Pontoon Boat & Deck Boat Forum

howdee . have new /old topic.

i have what i thought was a 1987/50hp classic merc based on decals and the cowling ( wrap on the motor just encase my verbiage is wrong LOL ) but was told its a 45 hp based off the ser. no.

any way the motor seems to crank ok , but after running it a bit and it gets plenty warm or hot from going across the lake , and i want to move from the current fishing hole it doesnt do as well at least once i thought i had smelled gas which implied it had flooded .

i am also unsure if its opening all the way up at full throttle because i cant hear the motor that well because of its location . where would you start looking first , other than just takeing to a boat shop .

Based on the minimal experience I have with outboards....always the freakin' carbs

MPosey519 wrote:Based on the minimal experience I have with outboards....always the freakin' carbs

+1000000000


Yep they need a good cleaning! Carb cleaner and speaker wire clean out all the jets, gasket kits wouldn't hurt either.

My experience...

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=5743&p=39014&hilit=carbs#p39014

Run some sea foam through it, if that dosnt clear it up then its rebuild time.

MH Hawker wrote:Run some sea foam through it, if that dosnt clear it up then its rebuild time.

That's where I would start.

Ok from what you said the carbs don't concern me as much as the fact you said it gets hot. How do you know this a guage or the water out of the pee hole ? If your motor is getting hot your going to burn it up and it will not run as it should. Make sure your water pump is working. If you haven't changed the impeller in a few years change that and see if it runs cooler. The carbs probably need to be done. There is no such thing as a mechanic in a can so adding some thing to your gas most likely won't solve your problem. When was the last time the plugs were changed ? I would first make sure your running cool that's most imprtant becasue you can't tune a motor thats running hot. Check your plugs see what color they are. Are they white (running lean hot )or wet and black (running rich or flooding) ? You can learn alot from checking those you should have a nice toasted brown color. The carb kits are cheap so I would just eliminate the issue and rebuild them if it's been a while since it was done. If you want to save money you can pull the carbs your self and have them done. I just sold your same motor in a 1983 50 it was a very smooth running motor when it's tuned up properly. Good luck and keep us posted !

Liquid Asset wrote:Ok from what you said the carbs don't concern me as much as the fact you said it gets hot. How do you know this a guage or the water out of the pee hole ? If your motor is getting hot your going to burn it up and it will not run as it should. Make sure your water pump is working. If you haven't changed the impeller in a few years change that and see if it runs cooler. The carbs probably need to be done. There is no such thing as a mechanic in a can so adding some thing to your gas most likely won't solve your problem. When was the last time the plugs were changed ? I would first make sure your running cool that's most imprtant becasue you can't tune a motor thats running hot. Check your plugs see what color they are. Are they white (running lean hot )or wet and black (running rich or flooding) ? You can learn alot from checking those you should have a nice toasted brown color. The carb kits are cheap so I would just eliminate the issue and rebuild them if it's been a while since it was done. If you want to save money you can pull the carbs your self and have them done. I just sold your same motor in a 1983 50 it was a very smooth running motor when it's tuned up properly. Good luck and keep us posted !

I agree, get a new water pump on pronto.

hey guys , great advice all , but i need to be a little bit clearer in what i posted . this is my bad . what i meant was that when she is warmed up completely and not from a cold start does it want to start hard .

but yes i need to check all these items you have mentioned . i recon the first thing i need to buy is a book on the motor .
as i got the boat thru a trade off on some work i did for the previous owner which because of how it ran is why i got it so cheap , or at least i think it was cheap. if i had to put a cash value on it as far as my investment it would be $2500.

another question if i may , will the book i get help in hooking the gauges up such as rpms, trim,temp , etc etc ?

A manual will show what gauges you can hook up to that motor. At that age and horsepower you might not have the wiring to hook up all the gauges you mentioned. E Bay has sellers of older manuals but some of them are on a CD instead of paper.

I used to have a 79 50hp merc and it would flood easy. Are you choking the engine while warm starting? Try not choking. Also try starting in the high idle position.

Check this site for your book. They have a LOT of the Merc books available for free


http://johnsoldmercurysite.com/whitepapers/manuals/

MPosey519 wrote:Check this site for your book. They have a LOT of the Merc books available for free


http://johnsoldmercurysite.com/whitepapers/manuals/

tried going to the link you posted . link was bad , could you check it and re post please .

well hells bells...they took them down, sorry I should have checked the link before reposting. Someone over at that forum might still have them cached somewhere