3 cylinder 80hp Mercury Carb Cleaning - Whos done them

Big Pete

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Ok so i know that on my old small Speedboat the Mercury 80 carbs need stripping off and cleaning and refitting.

Now as i am only mediocre at doing Mechanics is this something i can do myself ,i have the manual which being honest makes it look more technical .Than the youtube clips i have watched ..

But have any none Mechanics done this ? And is it something you think i could handle ?
 
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Big Pete

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Re: 3 cylinder 80hp Mercury Carb Cleaning - Whos done them

I take it not many have the skill to try doing them then :confused:
 

sschefer

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Re: 3 cylinder 80hp Mercury Carb Cleaning - Whos done them

I take it not many have the skill to try doing them then :confused:

You might get an answer if you post the serial number and possibly the year and model of your engine. The carbs could be any of about a dozen different models.

P.S. Skill is not an issue here.
 

Big Pete

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Re: 3 cylinder 80hp Mercury Carb Cleaning - Whos done them

Has no serial number visible.. its a 89 80hp Mercruiser 3 cylinder ..and thats all i know ..

how many 3 cylinders 80hp did they make then ?
 

sschefer

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Re: 3 cylinder 80hp Mercury Carb Cleaning - Whos done them

Has no serial number visible.. its a 89 80hp Mercruiser 3 cylinder ..and thats all i know ..

how many 3 cylinders 80hp did they make then ?

Mercruiser as in inboard?
 

sschefer

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Re: 3 cylinder 80hp Mercury Carb Cleaning - Whos done them

If it's an outboard you have WME-1 Carbs. Simple to rebuild most of the work is in the cleaning. They do not have replaceable float needle seats but the needles are replaceable and are rubber tiped so they will compensate for a lot of seat wear. If the seats are shot, you'll need to find a replacement carb on eBay or somewhere else because they are no longer available from Merc.

Rebuild kits should be available here in iBoats parts. Make sure you replace the floats so they will be Ethanol resistant.
 

Big Pete

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Re: 3 cylinder 80hp Mercury Carb Cleaning - Whos done them

If it's an outboard you have WME-1 Carbs. Simple to rebuild most of the work is in the cleaning. They do not have replaceable float needle seats but the needles are replaceable and are rubber tiped so they will compensate for a lot of seat wear. If the seats are shot, you'll need to find a replacement carb on eBay or somewhere else because they are no longer available from Merc.

Rebuild kits should be available here in iBoats parts. Make sure you replace the floats so they will be Ethanol resistant.

Ok Thanks for that ..i appreciate the info .. Looks like i will give it a bash myself then , if its not working right , what harm can it do and i will learn for the future ..
 

Big Pete

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Re: 3 cylinder 80hp Mercury Carb Cleaning - Whos done them

Carbs Off. had to take off a load of bits in the way but i got to them .. so was well pleased
P1010442.jpg



Kept all linkages in situ so as to save work getting back on ..



So now to the clean out..

Carbs empty and have black tar residue which led me to go with the,, they dried out theory i had ??

P1010459.jpg



Carb 1 top carb HAD Stuck valve on the float chamber so would explain why fuel spurted out top vent hole.. so i was pleased i figured great just free it and we are on a roll..

So stripped it down cleaned out was dry and sticking so cleaned up now smooth as silk and refitted bowl etc..

now opens and closes :)




Did the same to each Carb cleaned with petrol and blew the holes through cleaned hoses and stuff this was crap that came out.
P1010460.jpg



So was well pleased i figured all i got to do is reffit and job done .. which i did..

Would the engine start nope i pumped fuel in and in kept trying and now i got a flat battery ..so thats where i am at.

so NOT impressed at the moment :(

Only thing i wonder now is to try it with pure clean fresh fuel as maybe the old fuel is naffed , as its old... ? So tomorrow
one more try direct on new fuel..

if it dont go then its one speedboat for sale Cheap with engine that needs attention
 

Mi duckdown

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2,575
Re: 3 cylinder 80hp Mercury Carb Cleaning - Whos done them

Are you saying that you cleaned the carbs, installed all new gaskets and used the OLD FUEL. Is the fuel tank portable or built into the boat? I hope you didn't re-install the old fuel lines.???
 

flyinbryan

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Re: 3 cylinder 80hp Mercury Carb Cleaning - Whos done them

yep, those are wme carbs alright.

did you completely take them apart? the mixing chamber on top of each carb has tiny holes that are required to be squeeky clean as well.

its possible that you just didnt get them clean enough. ive rebuilt mine several times (well, really more of just a good cleaning, as ive never actually had to buy any parts, not even gaskets)

i give mine a good overnight soak in berrymans chem-dip. its a 1 gallon bucket of a really gnarly looking active cleaning solution. it comes with a little metal basket that you can put all the parts in, and sink down in the bucket.

i also do a little trick with mine. i hang the bucket, with the parts inside, and the lid on tight, from a tree with a rope. then on the rope i attach a good sized piece of heavy cardboard (maybe 2ft square) to the rope, about a foot over the bucket, sorta like a sail, then point a boxfan at the cardboard and PRESTO!!! all night parts agitation in cleaning solution!!!

then the next day i will pull everything out, and rinse everything really good (like 5 minutes straight) with cold water out of the hose. then i blow out all the holes, nooks, and crannies with an air hose regulated to about 60-70psi.

it always runs seemingly better than the day i bought it brand new.

p.s. i do not put the fuel inlet needles in because they have very soft rubber tips. i just wash then gently with mild soap and water.

also, anytime i do this i replace the fuel filter, fuel lines between the carbs, and drain and flush my fuel tank.

the overall method has never yielded anything except a perfect running, happy 50hp mercury.

(certain mercury 50hp motors also used the wme carbs, namely mine)
 

Big Pete

Petty Officer 2nd Class
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Messages
192
Re: 3 cylinder 80hp Mercury Carb Cleaning - Whos done them

Are you saying that you cleaned the carbs, installed all new gaskets and used the OLD FUEL. Is the fuel tank portable or built into the boat? I hope you didn't re-install the old fuel lines.???

I checked them blew them through they looked ok to me ...
Yep i tried on the old fuel in the tank as its inbuilt in the back ,i must admit i really should suck the stuff out and get new .. Thats next step..

yep, those are wme carbs alright.

did you completely take them apart? the mixing chamber on top of each carb has tiny holes that are required to be squeeky clean as well.

its possible that you just didnt get them clean enough. ive rebuilt mine several times (well, really more of just a good cleaning, as ive never actually had to buy any parts, not even gaskets)

i give mine a good overnight soak in berrymans chem-dip. its a 1 gallon bucket of a really gnarly looking active cleaning solution. it comes with a little metal basket that you can put all the parts in, and sink down in the bucket.

i also do a little trick with mine. i hang the bucket, with the parts inside, and the lid on tight, from a tree with a rope. then on the rope i attach a good sized piece of heavy cardboard (maybe 2ft square) to the rope, about a foot over the bucket, sorta like a sail, then point a boxfan at the cardboard and PRESTO!!! all night parts agitation in cleaning solution!!!

then the next day i will pull everything out, and rinse everything really good (like 5 minutes straight) with cold water out of the hose. then i blow out all the holes, nooks, and crannies with an air hose regulated to about 60-70psi.

it always runs seemingly better than the day i bought it brand new.

p.s. i do not put the fuel inlet needles in because they have very soft rubber tips. i just wash then gently with mild soap and water.

also, anytime i do this i replace the fuel filter, fuel lines between the carbs, and drain and flush my fuel tank.

the overall method has never yielded anything except a perfect running, happy 50hp mercury.

(certain mercury 50hp motors also used the wme carbs, namely mine)


OOOps i didnt do the tops i figured they wasnt much to do with anything :redface:

Being honest here when i found the stuck valve i figured thats the problem so was confident a good clean on the bowl and them bits would do the job .

Maybe i am gonna have to redo the job again ..and i hated it i can still taste the petrol now :mad:

still tomorrow i am gonna try pipe to new fuel and see what happens, maybe i will get lucky ...
 

Big Pete

Petty Officer 2nd Class
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Messages
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Re: 3 cylinder 80hp Mercury Carb Cleaning - Whos done them

Todays work and update..

Decided that the old fuel should go its way old and in all fairness how can i judge whats what when it could all be duff fuel ..

So suck out 30 litres of the old fuel ,,had to buy a few tanks to stick the stuff in , but will be useful after for keeping spare fuel...

Fuel out i then took the tank out and removed fuel gauge sensoors float switch etc etc.. Got to the bare tank and thoroughly cleaned it out,, looks like new now..

So armed with half a gallon of New Fuel i chopped the lead with the Hand Pump Bowl thingy and poked that into the fuel..

I then drained the old fuel from the bottom carb and the pipes i could get to and remove and replace etc.. working on the theory get as much old out as possible..

I Pumped the line of which i have added a new fuel filter a clear one so i can see what is coming through etc etc ,and figure a second filter isnt such a bad thing ? Assuming its ok to have a filter on main tank to engine line of course ??

Well i sprayed a little fresh fuel in each carb inlet.. and pumped new fuel into the engine until it went hard ..strange thing is this time took loads and loads of fuel to fill and didnt seem as hard as when on big tank ?

Anyways i turned the engine over and it took a fair few spins then suddenly sparked into life .. It ran very lumpy but got better after a few revs and so i kept it on fast tickover with giving it a few revs inbetween working on theory blow the old crap out..

Got better and better warmer it got , but did not like going on idle cut out everytime ..and hard to restart each time ? Now this could be just due to the fuel pipe just poked in the half a gallon open fuel maybe ?

Ran it on and off and it seems to be getting better each time after i rev it.. So next step is put new fuel in tank and connect it properly and fingers crossed i can blow the crappy fuel from every orrifice in the carbs ..And then it may idle ...:)

So watch out neighbours its going to get noisy LOL

Oh also NOT a single leak from the carbs so that sticking valve is fixed ..so my carb strip down did some good..
 
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