posted 03-02-2008 10:25 AM ET (US)        

Total cost including parts and tax etc was equivalent to $1,200-US.

I did not have the time to carry out the work myself

posted 03-02-2008 11:18 AM ET (US)            

Timing is everything.

posted 03-02-2008 03:41 PM ET (US)            

For a long, sad saga of carburetor problems with the Mercury 90-HP FOURSTROKE motor, see

Mercury 90-HP Four-stroke Unreliable; Carburetor Problems
http://continuouswave.com/ubb/Forum3/HTML/009067.html

Mercury 90-HP Four-Stroke: Carburetor Problems
http://continuouswave.com/ubb/Forum3/HTML/009936.html

posted 03-02-2008 05:44 PM ET (US)            

I've yet to buy a gallon of gas where they told me it was guaranteed to stay fresh for 6 months, or a year, or a year and a half...if my usage is such, it is up to me to assure I'm treating the fuel appropriately.

And, jim, like you said in that first thread you linked to "I know it is frustrating, but if all the mechanics keep telling you that the problem is bad fuel, perhaps that really is the problem."

posted 03-02-2008 08:08 PM ET (US)            

Meanwhile - back on topic - I have to agree with HuronBob that the reason for using additivies is not due to the lack of engine quality, but to protect the engine from a lack of fuel quality. Since for the most part, boat engines may not run as often as needed (i.e. daily), the gas may have a tendancy to get stale (especially if you have a big tank). Also, there is no garauntee that the gas you purchased today at the station/marina is fresh. With the size of holding tanks you are always mixing older with newer regardless - and who knows what quality of fuel degradation your engine may have to contend with. Add to it the on-agaion-off-agian use of most recreational boaters, it is just a good idea to keep something in the tanks and lines to protect from fuel degradation. I think of using the Stabil as more of a preventative maintenance measure for protection of investment.

"An ounce of prevention beats a pound of cure..."

posted 03-02-2008 10:27 PM ET (US)            

......Words to the effect that commercial users who use their motors daily may go years or never have any problems like this. It goes on to recommend that for lay-up periods up to a certain length, up to about 2 months simply regular use of fuel stabilizer is enough, with no special procedures. With lay-up of , say 3 months or longer, drainage of the carburetors is recommended.

For me, I'm lucky to live where the boat is stored for the winter so I just always use Sta-bil and hook up the hose and start the motor each month during layup and let it run for 15 minutes. (No ice here :) So far, no problems in two winters.

Sorry, I'm not where I can review the Honda insert to quote its exact recommendations. I just wanted to echo what BlueMax says. This is not just a Mercaha problem. We've had reports on this site of similar problems from Florida "snowbird" folks who have to leave their motors unused for 6 months at a time.

This posting is valuable as it states the highest expense I remember to address this problem.

posted 03-02-2008 11:51 PM ET (US)            

The point I was making about the additives is that you generally don't have to feed a two-stroke that sort of diet. So even if the two-stroke burns more gasoline, if you're not adding $12-a-bottle additives to every tank you might save money.

posted 03-03-2008 01:26 AM ET (US)            

My Boston Whaler dealer rebuilt my carburetors twice at no cost to me. They billed Mercury as a warranty item.

I now have a 90 hp Mercury EFI, the one with the same block as the Verados.

Good luck with your motor.

posted 03-03-2008 12:38 PM ET (US)            

The remainder was for parts.

The boat had sat idle since I bought it, waiting to ship it to the UK, then there was the transit time.

When we ran the engine up it ran real rough.

In future I will do my own wrenching.

Tomorrow I will see if I can scan the bill and post a copy so you can all see what the dealer did for his money.

posted 03-03-2008 10:45 PM ET (US)            

Exactly. Hahahaha. Seriously though, I wish I knew how many hours my '04 Merc 90hp 4-stroke has on it. It's GOT to be at least 500 by now, but who knows. I use the boat a LOT during the spring/summer/fall. Anyway, we bought the Outrage with the Merc on the back of spring '05 (motor had been used little). I've had the carbs tuned/set once or twice (under warranty) for minor idling issues (mostly me being pickey) and have not yet needed to rebuild them (knock on wood). I think they need to be set this spring as the bottom plug showed a little lean running when I performed the winter service. Anyway, my point is the motor has worked quite well for me. I service it "by the book", plus synthetic oil, run it on 89 octane and put fuel stabilizer in the full internal tank every winter. I also have an external fuel filter/water seperator that I change every year or so. The only real failures so far have been the thermostat (easy to replace) and voltage regulator (expensive > I took one off a dead '00 F100). I hope it continues to work well for me!

posted 03-03-2008 10:57 PM ET (US)            

I think I mislead people re the carburetor manufacturer. It might be Keihin, not Mikuni.

posted 03-06-2008 01:22 AM ET (US)            

This feeds on itself, and if JOE-BLOW searches for a particular topic he is likely to find it here. Then he comes here and adds more information to the topic.

You can see this phenomenon in several topics. Try searching for

"Mercury stator problem" or

"Mercury oil injection plastic gear" or

"Mercury BEEP BEEP BEEP"

You will see that CONTINUOUSWAVE is the number one hit, sometimes the number one AND number two hit on all those topics.

The funny thing is that at one time people would say there was never any trouble with those things, they were bullet proof. CONTINUOUSWAVE did not invent all the people who post about those problems, but it did cause a certain synergy to happen that makes it more likely in the future that people will come here to discuss those problems.

So don't think that there was some sort of vast right wing conspiracy that caused certain topics to become more frequently mentioned here. What happened was that a very successful search company found that the best information on those topics was here, and that process lead to more people contributing information about them.

posted 03-06-2008 12:49 PM ET (US)            

You know, whether you got it or not - I am sick of this crap of big money for everything. Just got involved w/ shoppping for new cell phones, young bucks behind the counter think I am going to add on, drop my money, gotta have it, need this update, must have web access and email, you gotta text, here's this accessory bag, oh - I can get you 25% off if I tell my boss you attended the session this morning - and dumb asses let their kids talk them into all this and get locked away in a payment/contract that could go into an investment for a flipping phone.

Maybe the labor and parts are worth all that - I never argue and always respect a person's technical skills and their right for fair compensation - this sounds like a joke.

And I will bet you if you look around you will find a perfectly capable mechanic, with a family who will do your repairs, side job or otherwise, that would appreciate your business, go the extra mile and willing to sustain a long term relationship with you - that you would refer others to for honest, fair work.

posted 03-06-2008 02:59 PM ET (US)            

Jimh put me in touch with someone to get the manual, and I am more than capable of doing my own wrenching.

Unfortunately at present time is against me, so I opted to get the dealer to do the work.

Orginally he estimated around $500 but the excuse for the extra charges was that I had him winterise the motor.

Now I aint a rocket scientist but if I cannot winterise a motor in 3 hours then I will give up wrenching.

The strange thing is there is a charge for fuel additive but there are no gas tanks on my boat. I took them off and emptied them into the grass cutter. (I leave my gas tanks empty all winter)

Still lesson learned, when I finish with the boat in future I will disconnect the fuel line and run the carbs dry.

posted 03-09-2008 02:43 AM ET (US)            

Erik

posted 03-09-2008 09:37 PM ET (US)            

In my world, automotive, we see similar [problems] and we're shoving fuel through injector nozzles at [more than] 40 PSI, and higher in direct injection engines.

Diesel is even worse, particularly bio-diesel. There is no ASTM standard for bio-diesel yet, so you are rolling he dice when you use it. Not to mention "bio" is showing up at supposedly "regular" diesel pumps. Stay with a main brand that pumps a lot of it.

In the two-cycle world, we rebuilt carburetors regularly. Why? Because we let our fuel sit in a damp environment and expected it to be pristine when we decided to venture out. At least with four-cycle motors you're not always melting down a cylinder, or more.