1989 xr4 150 that sat 3 years issues.

[Lt1z350]

Yea so this thing is bypassed it’s got 50.1 oil mix in the tank. Why I asked if the rest of that should be left as is or not.
If was to remove that stock fuel pump then I lose the fuel line to the base the carbs bolt on to. I read up on it and it says the little lines send crank pulses or pressure but the back of the fuel pump has its own port also. Sucks I cannot find pics of the system in tact or one properly bypassed.
I was told this thing was on the water 3 years ago so now question what all this guy took apart.

So I didn’t mention one thing the tach was jumping around and would go way past 6k on just s throttle blip like something was wrong with it.
Now I found the 12v wire that bolts to the rectifier has no nut on it. So I’m sure a big voltage drop to the dual yellow wires going to the stator.
I found someone was questioning his rectifier was bad I was going to just swap all this with cdi or American made parts and then found the loose wire or free actually. What a mess I need to buy and bolt every connection on this motor.
Also read if stator gets low voltage for a long time I can damage it so going to buy a cdi stator at a minimum 190 bucks is safe insurance as it’s now apart anyway. Just need to decide on the trigger or part that advances with the throttle and rectifier replacement.

 

[elsaylor]

my man if you have a hot 12v wire not even secured to its post you are an explosion waiting to happen.
you need to stop everything and figure out what you have.
i dont know boats but i know old mopars.
an electric fuel pump MUST have an oil pressure kill switch wired to the relay in case the motor loses pressure it stops feeding it gas. cars now also have a rollover switch in case the car flips it turns off the pump.

but your loose 12v wire scares me.

you can weld stuff real quick with a car battery and a hot wire.

 

[Dukedog]

It doesn’t come on until engine is cranking. Key on it doesn’t pump as tried to use it to drain the tank but didn’t start pumping until I was cranking the engine.

if only runs when crankin' its worthless.. ya might as well pump a bulb!.. you really need ta find youself an OEM manual for it if ya gonna continue doin' tha work yourself.. it will keep ya straight on tha whole thing and ya don't need ta question any "advice" given on and computer!.. jmo.

 

[racerone]

Maybe it is just meant to be a primer pump.----Lazy mans way to get rid of the hand squeeze , bulb thingy.-----Make sure you understand your fuel system before your first fishing adventure !

 

[Dukedog]

sounds like "lazy" ta me too!

can ya put up a picture or two of tha power head?.. reason i ask as there are a coupla different versions of tha XR4 in '89.. early '89's had vertical front with 16 amp chargin (maybe some with a 40 amp), one had horizontal front with 16 or 40 amp chargin, (later in tha year).. i know this thru experience with tha XR4.. most parts dia don't reflect this information.. they will show only tha vertical and water cooled 40 amp version...

 

[Faztbullet]

Dukes correct.... the horizontal front motas in late 89 early 90 was closer to 195HP. I have only seen several of these (seems rare?) most I worked on were verticals (POS IMO) noted for sleeve problems

 

[Lt1z350]

Dukes correct.... the horizontal front motas in late 89 early 90 was closer to 195HP. I have only seen several of these (seems rare?) most I worked on were verticals (POS IMO) noted for sleeve problems

Sorry been a while damn weather got cold I had to wait on some parts also.
So I put on a new stator trigger and the cdi all in one charging module. It’s all new cdi stuff I got a really good deal and all of it was oem so just did it. It’s now charging the battery putting out voltage at idle as it should. On the ears I can blip the throttle and it spins up really fast and can tell all cylinders are hitting. Idle was still not great so I pulled off all the coils as I saw some oil around them and cleaned all of it up. Took them from the plastic cases cleaned up everything really good. Put it back together and the idle is now spot on hitting on all 6. It probably had a slight shift from the oil arcing out at idle. I had one plug that didn’t look to be burning as the others so I was going to just move it and see if the problem moved but cleaning it all up it’s great now. So next test is out on the lake but so far runs perfect on the ears. I still have it on the plug wires I made so might pick up a correct set for it.
As for that fuel pump it comes on with the key then goes off. Then start the motor and it runs when motor runs. It’s got a relay wired into it. I did rebuild the stock pump but damn kit only had one diaphragm so had to leave one as is but it had two broken rubber check valves so put the plastic ones in it. I wasn’t sure which side does fuel and which works with oil injection so put the new diaphragm in place of the one that looked to have more wear. It’s the same port that goes to the carb as the other port goes into the base where carbs mount on it.

I’d like to know which motor this is as did read one model is a lot stronger like you mention. I do know this is the 16 amp system if that helps or I can post pictures just tell me what to make sure is in them. Thanks to everyone so far this site is great. Hope to be on the water soon to test I think the lake starts to come back up this month so easier to use some of the boat ramps by the house.

 

[Dukedog]

As for that fuel pump it comes on with the key then goes off. Then start the motor and it runs when motor runs.

shuts off when pressure reaches its max.. thats a good thing.. havin' tha 16 amp pretty much tells me it has tha vertical front half on it.. all horizontal front XR4's i've seen were tha water cooled 40 amp junk...

"one stronger than tha other"?
tha stronger ones that we saw when comparin' performance were tha ones that tha sleeves were not turned (port alignment) as bad as some of tha others.. tha XR4 was mercs first attempt at a production STEEL SLEEVE 2.4 motor.. have never got a straight answer 'bout those.. maybe turned of purpose?.. maybe turned 'cause of an engineerin' problem? either way it effects horse power...

picture of both sides of tha powerhead will answer some of your questions.. kinda close one of front half..

 

[Lt1z350]

 

[Lt1z350]

Let me know if that’s not good enough the previous owner said the boat scared him was so fast. Out of the hole like crazy and said never even attempted to go over 55 mph as it seemed like too much motor for the boat and it’s rated to 175 horse by its plaque. So either it’s really strong or he was a baby. Lol and I don’t think it ran right then either. So fingers crossed it’s the good one. My 500 dollar boat might be a winner.

 

[Dukedog]

that has tha vertical front and 16 amp stuff.... one of tha first XR4's... very clean piece!

Mercnet says:
MERCURY 2.4L 150XR4 ELPTO

 

[Faztbullet]

Get rid of the auto wire and put OEM wire back on it.

 

[merc850]

2 things that would bother me if it were my motor 1: Scotchlock connectors on 3 wires - they're not the best for marine applications, (had a car that died one time because the power to the ignition was SLocked) even soldering would be better.
2: The angled throttle cable - could be adjusted to be straighter.

 

[merc850]

Ha

Get rid of the auto wire and put OEM wire back on it.

I assume that those wires are resistor core whereas the OEM are solid core, this could be a major reason.

 

[Faztbullet]

Bet the cable is like that due to hot foot spring too tight

 

[Lt1z350]

Bet the cable is like that due to hot foot spring too tight

Ah probably so that thing is hard as hell to push. Thanks for info.

 

[Lt1z350]

2 things that would bother me if it were my motor 1: Scotchlock connectors on 3 wires - they're not the best for marine applications, (had a car that died one time because the power to the ignition was SLocked) even soldering would be better.
2: The angled throttle cable - could be adjusted to be straighter.

I’ll take care of those and solder. Something the previous owner did. I’m now the third owner.

 

[Lt1z350]

Get rid of the auto wire and put OEM wire back on it.

Those are a solid core wire but I’m looking for a decent price on something oem. It’s running good on those but know not ideal from what I have seen you guys saying

 

[Lt1z350]

that has tha vertical front and 16 amp stuff.... one of tha first XR4's... very clean piece!

Mercnet says:
MERCURY 2.4L 150XR4 ELPTO

Cool deal so this is the hot motor? That under rated version.

 

[Faztbullet]

Cool deal so this is the hot motor? That under rated version.

Not the hot motor...standard Xr4