Seloc manuals any good?

[59Hustler]

Are the seloc manuals on the Force motors any good? I ask this because the Clymers I used for my 1960 mercury 400 was garbage. I had to get the Mercury manual to get good information. I currently have 2 Force motors a 1999 40hp and a 1989 85 HP..

 

[Scott Danforth]

No,

Seloc, Clymers and Haynes manuals are good for starting fires or as knee pads. they are a bit rough to use as toilet paper

as a manual, they are not any good.

 

[59Hustler]

That has been my past experience as well. And you are right about the toilet paper as well I tried it once. lol

 

[Scott Danforth]

you can look the manuals up on-line http://boatinfo.no/lib/library.html

 

[gm280]

My experience with such manuals is, if you are already extremely familiar with the engine they are referencing in the manual, they are okay. There is nothing really Earth-Shattering in them that would seriously help you if never worked on such an engine before. They are written to cover too many engines with nothing particular on any of them. The original SHOP manual from the engine manufacturer is the absolute best, hands down.

Buy one for YOUR engine, model and year, and everything you ever wanted to know will be there with pictures as well. Yes they probably cost a few more dollars, but when you are in a bind, they pay for themselves over and over. JMHO

 

[racerone]

Just like many products , they are on the shelf to be sold.---------These manuals are not written by a " technical writer " with knowledge of the product.--------Many errors and omissions.-----A novice might not catch those errors.

 

[59Hustler]

I could not find the Force engines or Chrysler on The boat info site. I did find one downloadable manual that looks thorough on another site for 15 and it says 40 hp force from 1991-1999 but covers all of the Force engines from 1984 - 1999. It actually looks like a factory manual.

 

[jerryjerry05]

The factory "look a likes" aren't usually factory books.
I've never seen a factory manual that cover multiple motors.

While the aftermarket are better than nothing? They just don't have the specifics needed to
rebuild or do major fixes.

 

[jerryjerry05]

The manual for a 1988 85 can actually help fix the 125 and even the 50.
The pistons, ring specs fuel pump all use the same parts.

The same works for a manual for the 150 depending on the years.

 

[59Hustler]

Ok so I will keep looking for the factory manual.
I just pulled the plugs and thermostat to check them. the thermostat was fully opened at 165 so that should be good. the plugs look alright and the cylinders look good. I saw no scoring of the cylinder walls with my endoscope. I can't check the compression because it is laying on its side in my garage.
I am going to change the plugs just because I do that every year in all my outboards but on these surface gap plugs is there anyway to tell if they are ok or fouled?
I have an impeller, plate and gasket as well as a fuel pump diaphragm and gasket on the way. Any thing else I should take care of before I splash it.

 

[fishrdan]

Keep your eyes on Ebay. I picked up a factory manual for my 7.5HP Force/Mecrury for $20 or so. 2-3" thick 3 ring binder.

No such worry for my Mercruiser, the factory manuals are readily available for download...

 

[jerryjerry05]

The permagap plugs, no visual way to tell if they are bad.
Fact: Since 1986 I've only seen 1 PG plug go bad.
I used 2 sets for my twin 88/85's for 7/8 +- years.
Then only changed them out of guilt and I got 2 sets for free.

Just hook up a battery pull all the plugs and hook up the comp tester and use a jumper box.
If the comp is within 5# of each other?? Then the comp is good.
Usually the cheap testers give poor results.
But even then they might not give the higher comp readings but will give the same results for each piston.