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96 model 115 Mariner running issuese

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Mark61

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The engine will start and run fine for a while. But will all of a sudden die at low idle and will not restart. (Leave you stranded).
The next day it will fire up and run on the trailer like nothing is wrong with it?
Has done this several times, and left me stranded on the lake twice.
any ideas on where to look?
 
They all run fine on the trailer.-------And I believe that motor only idles on the top 2 cylinders.----Bottom carburetors kick in at 1800 + RPM.------Trouble shooting on these motors starts with a compression test.---Post your numbers.-------Do a spark test as well.-----Spark should jump a gap of 7/16" or better on all leads.----Is oil injection in service and tested or mixing at 50:1 ?-----Water pump / thermostat checked ?
 
Last edited:
racerone said:
They all run fine on the trailer.-------And I believe that motor only idles on the top 2 cylinders.----Bottom carburetors kick in at 1800 + RPM.------Trouble shooting on these motors starts with a compression test.---Post your numbers.-------Do a spark test as well.-----Spark should jump a gap of 7/16" or better on all leads.----Is oil injection in service and tested or mixing at 50:1 ?-----Water pump / thermostat checked ?
Click to expand...
Oil injection was disconnected years ago, and I manually mix at 50:1.
water pump putting a stream out of the tattletale, but not as strong as it used to be.
i ran it hard the other day for 30 minutes or so...no problem...cut it off and restarted several times with no issue.
went across the lake and was idling around a cove, and it died and would not restart.
smoked the wiring on my trolling motor coming back across the lake, and would up paddling the last few hundred yards. Thought about throwing a match on it and driving away....haha
 
Mark61 said:
Oil injection was disconnected years ago, and I manually mix at 50:1.
water pump putting a stream out of the tattletale, but not as strong as it used to be.
i ran it hard the other day for 30 minutes or so...no problem...cut it off and restarted several times with no issue.
went across the lake and was idling around a cove, and it died and would not restart.
smoked the wiring on my trolling motor coming back across the lake, and would up paddling the last few hundred yards. Thought about throwing a match on it and driving away....haha
Click to expand...

Get the stator and switchbox checked, I had exactly the same problem on one of my 1995 115's , mine was the stator, if it is, have it replaced with a CDI stator and not a Mercury stator. I believe your engine still had the old style ignition system.
 
YOU need to do some testing when this happens to determine if the problem is ignition of fuel related.

Jeff
 
fastjeff said:
YOU need to do some testing when this happens to determine if the problem is ignition of fuel related.

Jeff
Click to expand...

Thanks Guys,

I’m thinking it is spark related, because when it dies, it just dies. And I can pump the bulb and try everything else I know and it will not restart. Then the next time I go to try to figure out what’s going on, it starts and runs fine. Very aggravating!
 
ADDED COMMENT....
Sometimes when trying to restart after the engine dies...the starter will not engage the flywheel.
Just spins. Is that any indication of my running problem? Or do I have a bad starter to go along with my other problems?

Thanks
 
Mark61 said:
ADDED COMMENT....
Sometimes when trying to restart after the engine dies...the starter will not engage the flywheel.
Just spins. Is that any indication of my running problem? Or do I have a bad starter to go along with my other problems?

Thanks
Click to expand...
The starter problem could be the battery is not fully charged (+12.5v) or corrosion on the cables where they connect to the battery, especially the neg lead. This won't affect running as the spark is generated by magnets under the flywheel, but these motors have to spin quickly [+400 rpm] to generate the spark to start.
 
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