Well, my old project boat's power source is an old 1972 Mercury 80hp. I'm
having a problem with it now and am really getting frustrated.

The history, this motor sat for a number of years without starting or use.
Last year I got it started a couple times briefly then it quit and I
couldn't restart it. After messing around with it this year I got another
coil, put it in, and it finally fired up. Since then I've had it going
several times, and even for durations of 10 mins in the water tank. That
was last week.

This week, I have had a harder time starting it, and when I do get it going
it doesn't seem to go for long. Actually, it'll run then die suddenly like
someone unplugged it. Twice today its been like that, and then its a pain
to get it going again. A few times it started right up after it died, but
the most recent try, it started finally, and quit 10 seconds later without
any further success starting it.

What could this be?

Any ideas would be appreciated. Some of the wires on connecting to things
had been cut and fixed as they were all cracked up and corrosion started in
them.. I've unwrapped a good portion of the wires there and spliced in good
stuff to replace the really bad wires.


Thanks
Chris