1988 mercury 150 xr4 wont rev past 1800 rpm on the water

ebrich2

Petty Officer 3rd Class
Joined
Sep 5, 2008
Messages
75
i have been having this problem since the first of the year,

1. carbs cleaned
2. new stator
3. new trigger
4. fuel pump has been re-done
5. damaged reed re-placed
6. lync n sync done

did ohms test on trigger and stator, trigger checked out by factory specs, no reading at all on stator, timing checked and re-set to factory specs by mercury service manual.

runs the same with or with out the idle stabilizer!

could it be a bad stator?
 

Chris1956

Supreme Mariner
Joined
Mar 25, 2004
Messages
27,030
Re: 1988 mercury 150 xr4 wont rev past 1800 rpm on the water

It is a symptom of a bad high speed winding on the stator, however, you cite that you have a new stator.

Punch up the stator ohm test at the CDIElectronics.com website, and test your stator.
 

Sunfish12

Petty Officer 1st Class
Joined
Feb 6, 2011
Messages
260
Re: 1988 mercury 150 xr4 wont rev past 1800 rpm on the water

You need to test your entire ignition circuit. Follow the CDI test for your engine. On my engine it ended up being a switch box dropping a cylinder.
 

ebrich2

Petty Officer 3rd Class
Joined
Sep 5, 2008
Messages
75
Re: 1988 mercury 150 xr4 wont rev past 1800 rpm on the water

thanks for all the help guys, it WAS a new stator i installed back in november but with all the trouble i have had with this thing who knows what has happened to it. so far every test i have done points to the stator, even called cdi and talked to a tech rep and he agreed so we will see. thanks again!
 

ebrich2

Petty Officer 3rd Class
Joined
Sep 5, 2008
Messages
75
Re: 1988 mercury 150 xr4 wont rev past 1800 rpm on the water

well it wasn't the stator at all, put another new stator on and the same result, went to the parts store and bought a simple spark tester and discovered the whole port side bank not fireing, installed two new power packs and now shes ready for the water. all cylinders fireing and ready to scream!
 

j_martin

Admiral
Joined
Sep 22, 2006
Messages
7,474
Re: 1988 mercury 150 xr4 wont rev past 1800 rpm on the water

well it wasn't the stator at all, put another new stator on and the same result, went to the parts store and bought a simple spark tester and discovered the whole port side bank not fireing, installed two new power packs and now shes ready for the water. all cylinders fireing and ready to scream!

Might I point out that if you had taken the advice Sunfish gave you in post #3, you would have saved the cost of a stator - the cost of a dva adapter which is always handy around this beast. It also would have taken you much less time.

Proper diagnostics are the fastest and least expensive path to a repair.
 

ebrich2

Petty Officer 3rd Class
Joined
Sep 5, 2008
Messages
75
Re: 1988 mercury 150 xr4 wont rev past 1800 rpm on the water

i agree john 100 percent.
and i knew the stator was going out way back when that's when i really started getting into this thing the first time around so i was gonna replace it anyway.
 

j_martin

Admiral
Joined
Sep 22, 2006
Messages
7,474
Re: 1988 mercury 150 xr4 wont rev past 1800 rpm on the water

You Pm'd me about a problem with your timing. I don't answer tech questions in PM. Put the problem out here so everyone can learn from it.
 
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