125 Mercury. Trying to decide to buy or not.

[lineman22]

2002 Mercury 125 HP outboard on a triton aluminum boat. 2 stroke, 4 cylinders and 4 carbs. Boat's in my driveway and I got to put it in the water last week. Motor starts and runs pretty good. Several issues with the rig but all fixable. I checked compression and all 4 four are all most the same psi wise. Borescoped the cylinders tonight through the spark plug hole. I can see hone marks and carbon on the piston top. Looks like crunchy dried black goo. The pistons are not covered evenly and not completely. Each piston has a similar circle the size of a nickel that stands out like it may have been there since new. What would lean / pre ignition melting look like? Spark plugs are all the same dark color.
This lower unit has an obvious bent prop shaft that will have to be straightened some day. No water in the lu oil. No vibration to the steering wheel and no prop rub on housing, so I think it isn't a big deal now. Yes or no?
Price isn't great but is below market.

 

[mrallen007]

Re: 125 Mercury. Trying to decide to buy or not.

Personally, I think it is reasonable to deduct the cost of repairs from the price and make a new offer. It does sound like there are some issues, but if they are fixable and affordable it may be worth it. I'm in the same boat, no pun intended. I just bought a rig that's gonna take some time and money to fix. But I paid so little for the whole rig that it's worth it.

So, it's hard to say, but look at the whole rig. If the cost of the whole rig is worth it I'd push to get it but counter offer so you can recoup the repair cost of the motor. Just my .02.

 

[will941s]

Re: 125 Mercury. Trying to decide to buy or not.

Sounds like a good deal at the right price. The pistons sound good, the nickel size mark is probably a cast in the top of the piston, and look crazy because of the extra carbon build up.....which is normal for a 2-stroke. Run some Seafoam when you buy it and that should get that carbon down to a healthy level. The bent prop shaft....I have a tip, and i'm sure some people are going to disagree with my method, but it works with some common sense. Take the prop off, and spin the shaft. Mark where the bend is. Rotate the shaft to where the bent end of the shaft is pointing up. Get you a good piece of metal pipe that fits a little loose over the prop shaft. Push down on the pipe until it straightens. Don't put too much force on it, and you want to slide the pipe a few inches past the bend to assure your putting the pressure on the prop shaft and not the housing of the lower unit. The pipe needs to a few feet long to get good leverage as your bending. Slide it on.....push down a little bit, check it......keep doing this until it's straight and true. I've done this a ton (fish in a stumpy lake), and it's always worked. Then you have your pipe for the future incase it happens again.

 

[lineman22]

Re: 125 Mercury. Trying to decide to buy or not.

Thanks for the comments,
I never have owned any boat for a long time and always want someone else to pay for my use when I sell, so I have to buy right. Heard about bending the shaft in the housing but hadn't done it myself. I have a dial gauge and a couple wrenches so I'm not scared if it goes wrong. Now it looks like the throttle and steering cable need to be replaced. Still on the fence. I have another day or so to decide.