Re: AAAARRGGH! Mercury lemon?
Hi bryanredfish,<br /><br />Sorry to hear of your problems, I have a 2000 model 90hp Saltwater Merc and too date I am very happy with its performance, boat is only used in saltwater. I will pass on some observations <br /># the carbs seem to be quite sensitive, mine was a little erratic on idle and sometimes stalled, just richened the mixture by an extra 1/8 turn out on mixture screws made a huge difference. The dealer agreed and said settings made in test tank often require further tweaking.<br /># water flow and cooling seems excellent 5psi at idle, 9psi at 1500rpm and 15psi + at WOT on pressure gauge, can touch heads and any other part of motor after 20 mile run at 5000rpm<br /># motor outperforms original motor (90hp inline Merc six) on this boat with 38 mph at WOT (5300rpm), boat is fairly heavy (2600 to 3000lb)17ft deep V fibreglass half cabin used in offshore fishing.<br /># motor seems to need a few hours (50 +) before delivering peak performance, virtually immediate starting hot or cold with slight use of fast idle lever and choke<br /># only problem too date happened 2 days ago with alarm coming on 12 miles from home, shut down and lifted cowl, motor temp OK, oil level Ok and obviously no oil injection feed problem (oil level dropping & motor running perfectly) continued home at planing speed. Checked problem and found faulty oil level indicator sensor in oil tank, motor is recently out of warranty discussed with local dealer and new sensor to be fitted tomorrow at no cost.<br /><br />best of luck with your dealer<br /><br />Bob
