mercury outboard issues

tfox

Does anyone here have experience with Mercury outboards.

I have the lend of a 10yr old 8hp 4-stroke short shaft and my boss had it out at the wend and it started fine but after a while it died, when he went to start it he said it felt tight so he just rowed back !!

HAd a quick look and cudnt find any obvious dipstick or indication of oil level on it

Anyone know where I shoulod look or where I would find out more info on it ?

Many Thanks

Thomas

Caribs

Sounds ominously like a similar experience I had with my 2 stroke recently. It might be that your water pump has become blocked which in turn causes the engine to overheat. Pistons overheat and swell in the cylinders which means the tie-pull jams.

If you do a really good job of it like me you get to melt the thermostat and lots of other bits. I was lucky that I only needed to replace the pump as the local dealer has a spare thermostat and so far there doesn't appear to be any other damage. Not sure how familiar you are with engines but you might need to get it into a dealer and see can they work the pistons free with some lubricant and hopefully the gasket seals haven't been busted.

Not the news you're looking for I'm sure :eek:

tfox

Lucky enough he knew enough about engines to stop using it when it felt tight.

Had a quick look at it the other evening, the engine will turn when I pull the cord so hasnt seized. Will check the impeller isnt blocked at the wend,
Was intrigued that I couldnt find an obvious oil level indicator or even somewhere to top it up ?! Only thing with oil level on it was the gearbox, it hardly uses the same oil and pumps it up the shaft to the engine ?

keppler

tfox wrote: »

Lucky enough he knew enough about engines to stop using it when it felt tight.

Had a quick look at it the other evening, the engine will turn when I pull the cord so hasnt seized. Will check the impeller isnt blocked at the wend,
Was intrigued that I couldnt find an obvious oil level indicator or even somewhere to top it up ?! Only thing with oil level on it was the gearbox, it hardly uses the same oil and pumps it up the shaft to the engine ?

No lad, gearbox would contain gear oil, completely different to engine oil. just buy a new impeller you should change it every season anyway

coolwings

Chances are if you remove the hood, there will be an oil filler cap visible on the side of the engine block.
Not familiar with Mercury 4-strokes, but I'd bet there is a plastic dipstick projecting out from the inside of the cap, so when you remove it you instantly see the oil level.

tfox

Had the hood off when I first had a look at it, cudnt find any filler cap, dipstick, level indicator on it ?!

Will have to see if I can source a manual somewhere :rolleyes:

bayliner

my own yamaha15 (1988 model) is in the shop:(, will run fine for 20min or so then dies and wont start for hrs! think its electronics, seems as if when warms up she dies, something cuts it out! lucky enough have honda 4 stroke for the mean time,
i had a problem with that engine before when it would die after some time and it turned out to be the cylinder head gasket had a tiny crack in it but dont think it got tight?! at times i rem mine shuddering and getting hot when water cooler got blocked so just clear it and its fine, just need to keep eye on it really,
good luck with your mercury, i hope it isnt too serious