Neutral????1996 25 HP Mercury

[96Landau]

I just bought my first jon boat and it has a 1996 25 HP mercury outboard (tiller). When i crank it up in the drive way with the motor flush, im assuming there is no way to rev up the engine in neutral. Does anyone know if it has a neutral, besides taking the cowling off and pulling the lever on the motor.

 

[JB]

Re: Neutral????1996 25 HP Mercury

Never rev an outboard without a load on it. Your engine probably has a mechanical block to prevent revving in neutral, but with the prop out of water the danger is still there in gear.

The danger is thermal runaway. You won't be able to shut it off, and it can possibly destroy itself.

 

[96Landau]

Re: Neutral????1996 25 HP Mercury

with all of our other boats i have always reved them up in neutral, so thats bad for it why flushing the motor? But when i flush this motor out in the drive way i usually just put it in gear to rev it up and it lets me... thats bad for it too?

 

[DJ]

Re: Neutral????1996 25 HP Mercury

You've been REALLY LUCKY you didn't destroy one.

There is a reason that there is a nuetral stop, on the throttle.

Even in gear, there is NO LOAD on the engine. As JB said, you risk going into "thermal runaway".

Running it a bit over idle is OK but 1500 RPMS is about it. It doesn't take much to get it to 1500.

 

[96Landau]

Re: Neutral????1996 25 HP Mercury

so when i flush my engine in the drive way i should just let it idle??? WILL THAT DO THE TRICK?