Interesting find behind thrust washer

mpl006

Cadet
Joined
Feb 23, 2013
Messages
19
I was doing some maintenance to the motor, its a 1986ish Mercury inline 6, and I pulled the prop to check to see if there was any line wrapped around the shaft and to re-grease the shaft and found these two things wedged behind the thrust washer between it and the inside edge of the lower unit housing. One is a screw and the other appears to be a piece of aluminum. What should I be looking for to find out what this could be? The motor runs "fine". I think it could run better if I could tune the carbs a little better but doesn't have any big issues.

Also, it appears they came through the exhaust. Is there something I should be concerned about being messed up somewhere else?
 

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iggyw1

Master Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Oct 24, 2011
Messages
880
I was doing some maintenance to the motor, its a 1986ish Mercury inline 6, and I pulled the prop to check to see if there was any line wrapped around the shaft and to re-grease the shaft and found these two things wedged behind the thrust washer between it and the inside edge of the lower unit housing. One is a screw and the other appears to be a piece of aluminum. What should I be looking for to find out what this could be? The motor runs "fine". I think it could run better if I could tune the carbs a little better but doesn't have any big issues.

Also, it appears they came through the exhaust. Is there something I should be concerned about being messed up somewhere else?

To me it looks like it could be your exhaust housing coming apart. Does that screw match the exterior housing screws that you can see? Looks like a housing screw to me, and it looks like it came out because a piece of the housing broke off.
 
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