2005 Mercury 50 hp 2 stroke {won't idle}

[Fred Reed]

Runs perfect and idles in gear,but went I pull in back to neutral it will stumble and die. Fires right up and with a quick shift into forward all is well,but again when I pull back to neutral it will stumble and die?

Do I need a carb cleaning or is there something else I could try first? Can the idle be increased slightly if so where? Thanks

[CharlieB53]

lol, usually it's the other way around, a dirty carb goes lean on idle mixture, idles fine then dies in gear.

Yours may be running a bit too fat, either a carb flooding or a pinhole in the fuel pump diaphragm flooding the cyl that drives the pump.

With the motor OFF and trimmed level, shift into Forward and open the throttle wide, pump the primer and hold it while looking into each carb throat, any fuel showing? Shouldn't be any.

Is the primer staying firm while you hold it? It should not leak down any, if so then begin to suspect the fuel pump.

Remove the fuel pump, check the crankcase side for any raw fuel leaking past the diaphragm.

[Fred Reed]

Inspecting the fuel pump, I found a broken plastic elbow that screws into the block it connects by hose to the top of fuel pump. What I noticed was that that the fitting and hose line were damaged from being Hot. And leaking exhaust air out the broken fitting with engine running. Why would that fitting and hose line be getting HOT??? Replaced fitting and hose but it is still get to hot. Question could this be a faulty fuel pump causing back pressure and heat,causing engine to die at idle speed? When engine dies at idle I noticed back pressure in the oil tank and thru the primer bulb? Please need advice .