KermieB
Petty Officer 2nd Class
- Joined
- Jan 17, 2010
- Messages
- 144
This might be a long story, but hopefully written well enough to keep you interested and make you smile.
I spent years installing telephone systems for a private company. It wasn't long until I learned the hard way to never listen to what the client thought was wrong when I was running a trouble call.... just start with the basics. After a while, I told the girl who takes the service calls to ask the client two things. 1. Is it plugged up? 2. Is it turned on? You'd be surprised how those two simple questions saved me tons of time and miles driven on service calls.
I'm new at boating. I bought my first boat in '09 through the Boat Angel program... I paid $1,550 for a 1990 Sea Ray bow rider with a 2.3 and really good trailer. I got lucky in that it was a one owner boat and was in really good shape. I bought this as my first boat because I knew I could most likely work on that engine. The owner had stated that it didn't run, but I quickly found that it was just a bad wire on the starter and the ignition switch was bad. One starter, one ignition switch, and a water pump later and I was on the lake and have been since. In 2011, I bought another boat just because I had a hunch that it too would be a good buy.... a 1996 Maxum 1900 XR with a Mercury 150 outboard and trailer that I got for just over $1,600. Take careful note, that this is my FIRST outboard. The donating owner said that the boat had been running just fine before it was taken out of the water and winterized. It had been sitting on the trailer in his 40 acre waterfront estate on Newport Bay in Maryland because they bought a new boat (pointing at what looked like about a 280 Sundeck.) This guy had no reason to lie to me.
So.. I put two new tires on the trailer and drag the boat nearly 500 miles back to South Carolina. The next morning I get out and start the process, but it won't start... turns over great. Sounds good, just won't fire. Again, this is my first outboard and I have no stinking idea where to even start troubleshooting to see what could be wrong. When the cowl comes off, the intimidation factor is overwhelming for me. I check to see if the Emergency Kill switch is in correctly. It is. Does it have gas? Check. Because it's early summer and the boat dealer's yard is slam full of boats to be repaired, I take it on a referral to an auto mechanic that I'm told works on outboards too. Well, three days and $250 later, I pick the boat up and take it straight to the water, as well as my other boat just in case we have a problem. I put it in the water, it cranks a little slow, but it does start, and runs like a charm. I mean this motor is sweet. No spits or sputters. Nothing. Man.. I'm a happy camper. The next day, we take it back to the water and ....NOTHING... It won't start, just like before the mechanic. Well, it's summer time and I have a boat that runs fine so I just park it till later. Later doesn't get here until this year. Yes, it literally sat in the yard covered for another year and a half until decided to try again.
This time I ask around and get the name of a highly recomended mechanic who has an iron clad reputaion. His father owned a dealership and he worked on boats all his life until they closed the doors and be became a fireman. When I drop the boat off at his house, he is on a 24 hour shift but says he'll start on it in a couple of days. After several days, he calls me and asked... "What's supposed to be wrong with this boat? It's a little sluggish, but starts just fine for me every time?" I'm floored. What?? Well, he ends up pulling the carbs, tearing them down and soaking and cleaning them thoroughly and pulled the foot and replaces the impeller and housing. He charges me $370, and my son picks the boat up on the way home from work. My son sends me a video of the guy starting the motor over and over. It sounds great and fires IMMEDIATELY when you turn the key.
So... The next day, Memorial Day weekend, I take the boat to the water. Starts a little slow but does and runs fine. My wife and I cruise around for a while and then just float for maybe an hour and a half. A new problem arises when the motor suddenly starts to trim itself up while we are sitting still. Rut ro, another problem. When it's time the leave, the motor BARELY starts.. oh crap, here we go again. The next day I put the water hose on it and try to start again. Nothing. Damn. I'm getting ill now. I text the mechanic (Chris) and he says that he gets off at 7 a.m. the next morning and he'll come pick up the boat, but when he gets to my house, we start talking and never even try to start the motor. He tells me that since the boat had spent it's life in a salt water environment, maybe there was an electrical connection somewhere that is suspect and drifting in and out. A week later he calls with the same story. Every time he tries, it fires up. What am I doing wrong? Maybe it's me. Am I flooding the motor? What? He says that those older Mercurys are fairly easy to flood, but he doesn't seem to have a problem with it.
I go pick the boat up, he climbs in, turns the key. Bam, fires up with no problem. He then tries to give me back my $370 check, saying that he didn't feel like he had done what he promised and wanted to make sure I was happy. I refused to take the check saying that he had spent a lot of time on my boat and it runs every time I pick it up. Well, here's the plan. I'm gonna go through and replace every single wire splice on the boat and go over every inch of wire to see if there's a problem. In the mean time I have that mysterious trimming up of the motor problem again, which I am able to diagnose as a relay problem. My local auto parts place happens to have that realy, so problem solved.
Now, here's where it gets fun. My ignition switch is loose and the whole thing turns when you try to start the motor, so I grab a pair of Channel Locks and tighten the lock ring, at which time the entire ignition assembly falls to pieces. Here we go, time for yet another problem, right? Not really, I can handle a ignition switch, but WAIT, this one has a whole bunch of wires comeing out of it whereas my other boat only had three..... I go to a very good source, which is this forum and start reading and looking for the information I need. It's at this time that I discover a brand new, modern technology that explains all of the problems I've been having with this motor. It explains why there are six wires on my ignition. It explains why everybody but me says this motor starts just fine. There is a name for this new invention....
.... it's called, "push to choke."
LMAO have a nice day gentlemen.
I spent years installing telephone systems for a private company. It wasn't long until I learned the hard way to never listen to what the client thought was wrong when I was running a trouble call.... just start with the basics. After a while, I told the girl who takes the service calls to ask the client two things. 1. Is it plugged up? 2. Is it turned on? You'd be surprised how those two simple questions saved me tons of time and miles driven on service calls.
I'm new at boating. I bought my first boat in '09 through the Boat Angel program... I paid $1,550 for a 1990 Sea Ray bow rider with a 2.3 and really good trailer. I got lucky in that it was a one owner boat and was in really good shape. I bought this as my first boat because I knew I could most likely work on that engine. The owner had stated that it didn't run, but I quickly found that it was just a bad wire on the starter and the ignition switch was bad. One starter, one ignition switch, and a water pump later and I was on the lake and have been since. In 2011, I bought another boat just because I had a hunch that it too would be a good buy.... a 1996 Maxum 1900 XR with a Mercury 150 outboard and trailer that I got for just over $1,600. Take careful note, that this is my FIRST outboard. The donating owner said that the boat had been running just fine before it was taken out of the water and winterized. It had been sitting on the trailer in his 40 acre waterfront estate on Newport Bay in Maryland because they bought a new boat (pointing at what looked like about a 280 Sundeck.) This guy had no reason to lie to me.
So.. I put two new tires on the trailer and drag the boat nearly 500 miles back to South Carolina. The next morning I get out and start the process, but it won't start... turns over great. Sounds good, just won't fire. Again, this is my first outboard and I have no stinking idea where to even start troubleshooting to see what could be wrong. When the cowl comes off, the intimidation factor is overwhelming for me. I check to see if the Emergency Kill switch is in correctly. It is. Does it have gas? Check. Because it's early summer and the boat dealer's yard is slam full of boats to be repaired, I take it on a referral to an auto mechanic that I'm told works on outboards too. Well, three days and $250 later, I pick the boat up and take it straight to the water, as well as my other boat just in case we have a problem. I put it in the water, it cranks a little slow, but it does start, and runs like a charm. I mean this motor is sweet. No spits or sputters. Nothing. Man.. I'm a happy camper. The next day, we take it back to the water and ....NOTHING... It won't start, just like before the mechanic. Well, it's summer time and I have a boat that runs fine so I just park it till later. Later doesn't get here until this year. Yes, it literally sat in the yard covered for another year and a half until decided to try again.
This time I ask around and get the name of a highly recomended mechanic who has an iron clad reputaion. His father owned a dealership and he worked on boats all his life until they closed the doors and be became a fireman. When I drop the boat off at his house, he is on a 24 hour shift but says he'll start on it in a couple of days. After several days, he calls me and asked... "What's supposed to be wrong with this boat? It's a little sluggish, but starts just fine for me every time?" I'm floored. What?? Well, he ends up pulling the carbs, tearing them down and soaking and cleaning them thoroughly and pulled the foot and replaces the impeller and housing. He charges me $370, and my son picks the boat up on the way home from work. My son sends me a video of the guy starting the motor over and over. It sounds great and fires IMMEDIATELY when you turn the key.
So... The next day, Memorial Day weekend, I take the boat to the water. Starts a little slow but does and runs fine. My wife and I cruise around for a while and then just float for maybe an hour and a half. A new problem arises when the motor suddenly starts to trim itself up while we are sitting still. Rut ro, another problem. When it's time the leave, the motor BARELY starts.. oh crap, here we go again. The next day I put the water hose on it and try to start again. Nothing. Damn. I'm getting ill now. I text the mechanic (Chris) and he says that he gets off at 7 a.m. the next morning and he'll come pick up the boat, but when he gets to my house, we start talking and never even try to start the motor. He tells me that since the boat had spent it's life in a salt water environment, maybe there was an electrical connection somewhere that is suspect and drifting in and out. A week later he calls with the same story. Every time he tries, it fires up. What am I doing wrong? Maybe it's me. Am I flooding the motor? What? He says that those older Mercurys are fairly easy to flood, but he doesn't seem to have a problem with it.
I go pick the boat up, he climbs in, turns the key. Bam, fires up with no problem. He then tries to give me back my $370 check, saying that he didn't feel like he had done what he promised and wanted to make sure I was happy. I refused to take the check saying that he had spent a lot of time on my boat and it runs every time I pick it up. Well, here's the plan. I'm gonna go through and replace every single wire splice on the boat and go over every inch of wire to see if there's a problem. In the mean time I have that mysterious trimming up of the motor problem again, which I am able to diagnose as a relay problem. My local auto parts place happens to have that realy, so problem solved.
Now, here's where it gets fun. My ignition switch is loose and the whole thing turns when you try to start the motor, so I grab a pair of Channel Locks and tighten the lock ring, at which time the entire ignition assembly falls to pieces. Here we go, time for yet another problem, right? Not really, I can handle a ignition switch, but WAIT, this one has a whole bunch of wires comeing out of it whereas my other boat only had three..... I go to a very good source, which is this forum and start reading and looking for the information I need. It's at this time that I discover a brand new, modern technology that explains all of the problems I've been having with this motor. It explains why there are six wires on my ignition. It explains why everybody but me says this motor starts just fine. There is a name for this new invention....
.... it's called, "push to choke."
LMAO have a nice day gentlemen.