Mercury 1500 Stalling on Water

[tjharp]

I have a 1976 Mercury 1500. It will run totally fine when its not under load and I get very high rpm. As soon as it goes into the water though, it will only go about 2-3 MPH and if I give it more throttle, then it will just die. I have rebuilt the carbs and fuel pump. I have changed spark plugs and wires. I have checked the compression. I think it might be the distributor now. I have a pointless distributor, but I don't know what that means.

Please make any suggestions of what you think the problem is. Also please tell me about how much I would be looking at for repair costs. Thanks!

 

[crem1]

Re: Mercury 1500 Stalling on Water

Did you actually put in a new carb kit in the carburator?

 

[tjharp]

Re: Mercury 1500 Stalling on Water

Yea I put new carb kits and cleaned the carbs and all if that stuff

 

[TopGunn]

Re: Mercury 1500 Stalling on Water

Is the timing right?

 

[tjharp]

Re: Mercury 1500 Stalling on Water

No the timing isn't perfect
I have a slight miss
could this cause that big of a problem?

 

[coolguy147]

Re: Mercury 1500 Stalling on Water

yes

 

[crem1]

Re: Mercury 1500 Stalling on Water

The other item to check would be the valves on the reeds

 

[Chris1956]

Re: Mercury 1500 Stalling on Water

TJ, Let's start with the basics. Take a compression test. All cylinders should be 100+PSI, and pretty even. Then test to make sure each spark plug gets spark. As those motors get older, the spark plug wires will arc to the block.

Did you install new plug wires made for that outboard? If so, run the motor for a while and check the spark plugs. If you see real clean spark plugs, especially on the bottom cylinders, you likely have water getting in the cylinders. it usually can be fixed, however, post back with your results.

 

[tjharp]

Re: Mercury 1500 Stalling on Water

The compression is at 120 to 130 psi and each cylinder is getting spark. The spark plugs were average, and they were all equal in the cleanlyness

 

[Chris1956]

Re: Mercury 1500 Stalling on Water

TJ - You have many fragmented postings asking for help in several areas. I recommend you go thru the link and sync procedure, let all but one post die, and update the one post with your results.

You might describe the miss as intermittent or continous.

 

[tjharp]

Re: Mercury 1500 Stalling on Water

Ok, sorry I didnt know we were supposed to keep in one post.
How do I do this link and sync?
I cant find how

 

[Chris1956]

Re: Mercury 1500 Stalling on Water

The Link and synch was posted on one of your other threads. I also described how to set the idle pickup timing on your motor.

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: Mercury 1500 Stalling on Water

best link n sinc procedure i know: http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?t=168855