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Tracker Force Power Series 120 HP 1998

B

big iron

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New Member,
I have a 1998 Nitro 185 Sport SF with #OE324151 in line 4 cyl. w/2 carbs. Is this a Mercury Mariner engine made for Tracker ( Bass Pro Shops ) ?
Bob :confused:
 
It's actually a Force engine cobbled together by Merc for Tracker.

The Force line which started life as Chrysler outboard was bought by Bayliner (US Marine) which was bought by Brunswick (who owns Merc).

The Force motors (such as yours) that have a Merc serial (production) number are a hybrid (and not a very good one).

Your particular model was produced using discontinued Merc and Chrysler parts cobbled together until they got something that looked like an outboard and kinda worked.

This kept the cost down significantly which allowed a company like Tracker to package it together at a price which often came in at about 50% of the competition.

Unfortunately, the motors were pretty much "disposable" the day they came off the assembly line.

If it's running ok then it is an adequate engine. If it has problems, anything more than regular maintenance, they are almost not worth fixing..
 
gaylamb, thanks for the information about my engine.
I bought the rig about 2 years ago form the 2nd owner,know the 1st owner. The rig was in perfect shape ,never been in salt and low hours on the engine.
Never had a problem ,except some leakage from the lower carb.
This year when I first started the engine , both carbs leaked. Changed out carb needles and plugs, fixed the problem but noticed that the upper carb had what appeared to be fuel stand off at the throat of the carb. Checked plugs and performed a cylinder pressure check. Plugs wet(fuel), cyl. pressure very good. Decided to look at the reeds and sure enough 2 reeds had small pieces broken off and 1 had almost the complete reed missing (found some of the large piece on the carb side of the reed plate). I feel very lucky that the broken reed pieces did not destroy or damage the power head. Replaced with Boyesen reeds and now the engine starts quicker and idles smoother. Did not see any improvement in upper RPM 5300.
Thanks to your history lesson, I now can order the correct repair manual to set idle and timing.
I sure wish I could get a 150 Optimax but that thing would cost more than I paid for my complete rig.
Thanks again.
Bob
 
My comments may have sounded a bit harsh, I don't consider the engines totally junk, but they definately were "budget".

"leaky carbs" - yours has (old) Tillotson models that Merc stopped using on their own branded motors in the 1970's - and yes, they are leaky no matter what, so not a huge concern unless they start to get "leakier" than normal :)

On a positive note your motor at least has Merc's CDM ignition system, while short lived on their own models, it was miles better than the Prestolite system you find on most Force models.

And I hear you about the Opti - you could rebuild your motor 5 times, including a new ignition with each rebuild for the cost of a 150 Opti.....
 
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