30 year old Mercury 1500 Black Max Oil!!!

[jwayte]

I just recently purchased a 30 year old Mercury Black Max 1500 150hp motor. It is a two stroke and I was wondering what the fule/oil mixture should be. I was told to use Quick Silver oil and was given two measurements. One person said 50:1 and the other says 25:1. Any suggestions would help. If I am supposed to dilute it to 50:1 but dilute it to 25:1, is there a problem with that mixture. Any help would be great!!! NEW BOATER!!!

 

[Laddies]

Re: 30 year old Mercury 1500 Black Max Oil!!!

Orginal that was a oil injected engine but most the injection was troublesome so the owners removed it. Oil mix is 50 to 1

 

[BF]

Re: 30 year old Mercury 1500 Black Max Oil!!!

50:1 oil injection didn't start until something like '83 or 84. I have an '80 V150... it never had oil injection. What exact year are you talking about? '78?

 

[Laddies]

Re: 30 year old Mercury 1500 Black Max Oil!!!

BS, I don't knpw where you get your info but the first oil injection was on the 1976 Mercury 1750 heres a link for parts on the earliest V150 - 1978 look and you will see that it's oil injected. - http://www.mercruiserparts.com/selectDocs.asp?doc_nbr=818855

 

[jwayte]

Re: 30 year old Mercury 1500 Black Max Oil!!!

Mine is a 1978 Black Max 1500 v6. It never had oil injection and has always been pre mixed. I was just wondering the correct mixture ratio. Didn't mean to upset anyone. Is it 25:1 or 50:1. Thanks!

 

[jwayte]

Re: 30 year old Mercury 1500 Black Max Oil!!!

Mine, I believe, IS NOT an XR-2. It is a Mercury Black Max 1500 V6 150 hp.

 

[BF]

Re: 30 year old Mercury 1500 Black Max Oil!!!

50:1

That link is to a combined book. Mine, like jwayte's was never oil injected (and is not an XR2) ... I've owned mine since about '83. My neighbor at the lake has one that's either '83 or '84 and is oil injected. So there was a change there. There was also a re-engineering of the lower unit in there some where. By mid 80's they had a beefier driveshaft that did not have a pre-load pin on the top.

Overall, mine has been good to me.... great motor... but weak lower unit. I've broken the drive shaft twice.

 

[jwayte]

Re: 30 year old Mercury 1500 Black Max Oil!!!

Mine is mounted to an 18 foot skeeter and runs fair. I am not sure what WOT rpm it should be running but plains the boat fine. I have to hook up the speedometer so I can't tell how fast my boat runs but I think somewhere around 50 or 55 mph. It has a newer lower unit on it and a 23 degree pitch prop. Any advice would be welcomed.

 

[j_martin]

Re: 30 year old Mercury 1500 Black Max Oil!!!

That engine should run 5500 rpm or so. If you lug it much, you'll hurt it.

I'm running an XR4 on an 18 foot tracker of the same vintage. I believe the skeeter is probably a step up in performance.

Speed depends on lots of things. I'm getting low 60's at 6000 rpm. The XR4 is a stout 2.4 on a 4 1/4 inch gearcase, so it's known to be pretty hot for it's rating. I'm turning a 24 inch high five prop. I go down to a 22 inch for any water skiing or family boatload foolishness. 23 inch sounds about right.

Old boats get wet wood in them. If you're going slow, that's the first thing I'd look for. (a wet transom)

Best way to determine speed is with a cheap handheld GPS. The water pitot speedometer is at best a guess.

On oil. Most of the early v6's had a VRO oiler on them. A lot of them are blocked off, as they have a reputation for failure. Actually, if the engine is run within specified rpm's and you pay attention to alarms, including start up test beeps, they're probably more reliable than the average old man mixing oil and gas. If the VRO is removed, or it never has had one, use Mercury Premium, or any other TCW-3 oil at 50:1. I use PennZoil full synthetic, and if I weren't pushing the crap out of it all the time, I'd probably burn the Wally World TCW-3 oil. I think Mercury oil is way overpriced for what it is.

hope it helps
John

 

[jwayte]

Re: 30 year old Mercury 1500 Black Max Oil!!!

Thanks John. I have been using Quicksilver with the 50:1 ratio as I thought that is what it should be. My WOT runs about 4500 rpm but I recently adjusted the limiter bolt on the motor so I can open her up more. We will see what happens on the water this weekend. I want to get WOT rpms up to at least 5500. Thanks again

 

[j_martin]

Re: 30 year old Mercury 1500 Black Max Oil!!!

Thanks John. I have been using Quicksilver with the 50:1 ratio as I thought that is what it should be. My WOT runs about 4500 rpm but I recently adjusted the limiter bolt on the motor so I can open her up more. We will see what happens on the water this weekend. I want to get WOT rpms up to at least 5500. Thanks again

PANIC!!!

I suspect the adjustment you made is the maximum timing adjustment. That will grenade your motor if it's too far advanced. If you notice, it'll hit that stop a long time before the throttle butterflies open all the way up.

The timing is set with a light. Wot engine speed is attained by matching the load (propellor, engine mounting, etc) to the engine.

Get a book and do a formal link and sync on the engine. You'll learn a lot doing it, and probably eliminate some severe headache in the future. The adjustments are all inter-related, and when you start changing them without knowing your base line settings, you're just looking for trouble and expense.

hope it helps
John

 

[jwayte]

Re: 30 year old Mercury 1500 Black Max Oil!!!

John, thanks for the info. I didn't touch the timing. The adjustment was on the throttle cable linkage. The guy befor me had it tighened down because like an idiot, he used this engine for alot of trolling when in fact it was too big for what he needed. I had my local marine mechanic reopen the throttle linkage to where it should have been. It was opening up fully for WOT. I am smart enough to know better than mess with the timing and things of that nature. Being a "newbie" I am being careful enough but inquisitive. Is there anyway to get this mounted lower or higher to help achieve max WOT? It has a power trim on it and I know the prop. must be at least to the bottom of the hull or lower.

 

[jwayte]

Re: 30 year old Mercury 1500 Black Max Oil!!!

John, by the way, do you know where the best place to find a manual such as clymer or equivalent?

 

[j_martin]

Re: 30 year old Mercury 1500 Black Max Oil!!!

Getting a manual would help for sure. I use a CD version I got on eBay for under 10 bucks. It has enough engines in it so I can get an overview, and also an idea of what parts, such as carbs might interchange.

The real deal I also got on eBay. You can't beat the factory maintenance manual, however, they are revised as engines evolve, and things like the oil injection, and the latest on timing, might not be in the factory manual if you get it on eBay. One purchased at top buck from merkury will have all the current information.

Correct nomenclature (trade related words) is needed to accurately relay information about a machine like an outboard. When you said "limiter bolt" the only bolt I know of that might be construed as a throttle limit is the bolt with a lock nut at the top of the timing/throttle arm that sets WOT timing. You must be talking about the throttle cable adjustment on the cable itself.
The only other limit I know of is the idle timing adjustment at the bottom of that same arm. If the throttle cable is adjusted properly, that rubber button on a calling card should hold it, but allow it to be withdrawn without tearing it.

Get a manual, and do your own link n sync. You'll know it's right, and you also will learn how all the details work together on this engine.

hope it helps
John

 

[jwayte]

Re: 30 year old Mercury 1500 Black Max Oil!!!

Thanks again John. I am on ebay as I type searching for manual or CD. I am pretty ggod with auto motors but brand new to marine outboards. I am willing to learn though and am pretty intelligent as far as understanding goes. thanks again for all of your advice.

 

[j_martin]

Re: 30 year old Mercury 1500 Black Max Oil!!!

Thanks again John. I am on ebay as I type searching for manual or CD. I am pretty ggod with auto motors but brand new to marine outboards. I am willing to learn though and am pretty intelligent as far as understanding goes. thanks again for all of your advice.

I hear you. On the one hand, they're pretty simple, with few parts and few operations. (squish-bang, as opposed to suck-squish-bank-fart) On the other hand, sometimes it seems that magic is the operating theory.

John

 

[jwayte]

Re: 30 year old Mercury 1500 Black Max Oil!!!

I had my boat out this weekend after Decarbing it and it ran great.I also hooked up the speedometer and also brought along my GPS. It runs 50 mph at 5000 rpm WOT. It is fully loaded with myself (300 lbs.) , my nephew, a loaded 12 gallon tank and all my gear including three batteries. Fully loaded. I guess that is pretty good speed but I have nothing to gage against. It is really slow getting out of the hole and up on plain. I will now look into the prop. I will check the measurements on it and see what they are. I know it is stainless ans 23 pitch. Can you tell me what it should be. 18 foot skeeter bass boat fully loaded. I am thinknig that maybe a lower pitchmight help with the hole shot.

 

[j_martin]

Re: 30 year old Mercury 1500 Black Max Oil!!!

I had my boat out this weekend after Decarbing it and it ran great.I also hooked up the speedometer and also brought along my GPS. It runs 50 mph at 5000 rpm WOT. It is fully loaded with myself (300 lbs.) , my nephew, a loaded 12 gallon tank and all my gear including three batteries. Fully loaded. I guess that is pretty good speed but I have nothing to gage against. It is really slow getting out of the hole and up on plain. I will now look into the prop. I will check the measurements on it and see what they are. I know it is stainless ans 23 pitch. Can you tell me what it should be. 18 foot skeeter bass boat fully loaded. I am thinknig that maybe a lower pitchmight help with the hole shot.

That prop would be pretty normal on that boat, but if you're going to drive it, you probably need a little lower pitch. Total load weight is the key. 5000 is about minimum for WOT. 5500 would be quite a bit better. Hole shot and acceleration would both improve, and probably even top end.

hope it helps
John

 

[BF]

Re: 30 year old Mercury 1500 Black Max Oil!!!

just for your info... My V150 is on a 16' ski boat (a Glastron CVX with a different name badge). I have a 19" pitch standard 3 blade aluminum on it. It will run low to mid 50's (albeit speedo) at 6000 rpm when trimmed. Very quick out of the hole, but I am probably giving up some top speed. I am sure that my setup is not optimized for top speed, both with respect to engine height (Z dimension) and prop. The chinewalking gets a bit wild on my boat at anything above about 53 mph indicated.... I'm not too concerned with that since most of the time it's pulling a tuber or skier at slower speeds.

23" pitch on your boat sounds a bit steep to me. I'd guess either 21 or 19" is right.... but that's just a guess. Your tach and the performance out of the hole will tell you. If it's just to be used for fishing, it might not hurt to be on the high end of the range for pitch. But if you intend to do some watersports with it, you definitely don't want to be overpropped. 19" or maybe even 17" might be right for pulling (?).

 

[j_martin]

Re: 30 year old Mercury 1500 Black Max Oil!!!

Just looked back. 1978 150 would be about 125 at the prop. 23 seems steep.

I wuz thinkin of my XR4 150, which is probably closer to 160 at the prop. I run a 26 in high five with a fishing load, 24 for goofing off (it's a bit banged up anyway), 22 for heavy ski load, church picnic stuff.

You would probably prop out (stainless) at 22,20,18 for the same loads.
The 23 yer running is slipping about 14%, which means you're twisting it pretty hard for the speed yer getting. The combination of less slip and higher r's on a 20 -21 inch would probably get you better top end, and most certainly a better hole shot.

For the work bote (fishing, skiing) it's pretty hard to beat the high five prop.

hope it helps
John