Fuel issues 1990 johnson 70

[jcweis1]

Hello - Having issues with the motor slowly running out of fuel. It will idle on muffs fine. When in the water you have to pump the fuel ball about every minute or so just slow idling around and it will pump up hard. I just rebuilt the vro pump and the oil injection is blocked off and electric disconnected. I checked all hose connections and replaced all suspect connections with either hose clamps or the plastic zip lines. the bulb will pump up hard. Tried a friends tank and hose/bulb and still does the same. the fuel line from the pump to the carb lines is not crimped as best as I can see. I did make a mistake of attaching the fuel line to the vacuum port and the vacuum line to the fuel port when I first rebuilt the pump. would this ruin the parts?
Is there a way to check fuel pump operation? Do you think carbs need rebuilt? I ran this motor back in April and it ran fine. Kind of at a loss of what to do next.

[Joe Reeves]

The fuel primer bulb does not stay hard when the engine is running. Normally they're laying on the deck somewhere in a horizontal position, and with the engine running, the fuel level will drop to the halfway mark (Normal).

If the engine will stay running if you have someone constantly pumping that fuel primer bulb (acting as a manual fuel pump), I'd suspect something is not as it should be with that fuel pump.