my mercury 70hp horror story which is now over (opinions needed)

[RaScLeS]

my boat is ready to leave the shop, a 1978ish mercury 70hp i picked up for $600 was put on. sounds like a decent deal right ?

here comes the nightmare, i got the shop to clean the carbs properly (2hrs)? remove the gearcase and install NEW impeller and housing.(2hrs)?

$280labour + 70ish for parts. ok. seems a bit steep.

tried the boat and had no power, trigger ($180) + 1hr $70 and it worked for a bit(3 hours tops). would it realy take 1hr to put the trigger in ?

well i lost power again, the stator was crap (another $180) + 1 hour again

now im going to try it tmrw and hope it works good. the total bill looks like its going to be over $900 with taxes and i feel like im getting ripped off for labour and i also feel like dying.

total investiment is around $1500 for a ****ty old 70hp. i feel sick.

after all that work is the motor ready yet ? I plan on taking very good care of it and putting it to use.

I want to know what people think of the 70merc 3 cylinder and if I should keep it. and how long you think it will last for if i baby it.

also what would you have done ? I couldnt get any used parts.

the motor was traded for a 25hp johnson that i sold for 750$....was this a terrible investiment i made ? or will this thing have me happy? right now I feel like i made a big mistake and id like some feedback.

thanks iboats.

 

[ezmobee]

Re: my mercury 70hp horror story which is now over (opinions needed)

Sounds like you made the mistake that I've made in the past and told the shop what you think it wrong with it and let them throw parts at it. You need to tell the shop the symptoms and let them diagnose. Then if their diagnosis is wrong it's (at least partially) their *****.

 

[RaScLeS]

Re: my mercury 70hp horror story which is now over (opinions needed)

not exactly, I did help alot, when the motor lost power after it was fixed i knoew the stator mustve been screwed. i did my own diagnosing on the water.

Its just when i go to pay him i dont think those big labour costs are worth it. 2 hours on carbs ? what are you a newb ? and 2 hours for the impellor ? it cant take a pro that long wtf. so maybe 3hrs for those two, and an hour for the stator and trigger installed. thats reasonable enough no ?

keep in mind ive given him lots of money for my atvs/dirtbikes. he should bargain, and TAX AHHHHHHHHHHH over $120+ in taxes. honestly the irs can suck it and i hear its going up on certain items

 

[mattmann1972]

Re: my mercury 70hp horror story which is now over (opinions needed)

Why didn't you try and do the work yourself? I bought a manual of ebay for $6, bought a stator, trigger, plugs and leads for $285 and intend to have fixed up and in the water by the end of next week. Outboards aren't that complicated and there's enough help on here to get past most probs!

Matt

Weymouth, UK.

 

[RaScLeS]

Re: my mercury 70hp horror story which is now over (opinions needed)

well the mercs seem fairly complicated compared to omcs. i didnt know id get this deep. if that sounds about right for the labour ill pay it and theres no way around the part prices.

Aslong as the stator/trigger/powerpack last me I use good gas and oil and dont redline it should last ? or is it going to blow a piston I dont need any of that. it seems these 70hp's are junk in most cases I dont want to have a lemon lol. it sounds nice when its working properly

 

[mattmann1972]

Re: my mercury 70hp horror story which is now over (opinions needed)

Hi mate, i know what you mean. Mine's a 1985 50Hp Brown band which has had bloody electrical problems but i couldn't afford to stick it in with a mechanic so had no choice to do it myself, heck, a stator alone is the equilivent of $500 here in the Uk so i bought the parts from the USA.

I would say though that if you get a manual and speak to the guys on here with any worries you'll find it's pretty easy to get by and at the end of the day you'll have an engine that YOU know inside out and can then fix the odd problem if you get stuck out on the water, that for me is pretty invaluable!

Matt

Weymouth, UK.

 

[zbnutcase]

Re: my mercury 70hp horror story which is now over (opinions needed)

Good reason to avoid outboards more than 8-10 yrs old. nutcase

 

[RaScLeS]

Re: my mercury 70hp horror story which is now over (opinions needed)

there was another 70hp in the shop, that year (92+) costed him $700+ for the part alone from mercury.

ill be avoiding the shops from now on but id like to hear from people who have 70's that have lasted forever. the 25hp johnson i had on the boat before would never have a problem ever

 

[mattmann1972]

Re: my mercury 70hp horror story which is now over (opinions needed)

Get a manual and don't be scared, it's not as if you're tinkering with a state of the art Ferrari or a Lambo! 2 stroke engines are pretty basic and the guys in here are always on hand for anything you're not sure about!

Matt

Weymouth, UK.

 

[thefairlaneman]

Re: my mercury 70hp horror story which is now over (opinions needed)

Sounds to me like the shop has a minimum time for any repair and thats one hour. Everything takes one hour even if they can do it in 5 minutes. Every time they see you they start the process over again. They are there for money period. Learn to do this easy 5 minute stuff yourself or you will be back to the "everything is an hour or more"

 

[will941s]

Re: my mercury 70hp horror story which is now over (opinions needed)

The prices really are not that steep. I few weeks ago I had to have two bolts removed out of the water jacket on my 98' merc 25. I gave them the water jacket gasket, and the new bolts. $255.00 for the labor (3hrs @ @85). It was a REALLY simple job, but I did'nt have the tools to do it....sooooo, $255 and the job was done right.

 

[RaScLeS]

Re: my mercury 70hp horror story which is now over (opinions needed)

UPDATE:I already made a post but i didnt go threw

the motor only goes hard at wide open, anything less and its slow and is probably not working well on 1 cylidner, the plugs are under 4hours old.

what can i check out ? the thing is super fast when it kicks and I want to finish the job, thanks for opinions on the pricing, its the parts and tax that killed the deal

 

[Charlie in TX]

Re: my mercury 70hp horror story which is now over (opinions needed)

R, this is not pointed only at you, but at most boat owners.

Owning and using a boat is our hobby. It is a mechanics lively hood. You look at that man in the eye, he has a mortgage, kids going to school, the same issues you have. He is not there because he likes you so much.

What do you do for a living (you being a generic boat owner) plumber? electrician? engineer? accountant? Are you doing it for free? No, you are doing it to meet your needs. So is your mechanic.

In conclusion, find a mechanic you can trust. Tell him to fix it. It will cost you less in the long run.

 

[trendsetter240]

Re: my mercury 70hp horror story which is now over (opinions needed)

R, this is not pointed only at you, but at most boat owners.

Owning and using a boat is our hobby. It is a mechanics lively hood. You look at that man in the eye, he has a mortgage, kids going to school, the same issues you have. He is not there because he likes you so much.

What do you do for a living (you being a generic boat owner) plumber? electrician? engineer? accountant? Are you doing it for free? No, you are doing it to meet your needs. So is your mechanic.

In conclusion, find a mechanic you can trust. Tell him to fix it. It will cost you less in the long run.

Good point, however a good mechanic should've told you that throwing money and parts at an old motor like this can get expensive real quick and maybe he'd be better off buying another one. Actually he should've taken the time to diagnose the real problem and saved his client some cash. A happy customer is a return customer.

Anyone that you deal with in business or in life that treats you like a sucker is not worth dealing with twice.

my 2c.

 

[RaScLeS]

Re: my mercury 70hp horror story which is now over (opinions needed)

well im not hating on the mechanic i was just "price checking"

I have a new problem and the boat only roars at WOT and still sometimes cuts out, im going to do a search and if i have to ill open a new thread stating the problem.

 

[Moody Blue]

Re: my mercury 70hp horror story which is now over (opinions needed)

Has anyone performed a compression check on the motor? THe first thing I would do before spending a dime on any motor.

No sense sinking $hundreds into a motor with a blown piston.

 

[RaScLeS]

Re: my mercury 70hp horror story which is now over (opinions needed)

cylinders were all over 90psi i want to check it again to be sure buts its not the problem, i can hit 35+mph but right now it only works at WOT.

is it because its fairly cold now ? im thinking the carbs are the issue and that he needs to tune them again before he gets the 2hrs labour he put into them

 

[Moody Blue]

Re: my mercury 70hp horror story which is now over (opinions needed)

Don't rule out a bad cyl. Your motor will run on just 2 cyls, just not very well.

I had a 4 cyl that idled like crap but run pretty good at WOT. Turns out that #3 piston had partially melted and the rings were seized and the cyl walls badly scored. I had 120Ib on three cyls and 20Ib on the fourth.

 

[RaScLeS]

Re: my mercury 70hp horror story which is now over (opinions needed)

i notice that it was on 2cyl when the stator and trigger went out, got those parts installed it i pulled the plug wires off the top and bottom cylinders and it wouldnt start (1 at a time obv.), or barely. i put all 3 on and it fires up. (before the new trigger, the top wire could come off and it would run the same) then when the stator went out the bottom could come off and it would run the same.

it seems like theres weak spark or bad fuel mixture at low rpm.

note: before the stator went out and a new trigger was in, the boat would work at all rpms. but on ocassion the motor would start cold on two and when i put the throttle down the 3rd would pick up and off it went.

ill get the compression numbers this week. maybe i need some of that magic mystery oil that people use.

the motor tops out redline and sounds like its fine but ease off and its like running at 2cylinder power.

where should i start ? new stator trigger and a working powerpack are in, plugs arent very old at all.

1 coil was bad so i put another, could the wires from the coil to the pack be worn out ? or maybe i should throw all 3 spare coils in it.

very aggravating when you owe 800+$ on a motor thats not great yet.

note: the motor idles well

 

[Kainon]

Re: my mercury 70hp horror story which is now over (opinions needed)

I think the labor time charged is definately longer than how long it takes. I've worked for a marina and unless the bolts are seized it doesn't take 2 hours, maybe 1.25 or 1.5 hours, but not 2, unless they ran it, but still u dont need to run it for 30 mins. and checking water flow should not be checked from a garden hose. As for the cutting out and not running except full out..

need to know the compression.. 90 is not good enough ( barely usable in my book )

Need to know how it's sparking.. need spark test lights or a timing gun, on each wire while cranking and running.

Need to have a test squirt bottle with some fuel mix in it.. to spray in the carbs while running.. a lean carb (not properly cleaned or set) will cause cylinders to not fire off..​