08 Mercury Optimax 115hp Lugging

I have a 08 Tracker equipped with a Mercury 115 Optimax. Yesterday out on the water it was idling extremely rough and would only wrap out at 3000 rpm pushing 20mph. It smelled of fuel in the boat. All of this is new as I had the boat out the day before and it ran fine. I checked for water in the gas and their is none. Any help or ideas?

I pulled the spark plugs and found that the top 2 had an oil build-up and the bottom was clean but had a fuel residual on it. I replaced the spark plugs and took the boat out today to find no improvement. It idled rough and ran horrible acting as if not all 3 cylinders were firing. When I got home I pulled the plugs and found the same about each plug I mentioned above. I called my service provider and he said "never heard of that don't know what to tell you!" This engine has approximately 10 hours on it.

Re: 08 Mercury Optimax 115hp Lugging

Moved this over to the Mercury section. Maybe we can get you some more help over here. Good luck and Welcome Aboard!

Re: 08 Mercury Optimax 115hp Lugging

Please anyone?

Re: 08 Mercury Optimax 115hp Lugging

Tracker175 said:

Please anyone?

Click to expand...

Isn't that engine still under waranty. You need to get it to a mechanic that knows what he's doing. It's missing on at least one cylinder for some reason.

hope it helps
John

Re: 08 Mercury Optimax 115hp Lugging

Finally got some help from my service provider and they told me it was a CDI coil. Not sure but they swear that was the problem. I will be on the lake today hopefully chasing wiper.

Re: 08 Mercury Optimax 115hp Lugging

My 08 115 optimax just blew its third coil...all of them within a 2 year period.

It has been said that there was a bad batch out there...

If this is your first blown coil...INSIST your dealer replace all three under warranty...MERC would not approve this in my case but believe me history will repeat itself, MERC will do it if sufficiently pressured.

If your dealer is not stocking them and you are on your first blown coil, might be a good idea to buy an extra yourself to increase days on the water instead of waiting on a parts order to come in.

I keep one on the boat hoping that the problem has finally resolved itself using the consumer to weed out the bad ones.