ive got an old sears / elgin 7.5 boat motor that wo not start. l put it away 2 years ago and its been sitting since. the day l put it away it started up like it was new.

i tried to start it today with no luck. l pulled the cord about 40 times and nothing, so im wondering what l could do to give it a jump.

remember it ran good when l put it away 2 years ago. its got great compression too.

one thing im not sure of though is whether or not it can be started in reverse. the lever that switches from reverse to neutral to forward is stuck and im not sure why.any help? thanks.
thanks

Not sure, but l do not think it will start in reverse, but it might. Not using 2 year old gas?

Do as much as u can to free the shift lever. Saturation in WD40 might help.
Assuming u have fresh fuel, get a can of starter fluid, such as Thrust. After putting a shot of it in the intake try & start it. If it wo not fire, u probably have an ignition problem. Start tracing it by pulling the plug & pulling the cord while the plug body is grounded. You r looking for a spark. No spark means digging further to find the problem.
If it does kick over then u have a fuel problem. Start looking at taking the carb apart & cleaning it.

There is a reserve on the bottom of the carberator pull it off and clean it out it should work of course like before you should make sure all traces of the old fuel is gone out of the motor

u will need fresh fuel that is for sure.

also, as gasoline evaporates it leaves behind a varnish that clogs up the carb jets. More commonly it is the hi-speed jet that gets clogged & starting is not such a problem, but that could be it.

Check for spark on both cylinders: take a spark plug out, reconnect it to the boot, hold it against the engine block & look for a sharp blue spark while somebody pulls the cord.

If u got spark & compression, & fresh fuel, then the carb will need rebuilding.

no spark, troubleshoot the ignition. start with the points, sorry l do not know the point gap on that motor.

if u can not get it out of reverse, drop the lower unit, see if u can move the shift rod.

ok lets not get crazy here it started 2 years ago so it should start today
1st thing you do is pull the plugs and replace or clean them
next pull out the choke and try to start it
how about the fuel do you have enought to start it ?
fill up tje tank prime the bulb and go for it
remember you need 3 things for a motor to run
spark
air
gas

First of all DON'T EVER USE STARTING FLUID ON A 2 CYCLE ENGINE AS REFERRED BY ANOTHER MEMBER!!
First check for spark, then check ur carb since it sat for 2 years it will prob need drained, then start off with fresh fuel & try to start motor in water. If motor wo not start then u will need to have the carb rebuilt. You can try replacing ur plugs this may help u also.
The deal with it stuck in reverse usually can be corrected by turning the prop & trying to shift the handle at the same time this should free it up to go in to neutral.