I am new to this forum but not to motors. my question relates to a 2001 mercury 60 hp 4 stroke non efi. I am thinking of buying this off a friend but it doesnt run good. I have checked the compression ok, removed and cleaned the carbs, checked cam timing ok, checked spark timing not ok. with a timing light i have checked #1 cyl to find at idle the spark timing is at about 20-25 atdc, that is 20-25 degrees after top dead center. It has all the symptoms of retarded timing, pops back thru carbs, very slow acceleration, missing on 1 cyl at idle. if i bring the rpms up the timing does advance about 10 degrees and it seems to run on all 4 but i have not been able to put this on a boat to check it at wot. i am assuming it is only making it to about 0 degrees if that since the timing curve is only about 25 degrees total advace. My friend checked the manual and the picture shows 5 btdc at idle and 28 btdc at wot. Can someone verify this and tell me how to correct this problem since there is no way of setting the timing. the only thing i can think to be wrong is the ecm or the crank position sensor? is there anything i am missing? I dont want to throw allot of money at this thing since it isn't mine and if it doesn't run well on my boat i am not going to buy it.any good advice about this is greatly appreciated.
