merc 115 carbs - leaky brass plugs

[mirageflats]

On each carb, there are three brass plugs. They were covered by a rust-brown colored sealer. When I rebuilt the carbs of course I had to remove that brown stuff and now I am getting fuel leakage from those plugs. There are no gaskets or o-rings to seal the plugs. Any suggestions on what to use to reseal those plugs? Thanks for the help.

 

[eurolarva]

Re: merc 115 carbs - leaky brass plugs

Go to your hardware store and see if you can find gaskets or orings that will fit on these brass screws. MIne has a similar problem where a metal washer was added to the inside of the float bowl and a cork type gasket was added to the screw. You would be better to prevent the leak with seals/gaskets then using gasket sealer.

 

[Chris1956]

Re: merc 115 carbs - leaky brass plugs

Mirageflats, I would try teflon tape on the threads, since those plugs do not have any "heads" on them to hold a gasket. Be careful not to allow the tape to get "loose" in the carb, or it will clog something. Then cover the heads with hi-temp silicone sealer to be double sure!

 

[jfholijr]

Re: merc 115 carbs - leaky brass plugs

When I rebuilt the carbs on my merc, I ran into the same thing with the plugs threads being covered with sealer. Made it real difficult to remove them. If I'm not mistaken it is something like LocTite, and it is good stuff, but real hard to remove, so I asked my local merc repair dude and he said to use fingernail polish for those plugs and the welch plug. So far it's worked like a charm. Oh btw any color will work - hehehe.

 

[mirageflats]

Re: merc 115 carbs - leaky brass plugs

Hey, thanks for the idea. Nail polish? Who would a thought! I think I will give that a try. Had someone else tell me about "Gasolia", something from OMC, but I guess it is pretty expensive ($15) at least compared to swiping a little polish from the wife. I will let her pick the color!