johnson 15 4 stroke ills..

I have a '04 johnson 4 stroke, it starts and runs fine, but if I shut it off, and try to start again in a few minutes... no go... it has to sit for 15 or 20..but if I pull a plug and give it just a squirt of gas it will start.. any ideals???

If the bulb is soft, that or a leak somewhere else in your fuel delivery system is the problem. Case closed…. With the new gas, problems in fuel delivery easily make up 80% of the issues in an out board. Even more so for older units

..Funny you should mention that !! the bulb is soft, and I squeeze forever, and it doesn't help.... I will try another (known working) fuel line and see how it goes... thats a easy fix, if thats what it is.. thank you so much.. I am open to other opinions...

I have two thoughts... One is easy, the other could be more of an issue... The first is your primer bulb / fuel lines have a leak and are losing prime. When you put a shot of gas or starter fluid into the mix, you are essentially doing the same thing as pumping the bulb. Next time it happens, see if the bulb is still firm. If it is not, there is your issue. The reason it may run well when the engine is running is that the bulb is out of the picture once the motor is running. The bulb's job is simply to get fuel into the engine before you start it. The second one could be bad compression due to a warped head or bad head gasket. Sometimes they have decent compression when the engine is cold, but can lose come compression when the engine is hot. At the end of the day the motor needs compression, fuel, and ignition to start. Since you can get her going with a shot of fuel you can rule out an ignition problem and focus on compression and fuel. Based on your description, the most likely suspect is the fuel line or primer bulb...