I'd like to know who designed this

[dthx]

I have a 1986 Mercury 25 HP (0b338109)
Some one please tell me who the idiot was that designed the plastic cowling/idle adjustment/ priming to choke/prime the engine.
Is that the best they could come up with.....what happened to a simple pull choke.....or for God's sakes put a bulb on the engine if choking it doesnt get enoughh fuel in there...Including a syringe would be easier....
AM I wrong that this is frustrating....hard to get to....and not difficult but challenging to get back together.....and while you're putting it back together....you're cussing the guy that designed it....
Someone tell me where I;m wrong....I been wrong before and it will happen again......but this plastic configuration is something ......they had to have an engineering meeting were the guy pitched his design....and listed the injection molded parts you're gonna need.....
I can see it now.....been there...
Good Morning everyone..
"you see there's this plastic piston that has a rifled groove in it and you have to completely take it apart to put it together and then we have to insert a screw to keep it from coming all apart when you pull the choke"....it pushes on a diaphram not under it ...but way around the side of the engine...with a LITTLE tiny plastic pin, that will wear out every season or two....and we're gonna put a little check ball wayyyyy down in the housing....so that if the mechanic drops it....there's NO way he'll find it...."
Design Approved.....Our parts Dealers will love it.

 

[Scott Danforth]

dude, your complaining about a 30 year old design that had a design life of 10 years. most stuff designed in the 80's was designed to be inexpensive. the 80's are also the decade where everything went plastic.

If they made it to last forever, then the company would have been out of business decades ago.

 

[dthx]

Guess so.

 

[MI_Pirate]

I think he has a valid point. The same dumb guys that designed those parts got promoted to designing water pumps and fuel coolers. SSDD....

 

[spoilsofwar]

There is all sorts of stuff designed by the factory, on boats and otherwise, which is totally insane and/or impossible to fix down the line... They don't care.

I have no experience with the particular motor or issue the OP is experiencing, but clearly by his tone, it is a PITA.

I used to have a 99 F150 that made me want to murder whoever disregarded the fact that to access the rearmost spark plugs on the engine you had to be gumby, with about four socket extensions and swivel adapters. Maddening.

 

[Dukedog]

getcha some of tha "heater core" stuff in one of tha late model car/trucks for some REALLY GOOD words!

 

[flyingscott]

I have the 1987 version I like it starts easy big knob I can grab with gloves. Yours is not an 86 by the way 88/89 model. Also they used that basic design for 20+ yrs. Should have got the manual would have made life a little easier for you.

 

[dthx]

Thanks...I know all about the thing now.......had to take it apart so many times that I could put it together in my sleep.
I found out that the primer housing was not true as to flatness...so when I tightened the housing down, it put the little plastic pin in a crooked bind and bent it...so it would not push on the check valve ball correctly.....one of my friends suggested that I file the housing faces flat.......and that did the trick....I might have been putting it in a bind by not tightening the housing down in a careful sequence....
those of you that know this set up will know what I mean.
Thanks

 

[achris]

I worked in the marine engine industry for quite some time, and the issue you are complaining about is but a minor bump. Merc actually has the best record for 'serviceability'. When a design was seen as difficult, in the next model Merc changed it. OMC make a blue, and it's there forever. Case in point, try installing a gearbox on a V4. That shift shaft with its little bend at the top makes it a serious 'word finding' exercise. Or removing the thermostats from below the exhaust cover on the old cross-flow 135. Even when you can see the bolts, it's a 1/12th of a turn each time, and those suckers are 3" long, and there are 3 of them! Then try putting them back! The poppets have springs over them. I actually ended up refusing to take those engines in for service because they were costing me more in time than I was making.

Anyway, off the soapbox. You're all fixed, great....

Chris.....

 

[James R]

These things were designed to prevent the ordinary bod doing it. There is always something that will test you so find a way and be proud when you have done it.
Blue air is standard.

 

[achris]

.....Blue air is standard.

No. Blue air is NOT standard. Get the right tools, get the right service manual and get the right TRAINING (there is a reason why marine mechanics have a 5 year apprenticeship), and all these things get easier. In my workshop, I only ever threw one screwdriver. And that was in many many years of working. And that was more to do with some untrained moron who worked on an engine before I did and put imperial bolts in place of metric ones and they sheared off rather than unscrew out.

Chris.......

 

[dthx]

Thank you all....I had a Chrysler back in the 90'S...a company car.....loved it.....
I took it in one time to the dealership to get a new battery and a have std maintenance issue taken care of..........the bill for changing the battery was over $250.00.....the way the car was designed the mechanic had to take the fender off the car to replace the battery......that's how the car was designed.