Question about Mercury 1400 (140hp)... Please Advise!

irishman10

Recruit
Joined
Oct 16, 2014
Messages
2
I am looking at buying a boat that has a Mercury 1400 outboard on it, not sure of the year but looks like late 70's (Ill attach picture of it). The guy who is selling the boat says the motor has a recently seized up starter... My question is how should I approach this? Is there anyway I can still check compression of the motor with out turning the key? I feel like a bad starter is an easy fix? I just don't want to be surprised by any major problems. Please advise, Im new to the world of motors.....
IMG_3422.JPGHere is what im looking at
 

emckelvy

Commander
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Jan 16, 2004
Messages
2,506
If that's the original cowling striping, it's a 1972, non-power-ported 1400. There was a later model of 140hp but it would look different from this one.

Pretty difficult to check compression without a starter. The best you could do in that case would be to remove the upper cowling support (over the flywheel), wrap the emergency pull-start rope (contained in the front faceplate) around the flywheel, and pull over the flywheel by hand.

As you pull it over, you should feel the resistance of each cylinder. After pulling over a few times, try to get a feel for how much each cylinder "kicks". If you have a very low or "dead" cylinder, you're gonna feel some "flat spots" as you're pulling over.

The next thing, if you're really dedicated to it, would be to remove all spark plugs and do a compression check, roping-over the flywheel. It'll take a while, since you need to give a pretty stout pull, and repeat until the compression reading on that particular cylinder stops rising.

While not being as accurate as using the starter (not an option in this case), at least you're treating each cylinder approx the same, and the compression readings (no matter what value they have) should be somewhat even with each other.

If you see a reading that's drastically lower than the others, likely there is a problem in that cylinder. The most common cylinders to have piston/ring issues in an Inline Six are #1 and #3, so pay particular attention to the compression values in those cyls.

IMHO, I wouldn't pay a premium price for a motor you couldn't run. There may be other mechanical issues (such as bad crank bearings) that would never show when roping-over.

That being said, you may find a Diamond in the Rough, just by knowing what to look for and being in a good bargaining position.

The starter is a relatively easy fix, lots of 'em available and can be changed with normal hand tools.

HTH & G'luck with the prospective purchase.........ed
 

racerone

Supreme Mariner
Joined
Dec 28, 2013
Messages
36,033
Do not understand how a starter can be seized.----Starters can sieze if motor was submerged and not properly looked after on retrieval,-------I would not be paying top dollar if you can not hear the motor run.----Any warranty from the seller as to whether it runs properly ?
 

emckelvy

Commander
Joined
Jan 16, 2004
Messages
2,506
Just a correction to the previous post - you can get at the flywheel to rope the motor over without removing the upper cowling support. Makes things a lot easier I reckon!

Not common for a starter to seize (unless submerged as racerone suggested), but I suppose you could have one with bad bearings.

Certainly something to look at, if the motor was submerged & the crankshaft is stuck, it's pretty much a boat anchor, for parts only.

G'luck...........ed
 

enginepower

Petty Officer 1st Class
Joined
Jul 5, 2014
Messages
260
So is it a seized starter or a seized engine the starter can spin? If you wrap the rope on it and can't turn it...forget it
 
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