1998 Force/Mercury 120 HP - Good Motor?

[willp2]

I'm looking at buying a boat that's powered by a 1998 Force/Mercury 120 HP with about 500 hours on it.

I've heard mixed reviews of these motors and would appreciate any opinions on how reliable they are.

Thanks for any comments.

 

[DJ]

Re: 1998 Force/Mercury 120 HP - Good Motor?

They were not particularly bad. They are of somewhat older technology. They do tend to run a little dirty so decarbing them is a must.

If it went 500 hours, obviously someone was doing something right.

Common service parts are still readily available.

Realize that it is an outdated engine, no longer made, with the name gone from the industry. The good news is that Mercury still supports parts.

With meticulous care, it will go longer.

See link below for decarb. info.

http://forums.iboats.com/bbBoard.cgi?a=viewthread;fid=36;gtid=1035563

 

[willp2]

Re: 1998 Force/Mercury 120 HP - Good Motor?

Thanks for the info! I actually was not aware that Force was no longer being made. Not sure how I feel about this boat now, I'll have to rethink this.

Thanks again

 

[DJ]

Re: 1998 Force/Mercury 120 HP - Good Motor?

willp2,

If you really like the boat. The Force engine is a real bargaining chip, in your favor. The seller knows that.

If you buy it right with plans to repower, in the near future, any use you get out of it is a bonus.

 

[Stuart Kelley]

Re: 1998 Force/Mercury 120 HP - Good Motor?

This may sound redundant but I'm looking at a 1998 17ft Triton powered by a 120HP Force by Mercury. I don't know much about it (nothing really) except for the fact that Mercury has a great reputation. The guy says he's had no problems except for the hot wire coming loose at one time. He easily fixed it and claims to have no problems since or before. He is a second owner and had it for only 1 year. I'm taking it out today but not sure if I'm entirely comfortable after the things I've read on this forum. My first outboard was an 89' Johnson GT 150 V6 and I don't even want to talk about that one. Maybe I'm paranoid because of my experience with the Johnson but should I be worried at all about this outboard ? Can I expect reliability out of it or should I just keep looking. I'm looking at another boat with a 115 Yamaha 4 Stroke but the money is quite a bit more on this one....Thanks for any light you can shed on this subject!
Stuart

 

[captquest]

Re: 1998 Force/Mercury 120 HP - Good Motor?

This may sound redundant but I'm looking at a 1998 17ft Triton powered by a 120HP Force by Mercury. I don't know much about it (nothing really) except for the fact that Mercury has a great reputation. The guy says he's had no problems except for the hot wire coming loose at one time. He easily fixed it and claims to have no problems since or before. He is a second owner and had it for only 1 year. I'm taking it out today but not sure if I'm entirely comfortable after the things I've read on this forum. My first outboard was an 89' Johnson GT 150 V6 and I don't even want to talk about that one. Maybe I'm paranoid because of my experience with the Johnson but should I be worried at all about this outboard ? Can I expect reliability out of it or should I just keep looking. I'm looking at another boat with a 115 Yamaha 4 Stroke but the money is quite a bit more on this one....Thanks for any light you can shed on this subject!
Stuart

Boy this is an old thread, but I can tell you this Stuart.
I have had one of these for over two years now. I bought it when it was eight years old and personly put a heck of lot of hours on. When it went ...it went good, and I ended up (just recently) rebuilding it completely. I expect it to keep running for quite some time if taken care of. The Yammy is probably a higher end motor (you get what you pay for) but the four strokes are expensive to work on when they do need it. Factor may be your budget, just do a compression test and water test on which ever one you decide on. One good idea when buying a used boat/motor is to have a trained mechanic look at it and have the seller deduct the cost of any work it may need. Look up my posts and you will see the history I have had with mine.

 

[algoboating]

Re: 1998 Force/Mercury 120 HP - Good Motor?

not a bad motor i have one its hard on gas go whit the yamaha

 

[conrad503]

Good motors, reliable and cheap to maintain and repair. The bad rep comes from the bonehead, first-time boat owners that do no maintenance and frequently forget or err when mixing oil in the fuel.

 

[jerryjerry05]

16 year old post?????

 

[conrad503]

Yeah. I noticed that, but does it matter? I mean I found it via a Google search and read it. Someone else could easily do the same. The content is still relevant to the topic, and people still contemplate buying Force motors. Stuff on the net lives forever. Why start a new thread on the same topic, then you've got the same info in multiple places, leads to inefficient searching. Finally why do you feel the need to call it out? You haven't added any value here, just a minor insult.

 

[DeepCMark58A]

Yeah. I noticed that, but does it matter? I mean I found it via a Google search and read it. Someone else could easily do the same. The content is still relevant to the topic, and people still contemplate buying Force motors. Stuff on the net lives forever. Why start a new thread on the same topic, then you've got the same info in multiple places, leads to inefficient searching. Finally why do you feel the need to call it out? You haven't added any value here, just a minor insult.

Nope rules are rules for a reason.

 

[conrad503]

Nope rules are rules for a reason.

Agreed. There's always a reason for a rule. But I hope we can agree that it's not always a good (logical, efficient, up-to-date, fair) reason in every case. May I ask what is the reason for not adding comment to old posts, assuming that the comment doesn't violate other rules?

Our new president seems adamant about questioning long standing rules, maybe there should be more of that going on?

 

[racerone]

Site owners have mandated this !----I too feel they are wrong.-----But remember this is a site that looks at selling parts / manual.----Not wanting to carry a huge FREE information storage bank.

 

[conrad503]

Right on. I'd like to continue to have faith that we humans as members of cooperative social groups aspire to pursue noble, collective enterprises, not just self-interest and profit, but I do see your point. Once someone "owns" a website, even one chiefly composed of public contributions, they get to set the rules that best benefit themselves. IMHO, that's one basic failing of the internet--but that's getting far and away from the topic at hand.

I reread the rules, to refresh my memory--of course I studied them comprehensively when I joined the site--and I found an exclusion to the 'dead thread' rule that seems to apply here. I mean the discussion is about two stroke motors that hadn't been manufactured for nearly 10 years in 2007, so the thread was probably DOA for most people when it began:

NOTE: Some threads are never ending due to the subject or nature of the thread. Administration and Moderators do take this into consideration.

 

[jerryjerry05]

Insult?? How did that post turn into an insult??
Now if I called you an idiot? for breaking the set rules, that would be an insult.

 

[conrad503]

Evidently you missed the word "minor". Any non-idiot knows five question marks have meaning.

Yes, had you done so, of course I would need to point out that you were an even bigger idiot for posting a follow-up to my comment, knowingly "breaking the set rules." But I stopped short of that, and only pointed out that your follow-up added no value to the thread.