96 Mercury 135hp ticking noise intermident but no fuel starvation?

[BigJeff]

Bought a used boat with a 96 Merc 135hp 3 weeks ago ran it on the muffs and seemed fine, it had been sitting all winter in storage water tested yesterday for a good 30 min, ran fine, sat for 30 min and ran again for 10 min before going to load up and noticed a ticking noise like a transducer out of the water. Seemed steady didn?t change with rmps. I could feel it when I touched the cables going into the motor. I could also feel it in the gas line so I pumped the ball and it went away for a min. then came back. As long as I was pumping the ball a little it was gone. I also couldn?t get the ball to stiffen but I understand that is normal when the motor is running. I did this a couple times and it kept coming back but the motor never stalled, cut out or ran rough. I check the tank vent thinking vacume lock on the tank and that is clear, other ideas I found online are the primer ball check valves, fuel pump diaphragm or carbs. I am going to start by replacing the primer ball tonight but I am a little worried with my first fishing trip a week away. Anything to the fact that it happened only after being warm?

Thanks in advance!

 

[carholme]

Re: 96 Mercury 135hp ticking noise intermident but no fuel starvation?

Big Jeff;

It sounds like fuel pump check valves/diaphram may be a problem.

Do you have the s/n for your engine and I will see if the online service manual is available for you.

Gerry

 

[BigJeff]

Re: 96 Mercury 135hp ticking noise intermident but no fuel starvation?

Gerry,

I am a newbie what do you mean by s/n.. I am assuming manuel and I will have to double check but I remeber there being a couple peices of Merc infor with the packet but no blow out of the motor for parts.

Is the diaphragm tough to change out for a kinda mechanical person?

 

[carholme]

Re: 96 Mercury 135hp ticking noise intermident but no fuel starvation?

Jeff;

s/n means serial number and it should look something like this one:

0G451460

You can find it here:

http://www.iboats.com/basics/serial_number_year.html

or on the top of the engine somewhere will be a plug like this with the information on it:

http://img84.imageshack.us/img84/8224/391496208.jpg

The fuel pump is not that difficult and that is why I want to get you the manual first, so you can read up on the excercise before attempting it, then if you have more questions, you will be able to ask here.

Gerry

 

[BigJeff]

Re: 96 Mercury 135hp ticking noise intermident but no fuel starvation?

Jerry,

OG362631

Ran it tonight on the muffs for a little bit.

The tick/pules seems like its in the fuel line/bulb so the the pump seems likely. The tick/pulse was constant at all rpms but came in and out it seemed more frequent at lower rpms. Could that be a blockage that is clearing or not large enought to hold things back when running faster? Or is this just the pump working normaly? The motor operation seemed fine but I really want to be ahead of any problems.

Should I change any of these first?
primer ball and line (does it need to be genuin Mercury or aftermarket)
fuel filter

 

[carholme]

Re: 96 Mercury 135hp ticking noise intermident but no fuel starvation?

Jeff;

Engine comes up as a model:

1135412SD MERCURY 1996 135

Parts Listing:

http://www.crowleymarine.com/mercury-outboard/1678.cfm

Service Manual:

http://1manual.com/Mercury manuals/Service Manual PDFs/TwoStroke/824052r3/cover.pdf

Scroll down to the bottom of the page and you will see the various engine components in red which you can read online or download to your computer.

That you are able to pump up the bulb and have it disappear momentarily, would tend to indicate something between the bulb and the output of the fuel pump but to verify it installing a fuel pressure gauge inline with a clear line would show fluctuating pressure and if you have any air coming in.

If you are just replacing the bulb and line, get a good one with good line connectors.

Gerry

 

[Faztbullet]

Re: 96 Mercury 135hp ticking noise intermident but no fuel starvation?

Also checjk the anti-siphon valve in tank as if spring is weak/rusted it could cause a click as steel ball reseats.....

 

[BigJeff]

Re: 96 Mercury 135hp ticking noise intermident but no fuel starvation?

Could this have anything to do with the fact the boat hasn't run since last July/early August? I know I am running older gas with stabil in it.

I also have some fuel additavs to add in to help remove carbon deposits should I hold off for now?

I picked up a pressure tester today and will test tonight along with replacing the fuel line and bulb, I also managed to get a rebuild kit from a local dealer and will atempt that as well. I will let you know if it makes a difference.

 

[BigJeff]

Re: 96 Mercury 135hp ticking noise intermident but no fuel starvation?

You guys rock! Thanks a ton, list last weekend I changed out the fuel line and rebuild the pump. The ticking was not present and the ball stayed relatively hard while the motor was running. Much harder than it was with the previous bulb.

Not a huge project but interesting that the directions with the rebuild kit and the service manual had different order for the gaskets. I followed what was there as the screws appeared to never have been removed before me.

Have a great time on the water!