1985 Mercury 90hp

[Lake Diver]

Hi, been reading the posts for a while and am VERY impressed with the crowd! Never owned a boat, but hoping to buy one for diving. My question is this: Have a line on a motor like the one above and posting another question on the general side about the boat it's attached to. This motor was winterized in 1997 and not run since. nothing obvious wrong with it, looks good, minimal damage and wear to prop and skeg. Under the cover it looks new and has a very light coat of oil on everything. If the seller agrees to take it to the local boat dealer to run it up, what should I ask them to look for besides compression check? It's a six-cyl. inline with 3 carbs. Anything in particular to look for in a motor that was lightly used then left not running for that long, winterizing notwithstanding? It was properly stored in winter, for what it's worth. Rig is cheap, so that's no problem, just don't want to buy a money pit!

 

[SpinnerBait_Nut]

Re: 1985 Mercury 90hp

Lake Diver, I have one of them motors, only mine is a 115 Mariner. It is also inline 6. If it was done right, you might not have any problems. Just hope they sprayed the cylinders down while they winterized it. If not you might have rings stuck. Also, make sure it has good and enough lower unit grease in it before they start it up and put it in gear. I would put new plugs in it, and have them put new water pump impeller in it also. After this long it has dryed out and got brittle. The lower unit seals might have to be replaced also. The only thing wrong with one sitting is this stuff gets all dryed up and become brittle and might look good at first, but after you start using the motor again, will fail. Hope this helps you some.

 

[Trent]

Re: 1985 Mercury 90hp

To add to the above.... Do a test drive in the water.