on first pull and runs well but is a bit smokey. As it is running on the fuel it had when I got it, is the most likely cause too much oil in the premix? The petrol does look quite green compared to my mariner 2.5. Is this the most likely cause, or should I be looking elsewhere?
Thanks /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[Lakesailor]

You should be dumping the fuel and putting some fresh 100:1 mix in as a first test.
If you still have a lot of smoke it could be rings (broken or stuck), but it wouldn't start so easily if that were the problem.

 

[johnalison]

I've just run mine in a water-butt without prop and it was quite smoky. My trained assistant tells me that he found the same thing with his, but it ran normally under load. Agree re fuel though; you'll only get plug-grot with old fuel.