New to me 1996 merc 15m

[aburke120]

I posted here http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?t=573705 about a 15hp merc that I bought at a rummage sale and yesterday put it on the back of my 76 mirrocraft 14 and fired it up. took a few pulls but it started and ran. It's cold blooded, had to run on the choke for awhile, but then it ran on it's own with the choke off. Only had some drips coming from the tell tale, and the cylinders were heating up so I started tapping on the thermostat housing with the handle of a screwdriver, and she started spitting a nice stream of hot water. Everything cooled down, and I let it run for about a half hour, the motor shifted into forward and reverse real nice, going to take it for a test run tomorrow. I let it sit for about 3 hours and tried starting it, and it was running before I had the recoil all the way out. I like it.

 

[aburke120]

Re: New to me 1996 merc 15m

Forgot to mention there is water coming out of the lower unit on both sides from holes other than the tell tale, is this normal or is something wrong?

 

[emoney]

Re: New to me 1996 merc 15m

Normal, I'm sure as there are extra drain holes in the LU. You can put a picture up to confirm, showing the water escaping these holes. Also, I'd recommend maybe an impeller change, just to be on the safe side. Probably wouldn't hurt the change the LU fluid if it's been sitting a while and hasn't been done. Much better to invest a little bit of time now, as opposed to waiting for something ugly to happen.,

 

[aburke120]

Re: New to me 1996 merc 15m

here's a pic of the water there's another spot in the same place on the other side