Info please on a 40 hp merc

" I was hoping someone could h

" I was hoping someone could help me with some information on my outboard engine.
Here goes, I recently purchased a 16 ft bass tracker, bass boat with a 40 hp merc.
I was wondering what year the motor is?
On the side of the engine theres a little round plug (looks like a freeze plug) and the
numbers on it are 6141011 the engine is black and has blue stripes and it has
thunderbolt ignition marked on the top.
When I first took it out it ran great. the second time it also ran great.
I took it out again this weekend on lake mead and it ran okay but there was acouple of things
that kind of worried me. First it was kind of hard to start and when it
did, it Idle'd kind of hard.
It took a bit to warm up and then ran pretty good. Me and my wife and
son and daughter found a little
beach and went swimming for a while and when we to start it again it didn't want to.
We were almost going to panic because this lake is huge and we were far away on the arizona side,
and we live in las vegas.
Well I checked the fuel line and it was okay I pumped the primer ball
and it started and shut off several
time and finally stayed running, but I had to really kind of ease it
into drive as it seemed to want to shut off again.
The guy who sold it to me told me to pour the whole little quart of
outboard oil into 5 gallons of gas.
I did this and it ran okay the first and second time. Could the mixture be wrong?.
The gas tank looks kind of old but in good shape should I change it?
Last Question, Is this year and model of motor pretty good and
dependable?.
Any reply would be very much appreciated.
Thanks ...Frank, "

Frank...I dont't know the

Frank...I dont't know the exact year but I;ll guess its a 2 cyl model which they haven't made since the 70's. Being Canadian your quart is equal to our liter which if your gas is mixed like you say is to rich. You should have a pint to 5 gallons assuming your using quality 2 stroke oil. As far as the motor... they experienced some powerhead problems in the past but don;t forget the moter may be 30+ years old.

"[url=""] www.marinshopen.se[/

" www.marinshopen.se has a useful 'Modellguide' button showing Merc 40hp in the range 5991215-6228284 as 1982.

I can't vouch for the site's accuracy, as 237,069 40hp's in a year seems alot!

Good luck,
Steve"

"Hmmm. Link doesn't work

"Hmmm. Link doesn't work but you get the picture!

Steve
P.S. try-
www.marinshopen.se"

" Hi i tried the link but it&#

" Hi i tried the link but it's german or some forien language, But I appreciate your replying
steve, and djmercman. I got rid of the old gas tank and got some fresh fuel at the right mixture and it really seemed to idle better.
I am trying to keep this motor in top shape.
hopefully it will last a long time.
This weekend Im going to be chasing boils and hopefully catching some huge stripers.
Again thanks alot guys. Frank "

"Frank, as you can tell by the

"Frank, as you can tell by the popularity of this site outboards do seem to attract alot of problems, but I'm regularly told it's due to lack of proper maintenance rather than general bad design! I bought a 30hp last year that had been totally stripped and rebuilt (new piston rings, water pump etc) and ran perfect last year. I have the Seloc manual. Anyway it came to starting it this year and I thought I'd give it a go on last year's left-over fuel. I didn't put any 'presever' in the fuel to keep it, and I didn't winterise the motor... I always thought they tell you not to use old fuel because it makes it difficult to start, but in fact it started fine and the real problem is it's probably left a nasty layer of varnish in the carb affecting the jets etc. The carb now needs totally stripping and cleaning (plus new gaskets etc) after 10 hours use.

Result? Through being partly lazy on the maintenance, and not understanding the whole picture on the old fuel I now have a motor that's tricky to start without turning up the idle speed screw (maybe an 1/8 turn, so it doesn't break the gearbox engaging drive!), and a carb rebuild later (I need the boat now!) when it's being winterised properly! I've learnt my lesson you can't be lazy on the maintenance and have peace of mind.
My advice is check over the motor after every trip (wipe it down, clean the plugs, spray on water repellent, maybe drain the fuel filter and carb with the screw at the bottom as leftover fuel can sometimes flood the engine if its tilted and also can varnish-up, etc) so you don't have to worry about getting stranded.
Happy fishing!
Steve"