Some more questions about my 83 mercury 50

[airraider]

So Ive posted a few threads so far .I just bought a 1983 Lowes side console with a 83 mercury 4 cylinder 50 and have been doing some test runs to work out any kinks in it before summer starts.1st I had a bad battery connection that was giving me some eletrical issues. check now Im good . Then today took it out , was having some trouble getting it to start, not too crazy . Got it to the lake ran about 2 or 3 mins and started gettin a thick light greyish blueish smoke from the motor then about 5 more mins motor started running half speed at full throttle ... Figured a spark plug had fowled .. took boat out changed spark plugs now it has a VERY rough start and wont idle at all ... and ideas?? Thanks

 

[airraider]

Re: Some more questions about my 83 mercury 50

one more thing. I just looked at mercurys recommendations for spark plugs . It seams mercury recommends NGK spark plugs , I used autolites since the shop was out of NGK ... could this be my problem?

 

[G3Joe]

Re: Some more questions about my 83 mercury 50

Air Raider. I'm fixing up a 1983 50 hp motor with old external hydraulic tilt trim. All of the wiring was dry rotted with insulation falling off and the coils were grounding out because of it. I rewrapped the wires with electrical tape and shrink tubing to get it to start and do a compression check. After replacing the wiring harness from ebasicpower it seems ok.

Good Luck