Why do Merc's have a bad rep?

[MercGuy]

Re: Why do Merc's have a bad rep?

All I can say is that I'm running a 12 year old Merc 115 with over 945 hours on it and so far I've replaced the exhaust cover gaskets and plugs and... Well that's all...

Runs like it was new.

Guess time will tell if it's a good engine or not.

 

[Gomer50]

Re: Why do Merc's have a bad rep?

I have rebuilt three Merc.'s 80hp,85hp and a 90hp all from the 70's and the only reason they needed rebuilt was because of owners neglect.I dont know a thing about other outboard brands but as stated there probably just as good if treated properly.However I do have to say Mercury sure does look good and sound good and my little 90hp inline 6 smoked a 125hp force.It probably is each to its own cup of tea or miller time versa Budwieser,

 

[Bass Buster One]

Re: Why do Merc's have a bad rep?

I grew up with my Dad's old Johnson 18 horse tiller on an old 14ft starcraft. We fished all over Watts Bar Lake in TN. As an adult, I've had nothing but Mercs. Presently, my favorite toy is a 1987 Mercury XR-2 150 on an 18ft Venture Bass Boat. Rockets out of the hole and scares the daylights outta me at the speed. I agree whole heartedly, it's all in the care you give a motor. Try not changing oil in your car/truck engine for 10-15K and see what happens.

By the way, didn't Mercury make, or, at least own, the Force outboard motors?

 

[Hubboat]

Re: Why do Merc's have a bad rep?

ive had mercs all my life maybe there mistaken it for a force engine now thats a piece of junk

I thought Force engines were basically re-badged mercs.

It's best to buy what you can get service on, and Evinrude doesn't have a large U.S. dealer base...

More popular in other countries?

 

[79Merc80]

Re: Why do Merc's have a bad rep?

I thought Force engines were basically re-badged mercs.

Force outboards are re-badges Chrysler engines. They have very little to do with Mercury/Mariner other than Mercury built them for a few years. I know a few mechanics that absolutely LOVED the Chrysler/Force outboard as they seem to always need to be worked on.

 

[jigngrub]

Re: Why do Merc's have a bad rep?

I've seen a bunch of other brand motors painted black so they look like mercs... I think they run faster after the black paint job too!

 

[cixelsyd]

Re: Why do Merc's have a bad rep?

Next time you're out on a lake take note of the older motors. I did just that and can tell you that at least 90 percent of them are Mercury on our lake, and Envirudes and Johnsons far outnumbered the Merc's when the motors were new. Pretty much tells the story.

Yes, I get ribbing from the guys who dump $12K into a new Yamaha every 5 years when I'm at the dock adjusting the carbs on my '78 Merc 90, but at least I can afford to have a cool one in the afternoon.

 

[bgc]

Re: Why do Merc's have a bad rep?

I just got some used parts last night from an outboard collector that ?scraps all mercs? that come to him.
He said ?They are worth more as used parts than as a running motor, I only sell running used OMC motors. They are easier and cheaper to repair.?

 

[MacDaddy21]

Re: Why do Merc's have a bad rep?

Personally, what I think it comes down to is maintenance. From my experience, if you take care of your outboard, whether it be a Mercury, Evinrude, or Johnson, they will all perform about equally. I have had boats as I was growing up that had all these different outboards and none really outperformed the other. But we always took extremely good care of our boats. We literally spent more time cleaning them than we spent on the water. Which I know is crazy but that is what my dad believed in. And funny enough, all of our boats that we owned, we made a minimum of a 500 dollar profit on them when we sold them. Right now I am running a 1979 Mercury 402 40hp that I rebuilt and replaced everything on it, except for the internals (crank, rods, pistons/rings, sleeves). This little motor is absolutely fantastic. I took it out for the initial run a month ago, it gave me some trouble. At that point, I hadn't yet rebuilt the fuel pump or carb because it ran great on the muffs. After it gave me some trouble at that lake run, I brought it home and rebuilt both the carb and the fuel pump (~35 dollars in parts), and it runs like a brand new motor. I don't even have to choke it most times I run it at the lake, even when it has set up for a week or two. It is proving to be one hell of a motor, even though it was badly mistreated. When I got it, the CDI ignition box was melted, all the wiring was shot, and it had some issues. But with a little work, she will push my little 16ft Lowe, fully loaded with gear, and 600+ pounds of people, at about 20mph. Not bad for 32 years old.

 

[DamianJP]

Re: Why do Merc's have a bad rep?

I thought it was "If it ain't BLACK, send it back !"

Though I think the maintenance plays a huge role, other than total screw up of certain years , parts , recalls.

My first motor was a Merc and I was a Merc nut. Didn't want anything else. Started with Evinrude/Johnson and that opened my eyes abit to other motor brands. Then still I disliked any outboard from Japan, due to "keep it in the states mentality" But then got ahold of a 97' Yamaha 115 and was blown away. Most stuff is being made or assembled in china or mexico anyways. I want the most bang for my buck at this point.

Hell people giving Force and Crysler (Early ones) motors a bad name. Iv'e seen both brand of motors babied and looked and ran excellent.

You know how they got the black color, I'm sure most of you do. Well for the ones who don't , the first in-line 6 cylinders looked so huge and bulky that either a Mother or a wife of one of the worker/executive said why not paint it black to make it look slimer. Like how women put on a black dress to look skinnier. I found that to be interesting piece of merc history, that and the endurance trials.

 

[Bamaman1]

Re: Why do Merc's have a bad rep?

If you've seen a lot of Mercury motors broken down, have you considered it's because there are just so many Merc's on the water?

There are just so many Mercury dealers out there. Heck, they'll give two or three dealers Mercury franchises in the same town. And they'll give other brand dealers Mercruiser franchises--to give them access to Mercury's full line of parts. Mercury really had to make changes after Yamaha came into the retail market.

I have friends that are professional fishermen on the Bassmaster Elite series. Out of 99 fishermen, I estimate 80% are running Mercs. Wonder why? The E-Techs professional fishermen just have more breakdowns, which can be extremely costly in the middle of a tournament. They love the Mercury Pro 250 2 strokes and the Optimax's fuel economy. They don't say anything bad about Yamaha's in private. If I was going to buy a new bass boat or hi performance tritoon, I would buy the new 250 hp Yamaha SHO 4 stroke--simply the boss.