1988 mercury 135hp v6. starting problems.. and starter getting very hot. help please

[dom_litty09]

i have a 1988 mercury 135hp v6. i just put the engine back together after i replaced a piston.. the motor has not ran in 4 years (approximately). it started up for the 1st time yesterday. it has about 7 gallons of gas which was pry in there 4 years ago. it still smells good tho.. but anyways. the motor fires up and runs for id say 15-30 secs (maybe longer sometimes) then dies.. why is it doing this? and also when im trying to start it, after a while the starter will get very very hot and not work, it will just make a weird buzzing noise. its a new starter, just put it on yesterday.. any info or tips for starting would be great. thanks

 

[Jake.]

Re: 1988 mercury 135hp v6. starting problems.. and starter getting very hot. help ple

could be an obstruction in the fuel line, a partially gummed carb, or your 4 year old gas. Gas doesn't have to smell bad to be bad.

How long are you letting the starter turn? If you exceed the duty cycle you'll fry it.

 

[dom_litty09]

Re: 1988 mercury 135hp v6. starting problems.. and starter getting very hot. help ple

how do i know the what the duty cycle is? i dont wanna fry it since it is a brand new starter... and i figured since the gas smells good it was good.. im gonna try and put new gas in it tomorrow

 

[ufm82]

Re: 1988 mercury 135hp v6. starting problems.. and starter getting very hot. help ple

4 year old gas??? Puh-leeez. Blow a few bucks and get some fresh fuel. It will help it but you have other issues. Duty Cycle is how long you can use the motor and how long it must "rest" between uses. Like 10 seconds cranking and 2 minutes rest. That's about a 12% duty cycle. You build a lot of heat during cranking. Heat increases resistance which causes higher current draws and eventually melts things.

Did you do carbs? Old gas in the carbs will surely have left nasties.

 

[dom_litty09]

Re: 1988 mercury 135hp v6. starting problems.. and starter getting very hot. help ple

so how do i know what the duty cycle is on my starter? and should i siphon the old gas out? or just add high octane gas to it? and the carbs are clean

 

[j_martin]

Re: 1988 mercury 135hp v6. starting problems.. and starter getting very hot. help ple

He just told you what the duty cycle is. You are far exceeding it, and may have already burned down the armature in the starter.

Starters have very low duty cycles. They are designed to run for a few seconds at a time. I believe most are rated about 30 seconds maximum cranking time, 10 minutes minimum cool down. Normally an engine starts within 2 seconds.

 

[dom_litty09]

Re: 1988 mercury 135hp v6. starting problems.. and starter getting very hot. help ple

ok i just wanted to know if mine had a certain cranking time and cool down. and it hasnt started in about 4 years so it hasnt started in a while.. and was just rebuilt. so it cranks for a while sometimes to get things going.. i think once i put new gas in it it should fire better. i didnt think the gas was bad cause it smelled good but im just gonna try some new gas now tomorrow or saturday. hopefully it works

 

[Jake.]

Re: 1988 mercury 135hp v6. starting problems.. and starter getting very hot. help ple

It shouldn't have to crank for awhile to get things going, recently rebuilt or not. Either it's properly set up or it isn't. Swap out the gas and try to start it. If you're on the key for more than five seconds you're either doing something incorrectly or you have some issue other than bad gas.

 

[dom_litty09]

Re: 1988 mercury 135hp v6. starting problems.. and starter getting very hot. help ple

ok. well im gonna try and put new gas in it today.. hopefully that works out

 

[CharlieB]

Re: 1988 mercury 135hp v6. starting problems.. and starter getting very hot. help ple

Old sour fuel needs to be REMOVED, it will quickly ruin fresh fuel.

Rebuild the fuel pump, replace the fuel lines and primer bulb.

Old hoses, primer bulb, and a weak fuel pump will soon destroy your motor if simple maintenance isn't done.

 

[dom_litty09]

Re: 1988 mercury 135hp v6. starting problems.. and starter getting very hot. help ple

ok. im gonna put new gas in it soon.. the clicking sound i described b4 was the solenoid and it went out so im waiting on my new one to come in then ill put new gas in it and see what it does