1994 150 HP mercury fixable?

[josh9676]

I have a 1994 mercury 150 HP xr6, carburated motor on a nitro boat. The boat was beeping for awhile and we thought it was just a sensor because it was smoking like it was getting oil and the water it was pumping was quite cool. When running it, the motor "seized" and shut off. When we got it home, the motor turned over fine, and even started. We did a compression test and 5 of the cylinders had about 95 PSI (we have a cheap tester, so it might not be very accurate) The sixth cylinder only has about 40 psi, and we havnt torn it apart yet. We found that the shaft that drives the oil pump was not spinning when we turned the motor over, so we figured somthing is wrong with the drive system for the oil. I was wondering how much this thing would cost to fix (assuming we just had to fix the one cylinder, or even if we can...) I have heard that the oil drive systems for these motors are insanely expensive, but i am not sure. Other than this defect the motor was perfect before this happened. Is this motor worth trying to fix? Thanks guys!

 

[j_martin]

Re: 1994 150 HP mercury fixable?

You probably have mechanical damage throughout the engine from lack of lubrication. The insanely expensive part of the oil drive gear repair is the same insanely expensive labor to replace internal engine parts. Major engine parts are insanely expensive also.

The beeping was the oil alert system telling you something was wrong. You chose to ignore it. Now you get to pay for that decission.

 

[josh9676]

Re: 1994 150 HP mercury fixable?

we were actually testing sensors when the motor stopped, we would have never have just kept using it recreationally. I was following instructions from this website for testing sensors by undoing wires to try to target the sensor that everybody thought it probably was. I just wanted to know if you thought this motor was worth fixing or just buy another one.

 

[sullmate]

Re: 1994 150 HP mercury fixable?

josh,
sorry to hear about your engine. I have a 1997 Mariner 135 HP. This past summer the alarm started an intermittent beep. I stopped the engine immediately and had a mechanic check it. The gear that drives the oil pump failed. The engine would have to be torn down to get to this part. Not worth it !. Now I just mix 50:1 ratio of oil with each 6 gallons of gas and there are no problems, just some additional smoking on start up.
Hope the engine is still repairable. If it is, don't reconnect the oil injection system just mix oil with gas as this thing will fail again !!
Sullmate

 

[Faztbullet]

Re: 1994 150 HP mercury fixable?

just wanted to know if you thought this motor was worth fixing or just buy another one.

Depends on how deep your pockets are...if $10 grand is in your price range ,replace it. If not tear it down and have repaired. A complete rebuild kit with all the bearing is about $1200 and if crank is damaged a good used one can be had in the $200-300 range or a reman for $600. With parts and machine work worst case you'll get is about $4500 but more likely around $2600 with crank.
$1200 parts +$600 crank +$360 boring+$175 misc parts (impeller oil gear)=$2340
All this is you supplying labor and assembling yourself.

 

[SparkieBoat]

Re: 1994 150 HP mercury fixable?

I don't think he is up to supplying the labor Faz. so he can add up to a couple of grand to those figures. I can find mid to late 90s and even some early 2000s in good running condition for 1200-2500..I have an 89 150 in great shape that has perfect compression and the foot is good..only needs a new stator which I will buy and install and get the motor running and install on his boat for $2000 even comes with a ss prop..but he lives no where near me, but I am sure he can find one near him for around that price

 

[josh9676]

Re: 1994 150 HP mercury fixable?

We actually have a close family friend that works at a marina as a mechanic and he said he is up to helping us fix it for free. Will i have to replace all of the pistons, or just the one piston and then just replace the rings on the rest? (assuming the other 5 cylinders and pistons dont look to bad...) How much does it cost for that POS plastic gear that ended up getting stripped out and caused this whole mess? I have looked through mercurys parts page and i have not been able to locate it. I also found an electronic pump that somebody suggested to put on this and just bypass the mechanical pump because they seem to have lots of problems.. http://www.marinesolutionswi.com/
Tell me what you guys think, it even hooks into the oil alarm and fits under the cowl, and seems like it would be much easier to replace, and runs about 500 dollars. i have seen some pretty nice optimax motors (around 2005 or so) going for about 4500-6500 dollars so this could be a viable option as well. Thanks guys, you have all been such a great help.

 

[Faztbullet]

Re: 1994 150 HP mercury fixable?

Will i have to replace all of the pistons, or just the one piston and then just replace the rings on the rest? (assuming the other 5 cylinders and pistons dont look to bad...)

Your wont know till you tear it down and examine pistons,cylinder wall and crank.

How much does it cost for that POS plastic gear that ended up getting stripped out and caused this whole mess?

About $35... the reason they fail is due to previous overheat problem, over reving and plastic bushing siezing.

I also found an electronic pump that somebody suggested to put on this and just bypass the mechanical pump because they seem to have lots of problems.

Way over prced in my opinion, after 1992 the plastic gear problem really improved due to design change and failure rated dropped a lot. Most of the oil problems you hear about are from back in the middle and late 80"s and a lot of "hearsay" same as the VRO system. Yes some later model motors have problems but very few.

 

[1nebel0]

Re: 1994 150 HP mercury fixable?

The lesson here is mix your oil.. I have a couple of 200h.p Merc,s and the oil systems are disabled with the plug that goes into the gear. We premix as I have learned many lessons from friends. I have a number of Johnsons and again don't use the VRO systems...we premix...While everyone says the systems have gotten more reliable why would you take a chance....PREMIX and never worry about running dry on oil and eating a motor. Don't mean to preach here and oil injection is cool, but I am not willing to lose a motor due to pump failure. Yes they smoke more at idle then a oil injected motor but that's the least of it in my eyes.

 

[mphy98]

Re: 1994 150 HP mercury fixable?

You can buy a complete rebuilt powerhead here at Iboats for 2500.00. then it is just a swap out. Cheapist way to go I believe.

 

[Faztbullet]

Re: 1994 150 HP mercury fixable?

You can buy a complete rebuilt powerhead here at Iboats for 2500.00.

That for the 2.0 liter motor, this is the 2.5 liter which is $4000 with core charge. Cores are valued by 2 items,the block(60%core value) and the internals(40%core value) so if if block deems salvageable and crank and rods is toast you may get about $400 back of the $650 core charge...