1991 Mercury 135 Blackmax

Hello everyone, I'm a new boat owner for 3 months. I bought a used 1991 Sea Ray bowrider with a Mercury 135 Blackmax outboard. I've enjoyed the boat for a good 3 months on the lake and everything was fine until one day it started choking on me when going from neutral to forward or reverse and especially when starting the engine. I opened the engine cover and started the engine with a rabbit muff on and saw water coming out from a gasket and a plate on the side of the engine. I opened it up and took the worn gasket out and replace it with a new one. I put everything back and and it is still leaking. I've uploaded a video of the leak with the new gasket on youtube in hope someone from here can help me fix this problem. I'm not sure if this is common and should be ok or not. Many thanks in advance.

Re: 1991 Mercury 135 Blackmax

I can't really tell from the video exactly where the water is coming from. My only thought is that it could simply be that the pisser (tell-tail) hose came loose.

Re: 1991 Mercury 135 Blackmax

It appears you need to remove the coil and see where the leak is coming from. The coil likely needs to be grounded to work right, so don't run the motor with the coil disconnected.

Re: 1991 Mercury 135 Blackmax

Tha coil is already grounded on tha mounting plate. All three coils on that side go to one location on tha plate for its ground. Its got a water cooled regulator under tha coil plate that seals with an O type ring. Thats looks to be where its leaking. Not a hard fix if its just tha O-ring. Just pay close attention to all things removed to get to it. Might be harder to find tha gasket than tha actual fix................

Be sure to disconnect tha battery first thing!