Mercury 1973 65HP Broken-Damaged Reed?

[kelbone]

We have a 1973 Mercury 65HP motor that is having some issues.. We are unsure of what it could be.. We have replaced every single thing on this motor.. Just replaced the last part yesterday.. Rebuilt the carbs also.. Let me tell you alittle about the motor first..

When we purchased it, we were told that it ran great.. Only needed to change the impellor and timing belt.. Did both of those and took it out to the lake.. To our luck it wouldn't go any faster than 6mph .. Brought it back home.. Started buying replacement parts.. Tested it many many times in a tank.. Ran great.. Get it to the lake and put a load on it.. Same thing, won't go over 6mph.. Decided to replace more things.. Checking everything..

Now we have replaced every thing on this motor.. Rebuilt everything that could be rebuilt.. Took the boat back out to the lake last night.. Same thing all over again.. Will not go faster than 6mph..

We have noticed that the carbs put out alot of gas when running.. Enough to see/smell.. Also when tilted it will leak from the carbs..

We have not checked the reeds on this yet.. Could this be the problem?

Can anyone tell me what to do next? Since it has been completely redone.. We are lost at where to go now.. Thanks so much..

 

[Chris1956]

Re: Mercury 1973 65HP Broken-Damaged Reed?

Reeds almost never fail. What is the compression on that motor? Do you have spark on all cylinders? Are the plug wires good, or do they arc to ground?

What prop do you have on it? What kind of boat. Have you set the timing correctly?

If you rebuilt the carbs, why do they leak? They should not leak when in the verticle position. They will leak when the motor is tilted.

 

[kelbone]

Re: Mercury 1973 65HP Broken-Damaged Reed?

Took the carbs off and looked inside. Looking through the bottom port we can see that the reed is broken, pretty much in half. I guess that is why it is blowing gas out the front of the carburetor instead of shooting it back to the bottom cylinder. Time to remove the power head and get to those reeds. Thanks for the reply, Chris.