Hello I've got a question on a boat I'm looking at purchasing. The boat has a 50 hp Mercury 4stroke (carbureted version, not fuel injected) outboard on it. The owner is unsure of the year but the engine worked fine for the first four years.
The engine only has about 50 hours on it and will completely shut down at about 3000 rpms (15-20 mph). There are no alarms on it when the shutdown occurs. The owner took it into a outboard shop and they couldn't determine the problem. The problem does not seem to be fuel related as the motor isn't shaking before shutdown. The owner said it just stops immediately, no alarms present. The carbs have been cleaned and resynced, the shop said they thought it was not fuel related but was some sort of electrical problem. The shop was not a mercury outboard shop though.
Any ideas? I've read a lot of threads talking about faulty voltage regulators and also some sort of washer under the powerhead that can corrode and cause problems. I am wondering why there isn't any alarm when this occurs on this engine. The engine will start back up fine and will run but will never hit higher than the 3000 rpm mark.
I sure don't want to buy a boat with a questionable four stroke on it, if it's something simple then I wouldn't mind having it fixed but if it's something under the powerhead it's going to be very expensive to fix.
The engine only has about 50 hours on it and will completely shut down at about 3000 rpms (15-20 mph). There are no alarms on it when the shutdown occurs. The owner took it into a outboard shop and they couldn't determine the problem. The problem does not seem to be fuel related as the motor isn't shaking before shutdown. The owner said it just stops immediately, no alarms present. The carbs have been cleaned and resynced, the shop said they thought it was not fuel related but was some sort of electrical problem. The shop was not a mercury outboard shop though.
Any ideas? I've read a lot of threads talking about faulty voltage regulators and also some sort of washer under the powerhead that can corrode and cause problems. I am wondering why there isn't any alarm when this occurs on this engine. The engine will start back up fine and will run but will never hit higher than the 3000 rpm mark.
I sure don't want to buy a boat with a questionable four stroke on it, if it's something simple then I wouldn't mind having it fixed but if it's something under the powerhead it's going to be very expensive to fix.