Carburetor Flooding, I think?

[electrospit]

I picked up a jon boat with a 2000 DF25 on it that had been sitting without running for ~5 years. So, I thought cleaning up the carbs would be a good idea. I've done that, but now my carbs are flooding. I think. I just did this tonight, and I'm hoping this sequence of events can help someone pinpoint my problem.

Re-installed the carbs, hooked up the fuel line.
Prime the fuel line until the bulb is firm. No leaks (I did have needle valve problems before).
Start the engine. It fires up easy, but, it will not idle. I have to hold the throttle wide open just to get it to idle (roughly). Lots of smoke comes out of the prop exhaust. I can do this indefinitely.
If I disconnect the fuel line, it will continue to do what I've described for maybe 30 seconds - 1 minute. Then the RPMs will come up and run fine, until it runs out of fuel. The smoke is a lot less at this point too.

Tonight, I did everything above, but before it starved out, I reconnected the fuel line. Almost immediately, it went back to the flooded/choking state. Then I disconnected and it ran good again (after a 30s - 1m delay).

Anyone seen this before? Does it pinpoint something? Maybe my float bowl(s) need adjusting? Thanks!

[Solarman]

Did you remove the needle valves, and seat when cleaning? If seat was removed, the float must be recalibrated to right setting.
Did you remove the air-mixture screws when cleaning (record setting before removal for each carb)? Re- install to what service manual recommends the setting, if different.
Once cleaned, did you use compressed air pressure to blow through each tiny hole, in every jet, and every pas-sage way in each carb?

All of these steps/ things are extremely important when soaking/ cleaning carbs.

Identify any trash, or particals you get out of carbs by wrapping with paper towel before blowing with compressed air. This could tell you if something else is breaking down (fuel lines, fuel pump, or trash from gas station?).

Good luck, post back on what you find.

[electrospit]

Thanks!

I did replace the needle valve seat in one carb (the lower one) so I'm guessing my float is not correct. I'll try that next and let you know!

[electrospit]

Follow up: I checked/adjusted all of my floats. Some of them did require adjusting. Once I did that, she fired right up! Thanks for the help!