Mercury 9.8M

So while I wait for my 4hp gnat, bought a mercury 9.8M
Now it's strange cause when I bought it from the guy he showed me forward, neutral and reverse. They worked fine.

I get home, start it up and when it got warm, I myself tried to shift from neutral to forward/reverse. When I put it into forward or reverse the engine stalls/dies on me.

so let me start from beginning for you all in case you guys see my mistake.

1) Fill up garbage can with water
2) mount on outboard
3) connect to gas hose, pump primer ball (4 pumps)
4) pull the choke, make sure outboard is in neutral
5) turn handle to start position
6)pull, starts at 2nd pull
7) push choke down right after start up and turn down handle to below start position (about halfway between start and shift)
8) let motor run for 5 minutes in neutral
9) then turn handle all the way down to where needle points to shift and push lever into foward
10) immediately I hear the gears grab and the motor dies off


same thing happens when I try reverse too.


What am I doing wrong? Or is the motor bad?

Slow needle? Where is that?
and the only thing that turns is the handle

5710104

Ok I'll do that in the morning.

I think I get where you coming at, cause if I turn handle to shift, leave it there (say 2.5 seconds) and don't pull the lever, the motor dies out. So I can see where you trying to go.

I wanna note that I tried to change from neutral to forward and reverse with the engine off and to forward its easy but to reverse its super tough and im not gonna force it. I know im not suppose to try it when motor isn't running but does this mean I have a bigger problem then the spring on carb screw?

Oh no I'm not spinning the propeller as I shift from neutral to forward/reverse with motor off. Was I suppose to?
I'm not understanding the second sentence, can you make it easier for a newbie to understand the terminology.

Oh man, and you can do this by hand right?

theres this link rod on the outside of the driveshaft assembly and looking at these diagrams it reverse locks? Should I do something about it? (#18-22)

kimcrwbr1 said:

Does it unlock in forward gear? If so dont mess with it to get to 18-22 you need to remove the powerhead and completely disassemble the swivel bracket and driveshaft housing.

Click to expand...

Motor is off and in neutral and the link rod moves forward and backward so it works but unsure of how to tell if it's locking or not

Man I got a headache. Well let me start with where I'm at again.

Motor off:
I can't turn the handle past start and into fast at all.
If I try to push lever from neutral to forward, it's easy. But from neutral to reverse its super hard and won't go into reverse.
in neutral, the propeller rotates both ways

motor on:
turns on when in neutral.
spits water well
When in neutral, I can't turn handle past start into fast either.
when I turn handle down to shift and wait 3 seconds, the motor dies.
When I turn handle to shift and push lever from neutral to forward, the gear grabs making a thud sound and dies
motor will still start up afterwards.

kimcrwbr1 said:

Read post #2 in this thread have you turned the slow needle out for a richer idle air fuel mix? You have gone a long way to do nothing. Sounds like this motor is running pretty good besides the wingnut operating it. Put the choke on half way and see if it still idles with the handle all the way slow? Pull both spark plugs and see if they are both burning the same?

Click to expand...

Thanks! I am getting ahead of myself.
ill open that slow needle up a bit. and try again.

so unscrew 1/4 on slow needle with choke halfway when warmed up right?

I think I might have found the problem this morning while mounting outboard to garbage can

I just noticed that the prop is comin into contact with the garbage can.
ill adjust the positioning and hope it will shift.

fingers crossed that I didn't ruin anything in the lower unit

My 25 Merc did that once--blew an embarrassing hole right through the plastic bucket. Threw water all over the garage--and it was winter at the time!

Jeff

Problem solved!

propeller was contacting the bottom of the garbage can.
i lifted up the stand 1.5ft and turned it on, shifted to forward and reverse with no more thudding and stalling!

thank you all for your tips. Good thing it wasn't something big!

Now I gotta get back to the 4hp gnat

Something came up when I was at the lake today. Hoping its nothing big either.


12' aluminum boat with 3 adults
dc battery and 36lb thrust troll motor
mercury 9.8hp


I have no trailer so I laid the motor flat on its handle side with the prop not contacting anything. It was in that position for maybe 12 hours. (Hope this made no faults either)


so, we put the boat in the water and load it up. I take 3 pulls and the motor starts up fine. I let it warm up for 4-5 minutes and start slowly heading to our destination. We were going at half throttle early on.
Then I open the throttle wide open and there is no increase in power whatsoever. The handle was twisted to FAST and we were going at half throttle speed...
I'm bummed out so I left it on FAST. A minute later The Motor begins to stall and eventually dies.
I turn on the motor in 2 pulls and if I wot it stalls like usual. But half throttle open works with no problem. Idles well too.


then I noticed that the motor isn't spitting water continuously like a stream, it spits pinky length bursts. When I speed up the pinky lengths shorten in half. I'm betting this could be te problem? I made sure no gunk was stuck in it and there was no gunk either.
also the motor was clipped in reverse lock, but does that matter for forward gear?