Hello!
I just purchased (as in, 4 hours ago) a 1966 Corson 17' runabout with an 80's-vintage Mercury 45hp 4 cylinder 2-stroke OB (OB205350 I think; it's pretty faded so it might be a OB205750). The motor runs fine above 2000rpm (ish) but won't idle. The previous owner cleaned and rebuilt the carbs thinking it was a fuel issue, then replaced plugs, wires, and the switchbox. When that didn't fix it he threw a wrench through the drywall in his garage (he showed me the hole) and put the boat on Craigslist for $350 where yours truly saw it and picked it up.
Now, the PO says that the local Marina said it sounded like a bad Stator and offered to sell him a new one for $450. I managed to find an aftermarket replacement online for $150, but this is my first outboard engine and before I drop 1/2 the price of my new boat on a stator I thought I'd ask some folks with more experience.
I did a couple of tests this afternoon and it appears that I have high fire but not low fire. I did an ohm test with my multimeter but got no results from either the blue/white-to-blue or the red/white-to-white test (maybe I did it wrong? Lifelong tinkerer but like I said this is my first OB. I don't see any signs of damage to the stator itself; no discoloration or melted-looking spots, but I know that appearance doesn't always mean much. Boat has a black stator, for what it's worth, part #398-5454A26 and I think it's dated 09/97.
Has anybody else run into this problem before? And if so, how did you fix it? Does this sound like a Stator issue?
Edit- I almost forgot: PO says that they can take the boat out to the lake and it'll start on 2 cylinders and then once it's warmed up he can shut it off and the other 2 will 'usually' kick in when he restarts it. No idea what that might mean.
I just purchased (as in, 4 hours ago) a 1966 Corson 17' runabout with an 80's-vintage Mercury 45hp 4 cylinder 2-stroke OB (OB205350 I think; it's pretty faded so it might be a OB205750). The motor runs fine above 2000rpm (ish) but won't idle. The previous owner cleaned and rebuilt the carbs thinking it was a fuel issue, then replaced plugs, wires, and the switchbox. When that didn't fix it he threw a wrench through the drywall in his garage (he showed me the hole) and put the boat on Craigslist for $350 where yours truly saw it and picked it up.
Now, the PO says that the local Marina said it sounded like a bad Stator and offered to sell him a new one for $450. I managed to find an aftermarket replacement online for $150, but this is my first outboard engine and before I drop 1/2 the price of my new boat on a stator I thought I'd ask some folks with more experience.
I did a couple of tests this afternoon and it appears that I have high fire but not low fire. I did an ohm test with my multimeter but got no results from either the blue/white-to-blue or the red/white-to-white test (maybe I did it wrong? Lifelong tinkerer but like I said this is my first OB. I don't see any signs of damage to the stator itself; no discoloration or melted-looking spots, but I know that appearance doesn't always mean much. Boat has a black stator, for what it's worth, part #398-5454A26 and I think it's dated 09/97.
Has anybody else run into this problem before? And if so, how did you fix it? Does this sound like a Stator issue?
Edit- I almost forgot: PO says that they can take the boat out to the lake and it'll start on 2 cylinders and then once it's warmed up he can shut it off and the other 2 will 'usually' kick in when he restarts it. No idea what that might mean.