DT-55 Will not Start

[DT55*Issues]

This motor has always been hard to start. Now it will not start at all --- unless some carb cleaner is sprayed into middle carb.

Once running for a few minutes the engine can be restarted nearly instantly throughout the day, sometimes an hour or so between starts.

When engine sits overnight, again it will not start without a another injection of carb cleaner.

[CaptDjob]

So it seems like choke problem, at least to me.

I don't know anything on that DT55 motor, but somewhere there is choke system and fuel line from that to carbs. Take that fuel line out, crank the engine and see if fuel is coming from that line. Depeding of the choke system, you might not even need to even crank it, just activate the choke.

If there is no fuel coming, then there is something wrong with the choke. The workshop manual gives only "Choke solenoid resistance check". Goes like this:

The choke solenoid is located on the starboard side of the engine. It may be positioned at the base of the choke linkage or at the top of the linkage.
1. Disconnect the orange choke solenoid lead at the bullet connector
2. Connect on ohmmeter between the solenoid terminal and a good engine ground
3. If the reading obtained in Step2 is not withing spec listed in table6, replace the choke solenoid.

Table 6 gives value of 3.5-5.1 Ohms for the DT 55 (1988-on)

[DT55*Issues]

Choke solenoid works fine. Fuel pump works fine. Next, I manually operated the choke several times. Surprise, the motor started immediately. I will try again tomorrow to verify this is a fix.

Again, thanks.

Gary