Is the motor of Mercury MerCruiser easy to be repaired

[liusigou]

I am looking for usded boat and the motor is Mercury MerCruiser 4 stroke 140 HP. Is it easy to find a person to maintain this kind of motor or easy to find parts for this motor? Before I had a chrysler outboard. nobody is willing to service it. thank you

 

[tpenfield]

Mercruiser is the most common sterndrive (I/O) engine. I assume you are talking about the 3.0 Liter . . . very common.

You should have no worries. It is often better to do the maintenance yourself, unless you have deep pockets.

 

[Bondo]

Ayuh,..... That motor has been in constant production since the '60s, 'n is still today,.....

There's millions of 'em out there,.....

 

[liusigou]

Sombody is selling this boat, Do you have time help me to check it?

https://www.kijiji.ca/v-view-details...dId=1444749057

only issue is that the engine sometimes stalls when idling

Thank you All

 

[Lou C]

Boat looks good but beware the carpet covered deck. I bet the deck is cored with plywood and carpet holds moisture, which causes wood rot. Be very careful to check the deck (floor) for soft spots and springy areas. If the deck is rotted then other areas are likley as well to be rotted or starting to rot. That mooring cover does not fit great and likely water gets in from rain. The mechanical stuff is not the concern...its everything else! The boat is 31 years old...

 

[Scott Danforth]

Remember, the typical runabout has a 15 year design life. The boat your looking at is 31 years old. Expect to find problems

 

[Benny67]

Remember, the typical runabout has a 15 year design life. The boat your looking at is 31 years old. Expect to find problems

That's advice, not factual. Be aware of usual problems that go along with something that's 31 years old.

 

[Scott Danforth]

That's advice, not factual. Be aware of usual problems that go along with something that's 31 years old.

Since I know more than 30 engineers at Brunswick as well as about 130 engineers in the marine world Benny, are you sure of your answer.

 

[Benny67]

Since I know more than 30 engineers at Brunswick as well as about 130 engineers in the marine world Benny, are you sure of your answer.

I know plenty of engineers myself...work with them everyday designing products as well.

Bottom line, you're passing along information on products that you have no real information on how it was concieved.

Doesn't Brunswick make bowling balls? If we're talking AMF (Brunswick) engineers, that's not something that I would brag about

 

[Scott Danforth]

Brunswick is the parent company for Mercury Marine, as well as Bayliner, Lund, Lowe, Harris, and formerly Sea Ray, etc.

However based on your comment, I refused to argue with you. and since my statement can be backed up with a single 5 second google search, I dont need to.

Being a Tier 1 supplier to the marine engine manufacturers in a prior life and a Tier 1 supplier to the yachting world now they give you the design life.

 

[Benny67]

Being a Tier 1 supplier to the marine engine manufacturers in a prior life and a Tier 1 supplier to the yachting world now they give you the design life.

Marine Supplier... okay, I didn’t know they also specialize in every boat manufacturers design specifications.

Again, bottom line, you yourself never possessed an engineering position for any boat manufacturer and have no real inside information on durability or life duration of any boat. You shouldn’t be shoveling out this information as if it’s an actual fact, because it’s not.

 

[Scott Danforth]

prove me wrong

 

[Benny67]

prove me wrong

Lol... it’s more like you need to provide these facts yourself in order to make these claims.

you are writing statements based on YOUR opinion.

thats enough right there

 

[liusigou]

I'd like to know if you maintain your inboard motor or not? For my old chrysler motor I change oil and replace new water expeller by myself. and I can do the pressure test for the cylinder. Can I do the pressure test for the Mercury MerCruiser engine? Today I asked the owner about the cylinder pressure. But he even does not know anything about the pressure.

 

[Fishermark]

It is easy to do a compression test on the engine. Good compression will tell you a lot... but not everything. Look at the overall appearance and check for rust streaks along the various manifold joints. Check the oil. Brand new oil may mean it was just changed... and who knows what it was like before. Just saying to check things out before buying, if you do decide to pull the trigger.

Bottom line - it is one of the easiest engines to work on and find parts for.

 

[liusigou]

The engine sometimes stalls when idling. Is it easy to be fixed?

 

[havoc_squad]

The engine sometimes stalls when idling. Is it easy to be fixed?

Two famous words, "It Depends".

If you intend to actually do maintenance and repairs to your boat, there are five key things you first must understand how your boat functions:

1. Fuel. How does the fuel system function for your boat in keeping the engine running? What happens when too much fuel or not enough occurs?

2. Spark. How does the ignition system affect the boat engine while running?

3. Compression. How does the boat engine build and maintain compression for the combustion phase?

4. Cooling. How does the engine remove excess heat to keep the engine running? What happens when the engine overheats?

5. Drive system. How does the drive system of the boat convert the engine power into forward and reverse movement?

No one can learn it all instantly, so it would be beneficial first do some research on how a four stroke motor works and how a typical four stroke carburetor works.

If you don't do research, everything is going to seem like rocket science and foreign.

Those that ignore this get frustrated because the expert advice given to them wasn't a quick fix solution.

You either spend the time and effort to learn, listen, and do it right, or pay professionals who are trained to work on it.

 

[Lou C]

It’s a 31 year old boat used in a temperate climate that is likely to be damp. The cover does not fit all that well and it has no doubt wood cored decking with moisture holding carpet. Of course this boat has the risk of being rotted under that carpet how could someone doubt that? I rehabbed a similar boat and I’d never buy s boat built like that again. In fact when I re did mine o ripped all the carpet out and had the new deck glassed and gelcoated. It’s still solid 12 years later...

 

[Lou C]

It’s a 31 year old boat used in a temperate climate that is likely to be damp. The cover does not fit all that well and it has no doubt wood cored decking with moisture holding carpet. Of course this boat has the risk of being rotted under that carpet how could someone doubt that? I rehabbed a similar boat and I’d never buy s boat built like that again. In fact when I re did mine o ripped all the carpet out and had the new deck glassed and gelcoated. It’s still solid 12 years later...

 

[dolfan1710]

Transom, Transom, Transom!! My 31 year old boat (1988) has a completely rotten transom. My Dad bought it new in 1988 and gave it to me 4 years ago and I was completely unaware of this sort of thing. In fact much like yourself I thought the boat would fail mechanically long before it would structurally. That was an bad theory, I now have a boat that seemingly runs great that I can't use. My transom pushed a moisture meter to max in multiple spots and the percussion test was mostly pretty horrible. Check out that transom, I'm far from a pro (a boat surveyor checked mine) but many here are and can tell you what you need to do to check it thoroughly. For mine pulling on the swim platform and the seeing the out drive flex were the signs. Cracks around the out drive and no sign of bedding/sealant was a bad look for Stingray. According to my surveyor mine was best case scenario too as it really never sat in the water for periods of time as it was mostly a trailered boat.

You can start with youtube videos of guys percussion testing rotten transoms and try to tap this boat and compare the sounds. Many will say you have to drill to know but I don't think somebody selling you a boat is going to let you do that .