A couple weeks ago I bought a package deal on a 12 ft. semi-v heavy alum. boat with 2 motors. One was a Johnson JW14 and the other a 1984 Mercury 4.5 single cyl. Neither motor has been run for several years. Finally got the JW14 running after replacing bad coil wire and rebuilding carb and cleaning out gas tank but now it is running HOT, anyway what this post is about is the 4.5. I haven"t started working on it yet, clean carb checking ignition and such mostly because I don"t have a gas tank but I would rather use the JW14 on my light 11ft. flat bottom as at 80 yrs. of age the Mercury is a might bit to be lifting in and out onto the boat and loading back into my pickup truck, I know, had a 1956 M/W 5hp sea king until the top piston locked up and scored piston and cyl. wall pretty bad about 4 weeks ago . Hated to see her go, had it since 1962.
Now, after all this bull%^$* I will get to my question, how good of a motor (traditionally)is the 4.5 Mercury, have they been reliable and dependable? I hate to start on it and it not be worth a lot of work getting it going. The guy said both motors were running good when his Dad put them in the barn about 10 yrs ago, well, the JW14 sure wasn't working so I don"t know what to expect on this one......
Now, after all this bull%^$* I will get to my question, how good of a motor (traditionally)is the 4.5 Mercury, have they been reliable and dependable? I hate to start on it and it not be worth a lot of work getting it going. The guy said both motors were running good when his Dad put them in the barn about 10 yrs ago, well, the JW14 sure wasn't working so I don"t know what to expect on this one......
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