1981 mercruiser 120 hp starting the motor in trailer up position

[greg_upnorth]

in my quest to clear the launch area in a timely/quick fashion, i have started the engine with the motor trimmed all the way up in the trailer position. Its one of those mistakes i immediately realize and quickly hit the rocker switch to get the motor down. i have done this about 3 or 4 times this summer (new boat to me in august, my previous boat had a 4hp tiller motor, so still getting used to the new routine). The question is, is this a really bad thing to do or just slightly bad? from what i can tell, looking at the motor in the trailer position and comparing to where the water hits the transom the intakes should be submerged, although this is looking at it after the fact when i have it on the trailer in the garage (like i said before i always quickly put it down after i started so i never looked to see where the intakes are in relation to the water line when in the water). any thoughts would be appreciated.
-greg

 

[Haut Medoc]

Re: 1981 mercruiser 120 hp starting the motor in trailer up position

Bad, bad, bad.....
Bad for the ujoints....
Bad for the bellows....
Bad for the gimbal bearing......
You need to stop doing it before you destroy your drive....​

 

[wncrjb]

Re: 1981 mercruiser 120 hp starting the motor in trailer up position

What Haut said..... just want to add many more "bad"s

 

[greg_upnorth]

Re: 1981 mercruiser 120 hp starting the motor in trailer up position

SO...its bad then?
im thinking im gonna have to put a big sign over the ignition:
LOWER THE LOWER UNIT BEFORE STARTING!
How soon would I notice a problem from starting the motor like that? since i cruised around the lake with no problems afterwards, do i assume if I never start up like that again, that I dodged the bullet? I took the boat in to be winterized last week, i would assume if anything outa the ordinary came up they would have alerted me....

 

[Haut Medoc]

Re: 1981 mercruiser 120 hp starting the motor in trailer up position

I would inspect the inside of the bellows for wear while the drive is off....
You may have dodged a bullet......
But if ya keep it up you will get bit.......​

 

[rebars1]

Re: 1981 mercruiser 120 hp starting the motor in trailer up position

Also, you might have damaged your water pump impeller if you did not have the motor running in the water or on muffs with a hose.

 

[greg_upnorth]

Re: 1981 mercruiser 120 hp starting the motor in trailer up position

am i correct to assume that I would lower the drive even when using muffs?

 

[Haut Medoc]

Re: 1981 mercruiser 120 hp starting the motor in trailer up position

am i correct to assume that I would lower the drive even when using muffs?

Yup, never run the engine with the trim indicator in the 'red'......

 

[Bondo]

Re: 1981 mercruiser 120 hp starting the motor in trailer up position

Yup, never run the engine with the trim indicator in the 'red'......

Ayuh,........ Unless you Don't have an operating Trim Gauge..........

In My,... err That case,.....

Always lower the drive as far as Possible,+ Safe........ Then light her Up......

do i assume if I never start up like that again, that I dodged the bullet?

Probably Not...........
Look at it this way,.....
If the Parts at the root of the Issue were known to last, say 10,000hrs when properly Maintained,.......
You probably shaved a couple Thousand off them..............