MOOSE ? Need a Merc Mechanic

[skeeter sf150sx]

Moose or anyone Know of a good place to take my 1989 150hp outboard merc to? It has a lean sneeze and needs the carbs, crackcase, and gaskets or bleeder lines looked at to see if air is getting mixed in with the fuel somewhere. I live in newburgh and was hopeing you could give me a good recomendation. thanks.

[PL]

Try Ponders Marine just east of Tasewell on State Road 64. Robert Jones is the owner and a darn good Mercury Man. He will treat you fair and stand behind what he does.

Tell him Larry recommended him once again. I own a crestliner with a merc 150 EFI and Robert has done all my service work from day one. He also did all the service on our pontoon we sold last year.


Larry

[JBehr]

I agree...go to Ponders. Robert will fix it right and stands behind his work. He has done all my work for the past 15 yrs. He is there every day except Sundays. However, you need to call before making the drive. He usually shuts down for a few days around the holidays to spend some time with the family. 812-338-3320

Joe Behr

[banjopicker2003]

WHAT IS YOUR ENGINE RUNNING LIKE? DOES IT ACT LIKE ITS RUNNING OUT OF GAS AS IN RUNNING TO LEAN OR IS IT RUNNING TO RICH? DOES IT SMOKE WHEN IT CUTS OUT? GIVE ME SOME MORE DETAILS ABOUT WHAT'S GOING ON AND I MIGHT BE ABLE TO GIVE YOU SOME ADVICE.. VERY WELL COULD JUST BE A BAD FUEL LINE OR THE JETS IN THE CARB STOPPED UP ( IF IT HAS A CARB). DOES THE ENGINE IDLE OK?

[skeeter sf150sx]

I have a 1989 Xr4 150hp Just broke in.

However the last few time I have taken out I notice a sneeze in the exhaust. sounds like it is coughing or backfiring. only when the boat is at idle or when I am coming off plan. it only does this every now and then and it is not constant. it may only do this 3 or 4 times in an hour of cruising around. It has not affected the performace of the boat at all. it still takes off like rocket and top end is great.
thanks in advance for any info. I want to do a little sauger fishing this winter and hopefully the boat will be ready for tourney fishing this spring. dont want to blow another motor though. carbs were rebuilt 3 years ago.

[banjopicker2003]

INSTALL A HOTTER SPARKPLUG.. YOUR PLUGS ARE NOT BURNING THE EXCESS FUEL FAST ENOUGH WHEN YOU BRING IT OFF FULL THROTTLE.. IT WILL ALSO DO THAT WHEN IDLING. AS LONG AS YOUR RUNNING THE ENGINE YOU'LL NOT NOTICE IT BECAUSE ITS BURNING THE FUEL QUICK ENOUGH..

[skeeter sf150sx]

thanks for the info I will get new spark plugs tommorow morning. will try them out this weekend and see if that helps. that might be it because the spark plugs have not been changed in three years also. will go with NGK plugs I quess.
thanks

[Moose1am]

I have been taking my boat to EAST SIDE MARINE out on South Weinbach Ave even since 1978 when I purchased the boat from them.

I have tried the place out on West Franklin and didn't have a good experience. In fact they called my boat trailer a rattle trap. Which sort of pissed me off. It may be true but I don't think it's good for a business person to put down a customers property even if they are trying to make a sell.

I had the place on West Franklin Street by the John Deer place work on my boats carburetor one fall. The next spring I took the boat out and the motor would not start. I ran the battery down trying to get the motor to start. I had to take the boat and motor to East Side Marine to get it fixed right. I called the place on West Franklin Street and they would not help me out without more cost. Evidently when they worked on the carburetor they didn't get the choke back together property and that was the problem. I was taking some friends out with me that spring to do a little fishing and it was embarrassing to say the least. The motor runs great now after East Side marine worked on it.

Sibs was the place that didn't get the work done right IMHO. I won't be taking my boat or motor back to Sibs unless the other shops fold up and go out of business. But your experience may be different.

Might check the gap on the new spark plugs and find out what gap to use to make them just the right temperature for your motor.

You can also clean up the old spark plugs with some seafoam (NAPTHA) and a small file or some 150 grit sandpaper. Soak the plugs in seafoam for 24 hours and then file the tip clean with the sandpaper. This may help get the engine running smoother.

Seafoam will clean out the fuel system.

Another suggestion. Check your fuel and fuel container and any fuel filters and make sure that they are all clean. You can clean the screen of the fuel filter yourself with just a few tools. Check the tank for rust or any foreign particles as they can plug things up. Might try a fresh tank of gas as that sometimes can make a difference in the way an engine runs. Some gas has alcohol in it. Even with less than 10% alcohol in the gas it can sometimes do harm to the fuel lines if they are not resistant to attack from alcohol.

You going to fish the Ohio River for Sauger? I spoke with one of the Co's from Warrick County and he said that the wing dam area was good for Sauger, crappie and other sport fish. I tired fishing below the Newburgh dam once and it was sort of scary being right below the dam. And my depth finder was showing very deep water with lots of debris near the bottom. Not sure what that stuff was, maybe big sunken logs that washed over the dam and sunk in that deep hole downstream of the dam.

It's great to see the Ohio River finally being clean enough to support more fish. I went into the field of Environmental Science and Conservation of Natural Resources so that I could try to help clean up the Rivers in some way. I didn't realize how hard that job was going to be. But today we can see the results of a cleaner Ohio River. At least most of the major cities are treating the sewage to some degree with secondary treatment plants. They are not perfect and somethings dump large quantities of raw sewage into the rivers and creek but for the most part during dry periods they do clean up the Sewage before it's dumped into the river. That's why stripers, LM Bass, and Saugers are making a comeback in the Rivers. We can thank the Clean Water act for that. And it's good to know that lifeforms that require clean water are living in the same water that we use for bathing and drinking. It's not perfectly clean but it's better than it was 100 years ago. I'd like to have seen the river when it was first discovered and still pristine. Man I bet that was a sight to behold. Imagine the river running clear as there were large forests in IN at that time. Even the prairies were covered in grass and there was not as much erosion as we have these days. All the tilling of the flat lands has resulted in the lose of top soil every time it rains unless special precautions are used to protect the soil from washing away. And all that soil eventually runs into the Ohio River and down to to the Mississippi River to New Orleans. There's a lot of stuff that's dumped into our Ohio River. And some of that stuff is there to stay for a while.

[Moose1am]

SEAFOAM is on sale at Rural King this week for $4.99. Seafoam will clean out the engine and get rid of unburnt carbon deposits. It will clean the pistons, rings and exhaust.

I put some seafoam in my 35HP Johnson 1978 model and now it idles like a kitten purring in rem sleep. I found out about seaform on ohter fishing forums and it's the real deal.

Stabile will work for keeping the gasoline in storage but Seafoam will actually clean out the engine as it passes though the system.

It will create some smoke when you first start using it but that smoke is the burning old soot (unburned carbon) that has collected inside your engine. It's being dissolved by the sea form and removed in the form of smoke from the engine. Once the engine is clean it will stop smoking.

I use Seaform in my boat motor, truck motor, gasoline lawnmower, weed eater, chain saw and leaf blower motors and also in my tiller motor. My tiller was purchased back in 1990 and the chain saw long ago. The sea foam has made all my small engines and large engines run smoother.
Regards,

Moose1am

[junior]

Moose do you mix seafoam into the gasoline, or spray it into the air intake?. I've heard folks talk about it. But, "I know nothing about seafoam".

Thanks for all your in depth postings. Super information for us to learn from.

Merry Christmas,,,,,, Spring is less than 3 mo. away.

[Moose1am]

I mix the sea foam into the gas tank. The container will tell you how much sea foam to use with so many gallons of gasoline.

I have also sprayed sea foam directly into the cylinders after taking the spark plugs out. I think that's why I got so much crude leaking out the bottom of my engine. The sea foam was draining down though the inside of the motor housing and breaking up 20 years of carbon that had accumulated inside the exhaust system. I have a long stem Johnson 35 HP 1978 motor and the exhaust exits via a through the prop system. I get a dirty like oil that's leaking from a small hole in the stem section of my motor. It's above the area with the gears and the gear grease. At first I though the gear grease and the gears were leaking but then I discovered that was not the case. I think its the sea foam breaking up the built up carbon

Sea foam is sold at the Auto Part Stores. Rural King here in Vanderburgh County also sells it.

Sea foam is mostly NAPTHA. There is another ingredient listed on the sea foam can but it's not something I can figure out.

Check out www.seafoamsales.com for more information.

I first learned about Seafoam this past year. I read about it on a web site where they discuss boat and motors. iboats.com I think.

I have heard of using seafoam in the oil too in small amounts. Pour an ounce per 4 quarts and run it though the engine to clean the values and lifters. It will help dissolve some gunk inside the oil system. Then have the oil pan taken off and remove the dirt and other crud from the bottom of the oil pan. It never found out just how long to run the sea foam in the oil so I didn't leave it in there for more than a few miles. I was afraid it might thin the oil out too much and ruin the engine. So I only did this for a very short time.

I did use some oil treatment and gas treatment in the past. Can't remember the name of the stuff but they sold it for about $50 a can. It was zoom or something like that. It was a sucker deal and I fell for it. But I read where the company was sued and they had to stop claiming certain things about their product. I think it was just a light weight petroleum distillate that they used. No it was Mineral Oil that they used in the oil engine treatment. I only bought one can of that stuff and then stopped using it. I would not recommend spending money on that product anymore.

But the Sea foam only cost $5 for 16 ounces. But you can buy Naphtha in a huge can or by the gallon for much less.

You use 1.5 ounces of sea foam for each quart of oil in your engine. Or one ounce of seafoam per gallon of gasoline

[skeeter sf150sx]

Hey, just wanted to update everyone.
I took the spark plugs out and sprayed some deepcreep seafoam in them. then installed new plugs. Filled the tank up with gas and added a bottle of seafoam with it. took it out and it sneezed twice when I first sarted the motor. I took it up river and fished a couple of spots. Turing the motor off each time. when started no Sneeze. hopefully the problem has taken care of itself by adding the spark plugs and seafoam.

Talk to a couple of sauger fishermen. they were out there for about 4 hours and only cought 1 sauger. I fihed for them useing a heavy spoon for about 45min. no luck. there were about 5 boats on the river by the Newburgh locks. Rive has gone up quiet a bit the past couple of days though. I am sure the fishing has slowed b/c of it.
Can't wait for it to go back down. I found a hump that was holding fish along the bottom with my graph. I hope to go back out and find it again.

Tight lines and thanks for the info guys.