old mercury 115 problem

boathawk

Recruit
Joined
May 6, 2002
Messages
1
Hey all, <br />I bought a '79 Ebko with a freshly rebuilt 1974 Mercury 115. It ran great for a month and then just started running rougher and not able to pull up any skiers. The marina boys took a look and said there were metal shavings on the spark plugs and they would not recommend trying to fix it. Should I start looking for a new outboard?
 

Bry21317

Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Apr 9, 2002
Messages
552
Re: old mercury 115 problem

The first thing that you should do is check the compression on this engine to see if all cylinders have compression.<br /><br />I have a friend that bought a 77 Merc 1150 with some metal shavings on the Spark plugs. His ends up to be a hole in the top of the block above the #1 piston. <br /><br />We have just torn this engine apart this weekend and plan on rebuilding it and having it back in the water and running again in the future.<br /><br />I wouldn't give it up, until you know exactly what is wrong with it and then see if you want to take on that type of job.<br /><br />Hope you get it back and running. This engine is not to bad to tear apart, other than there is a trick to taking off the carbs. You must take off the Flywheel, Starter and then start at the top carb, then the middle carb, then you can get the bottom one off. You have to reinstall this same way to, from what it looks like. <br /><br />Thanks,<br />Bryan Cox
 
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