Re: What year is my Mercury 115?
The oil tank holds oil for many gallons of fuel and will sound an alarm early. When there's still oil for at least an hour at full speed it will start beeping, in intervals.<br /><br />If you see a slight white smoke when idling (especially when cold), there's oil in the fuel and all is OK. If there's no oil at all you'll notice - your motor will die before long. And I mean die.<br /><br />The motor has several protective gizmos that will prevent overheating etc.<br /><br />The tell tale (cooling water control) pisses from the rear of the lower engine cowling. At first when you start is hesitates but it MUST show within some 30 seconds. The tale should be strong. According to my gauge it never really gets hot.<br /><br />Your experience when going from below to above 1800 rpm fits exactly to my description. It idles OK but you notice a change at 1800. It handles long low-rpm use quite well but benefits greatly from regular running at higher rpms. I often go low rpm. for about an hour or so, but always give it a good run when heading back at the end of a day.<br /><br />Compared to a 75 Evin there is a big difference in both hp and torque (as would there be in any 115 against a 75) so that is about what you could expect. If you've got the full instrumentation you've got a pressure speedometer as well. This kinda instrument is fairly accurate but not good enough for navigational purposes and useless at low speeds. The tach though is good and a very important instrument when using the boat and/or detecting malfunctions, prop dimensions etc.
