|
|
| The other night me and a friend were headed back to the landing after dark with the boat on plane at WOT. All of a suddent the motor just shut off. My friend heard it make a wierd "spinning" noise. One turn of the key and the motor fired right away. I continued to idle back towards the landing and it sounded okay so I got up on plane again for approx. 300 yards before making it to the dock. When I was idling around the dock area the motor sounded quite rough. After taking the cover off I quickly realized the resevoir had no oil left in it. Which got me very worried I did major damage to the motor. A couple of years ago I had a certified Mercury machanic do some work including put on a new controller and apparently the alarm was never hooked back up. I should have been keeping an eye on the level anyways and I will from now on. Anyways, filled the oil resevoir and took the boat out to a nearby lake. Idled the motor at the landing in neutral for a good 15 minutes, watching the oil fill the lines back up. Not good. The motor sounded a lot better with some oil back in it. After the idling period I put it in gear and slowly ramped up. Motor is running great, no issues whatsoever. Granted this is an older motor, (1987 90hp Merc) but I believe I dodged a bullet on this one. I may have aged the motor another 5 years in those short few minutes but I am just thankful I still have a motor to push the boat. Moral of the story, check your oil level anytime you fill up or better yet, every time you load the boat to go out for the day. |
|
| |
|
Posts: 202
Location: Angola, IN | The bad news is, no telling how long the motor was out of oil.
When you winterize it, might as well get a compression gauge and check each cylinder to see if anything major is going on there.
Compression gauges are cheap and easy to find/borrow. I check mine every spring when I put new plugs in it just to see how things are "aging". My 115HP Johnson is a 1969. LOL!!
This is why I never like oil injector units. Three reasons: 1.) Not easy to tell when the oil reservior is empty. 2.) No telling when the oil pump goes out. 3.) How accurate is the oil injection to give you a 50:1 ratio at all times anyways?
Mixed gas is always the safest. All my friends who have high end 2-stroke bikes, remove the oil pump right away and go with mixed gas. |
|
| |
|
Posts: 208
Location: Sun Prairie, WI | I would do a compression check now. Possibly could have caused some damage to a bearing but if no noise then you may have dodged a bullet.
Steve, I agree with number 1 and 2. However the way I understand the injection system is that on the mercury mariner motors at idle the pump is at a 100:1 ratio and it increases to 50:1 at wot. |
|
| |
|
Posts: 1184
Location: Iowa Great Lakes | Ran mine out on Thanksgiving last fall, scored a piston and took $2300 to have it rebuilt...sounded ok and still ran good other than the ratteling noise at idle... |
|
| |
|
Posts: 416
Location: Madtown, WI | Oil injection just makes me nervous. I've seen 3 expensive motors get ruined because of it. On one, the low oil alarm just stopped working and was run dry. Another, the oil line was cracked and was dumping oil in the lake when you made a left turn. One long extended turn and it bent a rod. And then on another, the oil pump just stopped working. Oil is just too vital to rely on something mechanical to deliver it. |
|
| |
|
Posts: 333
Location: menasha wi 54952 | I'm not being negative here but.....we are talking old stuff here. Something is bound to break sooner or later. Expect it to happen. I have a 1997 175 EFI Mariner. I check the oil level the night before I take it out. 15 years or more is a long time. If you would have checked the oil level you would not have ran out!! |
|
| |
|
Posts: 202
Location: Angola, IN | mreiter - 9/6/2012 8:12 AM
I'm not being negative here but.....we are talking old stuff here. Something is bound to break sooner or later. Expect it to happen. I have a 1997 175 EFI Mariner. I check the oil level the night before I take it out. 15 years or more is a long time. If you would have checked the oil level you would not have ran out!!
Of course, but taking the oil injection system out of the mix is the best thing you can do. It could prevent a lot of problems and expenses down the line.
But for a lot of people, the ease of pouring oil into the reservior is a better deal than mixing gas. We live with the choices we make. Ease vs. Astute Ownership.
We've already heard from some that have fried motors with the oil reservior full. |
|
| |
|
| I premix fuel on my bike,quad, and boat. Thing is were talking max 4gallon tank on my boat. Its easy to keep mixing 4 gallons at a time. How about 30 or 40 gallons. I guess you would just have to make a giant ratio right and keep track of how many gallons go into the tank. Easier said than done... I sold my honda 4stroke that was absolutly unreal for trolling,fuel consumption, low rpm noise, for a yamaha 2smoke. I like the idea that if it blows up on me, i can fix it in my garage with pretty simple tools and half the cost in parts. I guess i have to admit i am THEE 2smoke advocate but reason being when those 4strokes go....THEY GO......They also act as a secondary boat anchor with their weight. Keep in mind on ur 2smokes the lower end is also lubricated as well by the fuel. Obviously not anywhere near the amount of moving parts but still a good amount of bearings as well. We also can thank our friends putting ethonal in the gas these days so dont forget ur startron!!! As mentioned, start with a compression test....
-Matt- |
|
| |
Running outboard out of oil