1988 Mercury V135 Issues - PLEASE HELP

spica

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I've been reading a lot of posts on the site and have seen a wealth of information on the outboard engines. I'm hoping someone with expertise on Mercury outboard can help me.

I recently bought an '88 Sea Ray with a Mercury v135 serial b265802. I recently replaced the impeller because it was running a little hot with very little water out of the pee hole. I also replaced the thermostats and poppet valve (which is a pain to get to). Since then, I get a better stream of water out of the pee hole. Here are some problems I've been facing:

Problem #1 - the poppet valve has a vent hole that has water seeping out at idle. Is that normal? I don't believe it is. The only thing I can think of is that the valve isn't open all the way due to some gasket silicon I put on the housing when I replaced it, which may prevent it from being fully open. Could that be the problem of water trickling out of the vent hole?

Problem #2 - The water stream out of the pee hole seems to decrease as I pick up speed and get on plane as compared to the boat being horizontal at slower speed. Any correlation to the poppet valve issue in Problem #1?

Problem #3 - The oil line at the oil injection pump does not seem to have any oil moving to the engine. I'm not sure if oil is being fed from the external reservoir. It seems it has since I've seen the level decreasing. But what troubles me is that I can physically see the oil being stagnant at the clear tube. Shouldn't there be constant oil moving through the engine?

I'm a first time boat owner and learning. Any help would be appreciated.

Sean
 

j_martin

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Re: 1988 Mercury V135 Issues - PLEASE HELP

1. Bad diaphragm in the poppet valve. .....sorry, cowl pan comes off again.

2. All the water for the tell-tale goes through t-stats first. T-stats only bypass some of the water. most goes out open ports or the poppet valve. The stream will vary from dribbling to strong. That's normal.

3. Oil use is measured in CC's /minute. At idle it just drips through the tube. The tube holds 10 minutes or so worth of oil. If you hear the power on self test beeps when you turn on your key, and the alarm doesn't sound when the engine's running, yer getting oil. The pump's turning, and the pump itself very seldom fails. I've never seen one that died on it's own. Only ones that have had help from amateur wrenches.

Wouldn't hurt to check the oil pump to throttle linkage link for proper adjustment.

hope it helps
John
 

spica

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Re: 1988 Mercury V135 Issues - PLEASE HELP

John,

Thanks for the quick reply.

I will have to replace the diaphram, but taking the darn poppet valve housing off is such a pain because of its placement in a tight place. The cowl pan is one piece. Is there a trick to getting to the housing and removing it without removing the screws to remove the cowl pan? If not, then I'll have to remove the pan.

As for the POST beeps, I don't hear it when turning the key. The only way I know on checking whether or not the engine consumes the oil will have to check the level of the external reservoir.

Sean
 

j_martin

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Re: 1988 Mercury V135 Issues - PLEASE HELP

Without the post beeps, you have no alarm system, and no way of verifying that the pump is turning and the reservoir is not going down with the cowl on.

Either the module is bad, or the alarm circuit is dead. You need to check it out.
 

aussieflash

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Feb 5, 2011
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1,004
Re: 1988 Mercury V135 Issues - PLEASE HELP

My mechanic disabled my test beep,due to alarm sounding when throttle in certain position??Assured me alarm will still sound with oil issues.Though I'm going to re connect due to
paranoia.You should have it looked at.Most illnesses can be put off till later unless they are Oil or Water related.....instead death.
 

j_martin

Admiral
Joined
Sep 22, 2006
Messages
7,474
Re: 1988 Mercury V135 Issues - PLEASE HELP

My mechanic disabled my test beep,due to alarm sounding when throttle in certain position??Assured me alarm will still sound with oil issues.

Unless your "mechanic" rigged some sort of delayed power on to the alarm sounder, he's full of chit like a Christmas turkey. You can't just disable the post test.
 

j_martin

Admiral
Joined
Sep 22, 2006
Messages
7,474
Re: 1988 Mercury V135 Issues - PLEASE HELP

On the starboard side, high and aft, is a terminal strip. One of the wires to it is tan with a blue stripe. Turn the key to the run position, then ground that terminal. (stay away from the purple one) If the buzzer sounds, the oil alert module is bad. If it doesn't the buzzer or it's power supply, or the tan/blue wiring to it is bad. You also don't have any overheat warning if that is true.

hope it helps
John
 
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