Re: 83 115 HP Merc Should I Keep It?
I've carved out an entire niche market catering to the "direct charge" inline that Brunswick and the dealer system seem so eager to get rid of.<br /><br />The fact is that many aftermarket sources for parts for these things have sprung up. It's only costly to repair them because Brunswick Mercury is trying to make it that way. It's time you avoid "the dealer" and look for a smaller independant shop that gets the parts from Sierra, Pro-Marine, NAPA, Rapair, etc etc. <br /><br />And back to those compression numbers, sounds like the rings are getting sticky, use Mercury Power Tune as directed (a couple times) to make sure they unstick.<br /><br />As the motor ages you may need to "get involved" a little deeper in the repair process - to avoid getting hosed.<br /><br />For example, on your last repair,I'd guess that the high speed winding on the stator failed. Replacing both switchboxes was overkill. It's impossible that they'd failed considering it would run OK under 2000 - period. And the waterpump is normal PM regardless of age of any outboard. <br /><br />So take your last bill, deduct the parts and labor to do the switchboxes, deduct the water-pump as normal maintanance. And imagine the stator part cost only 1/2 that on the aftermarket.<br /><br />That's what the *failure* could have / should have cost you, if your shop was on the ball and there wasn't an "agenda" to retire the inlines.<br /><br />-W (PS - I hope you got to keep your old switchboxes - you are entitled to by law - and you can use them if you *do* get a switchbox failure.)
