1980 Mercury 9.8hp outboard

[ready4itall]

4 days ago I bought a 1980 Mercury 9.8M 9.8hp motor. it was shown working through neutral/forward/reverse.

I take it home and 2 days later I turn it on and this happens.

1) filled up garbage can with water (about 2/3)
2) connected fuel tank/lines to the outboard
3) 3 good pumps on primer ball
4) checked if it was in neutral
5) turned handle to START position
6) pulled the choke
7) started in 2 pulls
8) I push down the choke all the way when turned on and turned handle a little below START
9) let motor warm up in neutral for 5 minutes
10) I turn the handle to SHIFT position ( I can hear the motor rev less)
11) pulled the lever from neutral to forward
12) I get a thud (like the gears didn't grab), followed by the motor shutting out instantly.
13) I thought I did something wrong so I turn lever back to neutral and in 1 pull the motor starts up again

I try to shift it from neutral to forward again with the same outcome.

So, with the motor off and in neutral, I took the motor out of the garbage can and tried to diagnose it myself. here is what I observed

1)in neutral the propeller spins freely in both directions...
2)now I cant turn my handle past the START position into the FAST position. It turns in between SHIFT and START easily though.
3)I can push lever from neutral into forward really easy and back easily
4)I tried pushing the lever from neutral into reverse and it wouldn't go all the way, its hard. I didn't force it though


What is wrong with my outboard and did I do something wrong? HELP PLEASE!

 

[tpenfield]

The throttle will not advance past 'start' while the engine is in neutral . . . it is a safeguard built into the motor.

Shifting can be hard when the engine is not running . . . it can be hard even when the engine is running.

When in gear (and engine not running) the prop should spin one way, but not the other (clutch mechanism does that). In the opposite gear it is the other way around

If the motor suddenly stalls when putting it into gear, see if the propeller will turn at all while in gear by slowly pulling on the starter cord and seeing if both motor and propeller will turn. If it seems to be locked up, then something in the lower unit might have gotten messed up.

I just finished putting back together a 1969 Merc 7.5 hp, which is nearly identical to the 9.8.

 

[Texasmark]

Adding to Mr. Penfield's answer: With the engine off, reduce the throttle to idle and shift to F gear. Looking from the rear, grasp the prop and slowly rotate it CCW. If you pull the spark plugs it will turn easier. The engine should rotate as witnessed by the flywheel rotating. If it doesn't you have something wrong in the lower unit and will address that later.

In F gear the prop should rotate with little or no pressure in the CW direction making a clicking noise as it turns. This is what you want to happen.

To get in R gear, you have to spin the prop slowly as you apply moderate pressure to the shifting lever. When the cog-pins in the LU line up it should freely complete the shifting action and the lever should go all the way to the stop. In R the prop will not turn freely in either direction. You have to turn it hard with your hands, like you did in F gear CCW but in both directions to ensure it's working properly.

Regardless of the above just above the skeg is the gear housing with the prop mounted on the rear. Below this housing is a stainless steel screw a little smaller than a dime coin. This is your drain screw. Looking up the side of the engine on the right side facing from the rear, just above the antiventilation plate (the big horizontal plate just above the prop) is another screw, just like that one that is the vent hole.

Place the engine in the upright position (hang it on the side of your barrel is the easiest way with the engine out of the water, not in it) overnight or so giving time for any water trapped in the lower unit gearbox to stratify....oil on top, water on the bottom.

With a suitable container under the skeg, slowly remove the drain screw. If any water is in the LU it will come out first, or if the oil coming out is chocolate colored and milky, like chocolate milk, you have water in the LU and may have corrosion problems that could prevent your being able to accomplish what I said above.

WM carries lower unit oil under the Quicksilver/Mercury or Pennzoil brands in the Sporting Goods section of the store. Regardless of the findings, get some. I think that LU uses about half a pint.

Refilling the unit is accomplished by having the engine as mentioned and pulling both plugs allowing the unit to drain completely. The drain screw may contain a magnet and it's job is to collect steel filings. If it has metal filings on it fine as long as there aren't a lot of them which would indicate a malfunction in the LU gearbox.

Once drained, insert the filling adapter that came with the oil into the drain hole and squirt oil into the LU from the bottom. When it comes out the vent hole the unit is full and you replace the vent screw while maintaining the filler in the drain plug. Some oil will be lost but work efficiently to reduce the loss to a minimum.

Then with the drain screw ready to install, remove the filler adapter and install the drain screw. That's it. Oh, ensure that there are seals/gaskets on both screws. Replacing with new is always best but a lot of folks don't have access to new ones and use the old.

 

[ready4itall]

i just looked at the garbage can im putting the motor in and I think I might have found the problem. the problem is that the prop is contacting the can. ill try to adjust the positioning and try it again.

HOPE IT WORKS!! don't want that one try in forward to ruin the LU

 

[Texasmark]

You can still check the LU oil. With the engine as stated, outside the barrel, slowly remove the drain plug checking for bits of metal and water. You can put your finger over the hole while you are analyzing the oil. Then let a few drops out and check the color. Mercury has their oil dyed blue-black. Pennzoil is like honey, but clear, not clouded like chocolate milk. If things pass the test, put the drain screw back in, securely tightened and be on your way.

 

[raczekp1]

Hi,
Can you help me with similar motor?
I have some question about conection powerpack to ignition coils.
Powerpack has 2 pair of cables( 1 pure green and 1 green with silver stripe and second pair is 1 pure dark blue and 1 dark blue with stripe)
I'm asking how to conect this cables to ignition coils.
coils has mark"+" and " -".
which cables should conect to "+" and "-"

 

[Texasmark]

Hi,
Can you help me with similar motor?
I have some question about conection powerpack to ignition coils.
Powerpack has 2 pair of cables( 1 pure green and 1 green with silver stripe and second pair is 1 pure dark blue and 1 dark blue with stripe)
I'm asking how to conect this cables to ignition coils.
coils has mark"+" and " -".
which cables should conect to "+" and "-"

You are hijacking this thread. Open your own.......site cops will get you. In the mean time, blue and green are usually used for tilt and trim and on some engines blue with white stripe is used for onboard oil reservoir level sensor!

 

[ready4itall]

Problem solved,

Prop was contacting the bottom of the garbage can.
I found out by raising the stand by 1.5ft and tried to shift again. And it worked! Thank goodness it wasn't anything bad or costly!

 

[ready4itall]

Something came up when I was at the lake today. Hoping its nothing big either.

12' aluminum boat with 3 adults
dc battery and 36lb thrust troll motor
mercury 9.8hp

I have no trailer so I laid the motor flat on its handle side with the prop not contacting anything. It was in that position for maybe 12 hours.

so, we put the boat in the water and load it up. I take 3 pulls and the motor starts up fine. I let it warm up for 4-5 minutes and start slowly heading to our destination. We were going at half throttle early on.
Then I open the throttle wide open and there is no increase in power whatsoever. The handle was twisted to FAST and we were going at half throttle speed...
I'm bummed out so I left it on FAST. A minute later The Motor begins to stall and eventually dies.
I turn on the motor in 2 pulls and if I wot it stalls like usual. But half throttle open works with no problem. Idles well too.

then I noticed that the motor isn't spitting water continuously like a stream, it spits pinky length bursts. When I speed up the pinky lengths shorten in half. I'm betting this could be te problem? No gunk stuck in tube either.
also the motor was clipped in reverse lock, but does that matter for forward gear?