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Dumb question of the day

Posted: Tue Feb 26, 2019 3:06 pm
by jpmathers
Have any of you ever purchased and outboard motor without hearing it run. Sometimes you can get a read on people and see how they live and it gives you a pretty good opinion of how they take care of their stuff. This is a 2012 with approx 120hrs and he will take 5500... It's a merc 115, Would you even consider that without hearing it run? Have hard time getting my head around that.

Re: Dumb question of the day

Posted: Tue Feb 26, 2019 4:45 pm
by lakerunner
NO

Re: Dumb question of the day

Posted: Tue Feb 26, 2019 6:25 pm
by bansil
lakerunner wrote:
Tue Feb 26, 2019 4:45 pm
NO
X2

I did it but!! I did compression check and a glutton for punishment, needed carbs rebuilt, gaskets and reed valves...runs great now...BUT...I did the work myself.

Can you rebuild an engine? Is time free? Run away and dont do it...a 30 gallon barrel and water is cheap

Re: Dumb question of the day

Posted: Thu Feb 28, 2019 8:16 am
by FLOUNDERPOUNDER225
never.. they can be stellar people and their house and cars look like showroom; and they are new boat owners that know nothing about boats and that engine had 2 operating speeds.. OFF and WOT.

Re: Dumb question of the day

Posted: Thu Feb 28, 2019 9:15 am
by jpmathers
I guess this was really more of a rhetorical question with the sellers expectations. This is the third motor of I've called about that was already on a pellet and they couldn't understand why I wouldn't just buy it. I finally got 2 of them to agree to run them if I make the drive to look at them. Trying to find a decent motor at a decent price is a PITA.

Re: Dumb question of the day

Posted: Thu Feb 28, 2019 12:08 pm
by kelley2403
No way.

Re: Dumb question of the day

Posted: Thu Feb 28, 2019 2:55 pm
by boocat
Off and WOT,,, sounds like the bass section at the Texas fishing forum worshiping at the alter of the hole shot.

Re: Dumb question of the day

Posted: Thu Feb 28, 2019 4:47 pm
by bansil
Borrow a compression tester from vato zone, watch youtube videos and do that BEFORE running it while it is cold. 2stroke is different than 4stroke.
Biggest thing is making sure they are all close to same.

Bring a can of cylinder fogging spray incase numbers are low if they let you fog cylinder that is low and numbers come up probably ring wear, if not head surface or valve issues.

Also borrow a lighted bore scope if you can, to look down cylinders and throttle plates.

Youtube the stuff i have mentioned to learn

On 2 strokes cold I dont like under 90 lbs, remember to bypass ignition system by using a hand held starter switch, this means you can crank engine with ignition switch off and all plugs out and electric fuel pumps etc on

See how much is involved? And we haven't got into oil and fuel systems on outboard

We are here for support, ask questions, there are no dumb ones

DISCLAIMER, i was/am vague due to not writing a book, steps have been left out. ..research research

Re: Dumb question of the day

Posted: Fri Mar 01, 2019 4:10 am
by jpmathers
Thanks to all who gave advice. I'm new to this whole outboard pontoon thing, tons of info on this forum.

Re: Dumb question of the day

Posted: Fri Mar 29, 2019 10:04 am
by Gonefishing
No and I would not buy a used motor that wasn’t on a boat so I could test it under power on the water. My reason is this I purchased a boat and motor. However I didn’t test it out in the water. Just connected it to,muffs and ran it all,worked great. I thought, made the purchase was happy had a boat. First time out started up ran great gave a little gas all is fine. All,fine till I tried to,add power then nothing just would die down. Took to shop found out motor wasn’t worth being repaired. While live and learn.

From then on buy new or from a boat shop with a warranty. Now that is just me

Re: Dumb question of the day

Posted: Fri Mar 29, 2019 10:14 am
by luckydogs
No, uh-uh, nope, nah, no way, out of the question.
I think you get the gist, but just my opinion