1988 mercury 135hp v6. not staying running. help?

[dom_litty09]

hi i have a mercury 135 hp. 1988. v6. outboard. it has not ran in about 4 years.. just rebuilt part of the engine. now it will start but it wont stay running. it stalls after about a minute or 2. and this is when im still playing with the high idle. im not sure what to do now.. should i just keep starting it? or is there a problem i need to fix? help please.. i really wanna get it out still yet this year.. thanks

 

[dom_litty09]

Re: 1988 mercury 135hp v6. not staying running. help?

also the water coming out of the back get kinda hot.. is this a problem?

 

[dom_litty09]

Re: 1988 mercury 135hp v6. not staying running. help?

its almost like turning the sink on hot and puttin your hand under it.. its not hot enough to burn but its warm.. just wanna make sure everything is ok. dont want it to over heat

 

[j_martin]

Re: 1988 mercury 135hp v6. not staying running. help?

and this is when im still playing with the high idle. im not sure what to do now..

Do the linkage and timing adjustments by the book, then go from there. Anything else is just guessing, and maybe adding enough mis-adjustment to actually hurt the engine. Don't play, do it right.

also the water coming out of the back get kinda hot.. is this a problem?

All the water that comes out of the tell-tale has to go through a t-stat first. It's normally hot.

hope it helps
John

 

[dom_litty09]

Re: 1988 mercury 135hp v6. not staying running. help?

i got it running good and everything. just needed to be ran and carbs cleaned a lil. runs good now. but the hot water concerned me.. the temp gauge doesnt work so i cant tell how hot its getting.. i plan to get it fixed soon tho.. but i really wanna take it out i just wasnt sure about how hot the water should be coming out of the tell-tale

 

[j_martin]

Re: 1988 mercury 135hp v6. not staying running. help?

If it were mine, I'd remove the temp gauge, and use the hole to mount a water pressure gauge. It gives you much more useful information.

If the tell-tale doesn't instantly scald you, but seems hot, it's fine. The engine cooling system is a series of scientific wild a&%^^ guesses on delivery, discharge, pressure, and is partially controlled by thermostats. It's not an automobile. It won't get on a temp and lock there like a car does.

The tell tale tells you the engine is warm enough to blast off without sticking it with a cold seize.

The pressure gauge tells you everything else you need to know about the cooling system.

hope it helps
John

 

[dom_litty09]

Re: 1988 mercury 135hp v6. not staying running. help?

thanks