1985 mariner 75hp trade for 1994 force 90hp rebuilt would anybody do it

72bronco

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guy wants to trade his force 90 for my mariner 75hp Im looking for bigger motor but I hear all the bad rap about force motors does this sound like good trade or would you stay away from the force thanks Tim
 

Faztbullet

Supreme Mariner
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Re: 1985 mariner 75hp trade for 1994 force 90hp rebuilt would anybody do it

He would have to give me a little cash also before I would trade....my $.02
 

Mi duckdown

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Re: 1985 mariner 75hp trade for 1994 force 90hp rebuilt would anybody do it

No way
 

cr2k

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Re: 1985 mariner 75hp trade for 1994 force 90hp rebuilt would anybody do it

I would not trade and .049 cox model airplane motor for a force of any size. Force HP is way over rated. a 90 hp farce is really about 75 or 80 at best in the real world.
 

RRitt

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Re: 1985 mariner 75hp trade for 1994 force 90hp rebuilt would anybody do it

guy wants to trade his force 90 for my mariner 75hp Im looking for bigger motor but I hear all the bad rap about force motors does this sound like good trade or would you stay away from the force thanks Tim

how good is the rebuild and what kind of shape is mariner in? Force engines became unreliable when mercury took over engineering around 1992. If you know this and know what mistakes mercury made then you can turn a mercury force into an acceptably reliable engine. Ask about reeds and stators.

Reed valves are the big one. Mercury put composite reeds into an engine that cold sneezes. The reeds crack, the engine runs lean, and the 2 stroke powerhead blows. I wouldn't own a force with mercury reeds. Its an blown powerhead waiting to happen. There are two ways to address the issue. You can install a new set of boyensen reeds every few years as part of your maintenance rotation or you can install a set of chrysler force reeds. The boyensens (about $120) are composite and will also eventually crack from cold sneezing. The chrysler/force reeds are metal and never break but your performance will drop. The bad stators affected all mercury outboards and was fixed with later versions. If the '94 was used enough for the reeds to crack and cause a rebuild then the stator probably already self-destructed. The replacement part fixed the problem. If you fix the reeds and stators then a '94 force will run a really long time on pocket change maintenance (it's still basically a chrysler).

So the question is - how good was the rebuild? did it include new reeds? has the stator been replaced? How many hours left on your mariner?
 

1nebel0

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Nov 28, 2005
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512
Re: 1985 mariner 75hp trade for 1994 force 90hp rebuilt would anybody do it

I agree...I wouldn't buy an old force, or a newer force...Junk and all of them blow up...stick with what you got and may the force be not with you...........JUNK
 

RRitt

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Re: 1985 mariner 75hp trade for 1994 force 90hp rebuilt would anybody do it

I agree...I wouldn't buy an old force, or a newer force...Junk and all of them blow up...stick with what you got and may the force be not with you...........JUNK

Chrysler sold off marine division as part of a bankruptcy and government bailout deal. It was renamed Force. The base Chrysler design remained in place until 1987. Actual improvements were made by USmarine in 1989 and 1990. Force didn't turn to junk until mercury took over engineering in the 1990's. Mercury engineering with regards to force engines is probably the worst ever in the history of outboard engines. Most high school shop classes would have done better. If you buy a Force from the pre-mercury days it is a good engine. I would dare say that the chrysler engineered outoards are a better engine for their day and market than anything mercury has ever produced. A chrysler trim system for example cost 1/2 as much as a mercury trim to manufacture but lasted twice as long and cost 1/3 as much to repair. A chrysler voltage regulator rarely, if ever, breaks and costs $3.50 to replace (available from any industrial electronics supplier). A chrysler stator could be bought off-the-shelf at many NAPA. They are still available brand new for $130 from standard magneto out of detroit - but unlike mercury - they don't ever break ... so there is not much market for them. The list goes on and on. Mercury took an engine that ran like a clock on pocket change and turned it into an unreliable engine that sucks your wallet dry. Your can, however, retrofit chrysler parts and come up with a good engine.

So please. Don't over generalize. Force by merucry sucks. mostly because of mercury.
 

1nebel0

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Re: 1985 mariner 75hp trade for 1994 force 90hp rebuilt would anybody do it

I stand corrected....so many Mercury Force motors on the market with honest people buying the junk...Mercury should be ashamed of themselves for ripping on the boating consumer. I have nothing by high horsepower Merc's which I swear by however I do not condone ripping off the recreational boater who doesn't know how expensive parts are no less taking it to the repair shop can be owning one of these motors...Steve
 

RRitt

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3,319
Re: 1985 mariner 75hp trade for 1994 force 90hp rebuilt would anybody do it

I stand corrected....so many Mercury Force motors on the market with honest people buying the junk...Mercury should be ashamed of themselves for ripping on the boating consumer. I have nothing by high horsepower Merc's which I swear by however I do not condone ripping off the recreational boater who doesn't know how expensive parts are no less taking it to the repair shop can be owning one of these motors...Steve

The whole auto and boat engine industry changed in the 80's. Before the 1980's parts were thought of as customer support. The goal of good engineering was to design the most rugged engine that would last the longest, need the fewest repairs, and cost the least if repairs ever became necessary. US products from GM, Ford, and Chrysler put a lot of effort into using industrial standard parts whenever possible. If the customer could pull into a gas station in backwoods North Carolina and Gomer Pyle had his part in stock then it was thought of as a good thing. The Chrysler Force engine was unique in that it applied this Chevrolet V8 attitude to an outboard and Gomer had many of the parts in stock and would sell them to you at automotive prices.

During the 1980's there was a change and parts sales were seen as a profit center instead of a product support cost. Now the goal of engineering was to make sure Gomer did not have the part so that the customer had to buy your part at your price. Suddenly voltage regultors were $70 instead of $4 and stators were $350 instead of $120. At the same time manufactourers no longer wanted their stuff to last forever. They just wanted it to outlast warranty. And that's why Mercury Force is such a pile of crud. Mercury tried to cut manufacturing costs while locking in parts profit while shortening the lifespan down to warranty. They ended up just fubar'ing a perfectly good engine.
 
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