Mercury SportJet 175 general questions. Please help a newbie out!

a-chosen-1

Recruit
Joined
Jun 26, 2012
Messages
1
Hello All!

I have been a frequent lurking gleaner from this forum and have appreciated all the great info on here!

Here is what I would like info on. I recently purchased an 03 sugar sand Jet boat powered by the mercury 2.5 175 sportjet. The boat is a one owner, it has approx. 100 hours on it. It has always been garaged, had good oil run through it, premium gas, and been in a heated garage. It has NEVER been to the shop once. I did the first maintenance to it the other day. I removed the stock spark plugs and installed 6 new NGK buz8h plugs. I also did a compression check, and all cylinders showed 120 lbs, but my compression gauge hose is about 16" long, and the boat only cranks with the throttle closed, so I am assuming that this probably equates to about a 125-135 psi compression. It is a LITTLE bit cold natured, takes a few cranks to start, but runs quite well and has no issues. The siren on the boat does beep from time to time, but goes away if I let it sit for a minute(I am assuming that this is the overheat buzzer). Well, there is the run down on what I have.

What I would like some advice on, are the following:

About how many hours should I expect from this motor with proper care?

What is the best oil to run(quicksilver was my guess, but I did just use a tank of Penzoil XLF)

Is premium gas what I should use? It is not a very high compression setup, so I was thinking about running regular.

ANY other maintenance or anything I should expect to do or check on in the next 100 hours?

There is always a small amount of 2 stroke oil sitting on top of the carbs after running it. Is this normal?

How do I know if the buzzer is for oil pump failure or over heating?

Is there any suggestions as far as operation to prolong the life? RPM ranges it prefers, let it idle, or shut it off, etc..

Out of curiosity, what does a top end rebuild cost on one of these?


Basically, I want to take good care of the thing, but all my boats in the past have had regular 4 stroke I/O setups. Frankly, I am a little scared of the 2 stroke motors, but this is mainly due to ignorance. I have always been told that 200 hours on a jet ski is a lot, and to expect to put a top end on soon. I assumed that it would be the same with all two stroke marine motors, but I have heard of folks getting several thousand hours out of their outboards... Anyway, any and all info is awesome fellas! Thanks in advance! :)
 

JOEYD0730

Recruit
Joined
May 17, 2010
Messages
5
Re: Mercury SportJet 175 general questions. Please help a newbie out!

as long as the oil is tcw3 nmma oil you are fine
when he motor is overheating the alarm will be solid, so you alarm is a oil issue.
i would suggest eliminating the oil injection and pre-mix your gas to 50:1 ratio. as long at you pre-mix the motor in that boat is kinda bulletproof being its a very light boat.
i also have a sugar sand with the 175 sportjet.
the oil on the metal plate on the carbs is normal.
a guy by the name of Alan Eakes rebuilt my motor and it runs like a top, especially when i sent it to him the block was split in half due to the imfamous oil pump failure.
i run 87-89 octane in mine. keep it around 5000 rpms.. 5400 rpm is max.
 
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