I have a 2014 Mercury 2.5 4 stroke that is giving me fits. Here is a story of what has and is happenning. When I purchased the motor, the dealer "prepared the motor from the crate" as per manufacturer. I loaded it into my vehicle but when I laid the motor down on its side (the one that the manufacture suggested) I immediately smelled fuel. On closer inspection, I noticed that on this model, there are 3 rubber hoses that come out of the bottom of the cowling. One is from the water pump and the other 2 lead directly to the upper end of the carburator. I have never heard of any other motor having hoses coming out of the carb like this but hey, what did I know. Fuel was dripping out of the longer one of these hoses. When I asked the dealer, they said that it was normal for this model as it was a safety feature so without any further questions, I headed home to get ready for my trip.
When I got home, I threw the motor on a saw horse and filled a bin with water. When I tried to start the motor, it took me 20+ pulls to start it. This was odd but hey, it started and that was good enough for me so the next week saw me off to an annual fishing trip into Algonquin Park in Ontario where I would be canoeing and portaging for 6 hrs deep into the park.
When I got to the first lake and had the canoe loaded, I started the motor with one pull (the motor was cold and had not been started in a week) and away we went. About an hour into our trip was the first portage. The portage was approximately 50 meters and was there to bypass a small set of rocky rapids. When I threw the motor over my shoulders, I immediately felt and smelled some fuel running down my shoulder. I took the motor off my shoulder for a quick inspection and after checking both shut offs (top of tank and fuel line) I realized that the fuel was coming out of that same hose that runs from the carb so like the dealer said, its normal and away I went over the portage. Remember, now the motor has ran for 1 hr and at that point ran perfect. Once the canoes were loaded and ready for the next leg of the portage, the other guys I was with (None of them had a Merc but some had new 2 hp 4 strokes) started their motors and proceeded down the river towards the next portage. I, on the other hand was left behind pulling and pulling and pulling trying to start this damn motor. Exactly 70 pull later, the motor came to life but was stuttering like hell but finally came back to life and away I went. At that point, i thought I did something wrong. The next portage was 600 meters long but this time I made sure to shut off the tank cap valve and the fuel line shut off. As soon as I placed the motor on my shoulder, the same thing happened, fuel down my neck. WTF was this? Every portage through out this trip resulted in the same process, fuel down my neck and 50-80 pulls of the starting cord.
When I got back, I immediately brought the motor back to the dealer. To make a long story short, the dealer couldn't make the motor do the same thing but without fail, I could mimic the issue every single time on the saw horse at my house. I called Mercury and have been dealing with them since. I was able to video the issue and even Mercury couldn't explain the problem. They even send a replacement carb which was replaced and still the same thing.
My question is, why is this happening? Mercury knows this is an issue but won't reveal to me if I am the only one with this motor having this issue. I have video evidence of this issue and would be glad to send it off to people to view. It is on flickr. If you go to flickr.com and search for people, my name is Mark Beaulieu. You will find my videos there. there are 6-7 videos of exactly what was sent to Mercury. Pleas post any thoughts. Thanks
When I got home, I threw the motor on a saw horse and filled a bin with water. When I tried to start the motor, it took me 20+ pulls to start it. This was odd but hey, it started and that was good enough for me so the next week saw me off to an annual fishing trip into Algonquin Park in Ontario where I would be canoeing and portaging for 6 hrs deep into the park.
When I got to the first lake and had the canoe loaded, I started the motor with one pull (the motor was cold and had not been started in a week) and away we went. About an hour into our trip was the first portage. The portage was approximately 50 meters and was there to bypass a small set of rocky rapids. When I threw the motor over my shoulders, I immediately felt and smelled some fuel running down my shoulder. I took the motor off my shoulder for a quick inspection and after checking both shut offs (top of tank and fuel line) I realized that the fuel was coming out of that same hose that runs from the carb so like the dealer said, its normal and away I went over the portage. Remember, now the motor has ran for 1 hr and at that point ran perfect. Once the canoes were loaded and ready for the next leg of the portage, the other guys I was with (None of them had a Merc but some had new 2 hp 4 strokes) started their motors and proceeded down the river towards the next portage. I, on the other hand was left behind pulling and pulling and pulling trying to start this damn motor. Exactly 70 pull later, the motor came to life but was stuttering like hell but finally came back to life and away I went. At that point, i thought I did something wrong. The next portage was 600 meters long but this time I made sure to shut off the tank cap valve and the fuel line shut off. As soon as I placed the motor on my shoulder, the same thing happened, fuel down my neck. WTF was this? Every portage through out this trip resulted in the same process, fuel down my neck and 50-80 pulls of the starting cord.
When I got back, I immediately brought the motor back to the dealer. To make a long story short, the dealer couldn't make the motor do the same thing but without fail, I could mimic the issue every single time on the saw horse at my house. I called Mercury and have been dealing with them since. I was able to video the issue and even Mercury couldn't explain the problem. They even send a replacement carb which was replaced and still the same thing.
My question is, why is this happening? Mercury knows this is an issue but won't reveal to me if I am the only one with this motor having this issue. I have video evidence of this issue and would be glad to send it off to people to view. It is on flickr. If you go to flickr.com and search for people, my name is Mark Beaulieu. You will find my videos there. there are 6-7 videos of exactly what was sent to Mercury. Pleas post any thoughts. Thanks
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