1983 Mercury 80 HP Issues

[teneyckd2002]

Hi All,
This is my first post and I appreciate any help in advance for my knowledge on outboards is limited at best.
I just purchased my first used boat a few weeks ago. It is a fixer upper! I just replaced the entire floor and am working on some of the issues with the engine.
I have taken the boat out a few times and have narrowed the problems down to two things..

The first issue is the starting of the motor. I always have to give it a little throttle to get it going. Once I get it going it idles great, and doesn't quit.
The second issue is when I put it in forward position, I get to a certain speed and the engine quits. I know right where that "dead" spot is, if I punch it right before that spot, it accelerates past that spot and runs all day long great.
I am thinking that I am not getting spark in one of the cylinders, but I don't have any equipment to test it and the RPM guage isn't working so I am not sure of the RPM. Is this a common problem?

Thanks again,

Denis

 

[ricksrster]

Re: 1983 Mercury 80 HP Issues

Ther should be a cold start handle on top of the controller. Raise this up when starting. It opens the throttle up to give more gas when starting.
A spark checker can be about cheaply at any auto parts store.
Check the wiring on the tach. If there is a brown or a grey wire comig out of the controller, itis the tach send wire. A white wire coming from the control is 12v pos from the ignition key and attaches to the IGN post on the tach. The black is the ground. It may have a plug on the wires and connected to a tach harness. If this connection is not present on the controller. that send wire should run back to the motor and attach to either yellow or yellow/red wire post on the rectifier.

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: 1983 Mercury 80 HP Issues

check the spark on all plugs, if you have spark on all, then check the compression and all.. dragging a dead cylinder will do tremendous damage. find Clam"s linc n sinc, procedure. it puts the carb in sinc with the electrical timing. if you can find it email me 'tashasdaddy@comcast.net' i'll send it to you. tell in the message you want Clam's linc.

 

[teneyckd2002]

Re: 1983 Mercury 80 HP Issues

Checked spark today and only had spark on 2 of the 4 cylinders. Compression is good at 130, 140, 130, and 140 on all cylinders.

Thanks for the imput, it may be time for a mechanic who knows what they are doing...

Denis

 

[Laddies]

Re: 1983 Mercury 80 HP Issues

That would be the trigger to ck simply swap the trigger leads from 1 and 3 to 2 and 4 and see if the problem don't change to 1 and 3 cyls.