cspriggvt71
New member
Hi,
I just joined the forum. Thanks.
I recently picked up a Lund Laker with a 2006 Mercury 50 EFI ELHPT - tiller, 12 pitch stainless prop. I've had a bunch of Mercury outboards from the 70s-now, but this is my first EFI motor. The seller had 5 boats and only used this for duck hunting, so the motor only had 244 hours. He had records and stickers on the motor from regular service up until last year.
Before taking it out I did a little preventative maintenance - impeller service, lower unit gear lube, oil and filter change.
We took it to a local lake, it started right up, but ran without any power (kind of doggy, for lack of a better description), not like I'd expect a 50 to run. We ran a half mile maybe where it bogged further, beeped twice and died. It seemed like it was starving for fuel when it died, but that may be me making up a reason.
It wouldn't restart (cranked strong, but no ignition), so I got to arm-strong power it back to the dock with the emergency paddle. Great exercise...!
I got it home and did a full review of the fuel system and verified that the low pressure and vacuum separator pumps are working with no broken parts. Neither external filter (x2) is clogged or dirty, but a fresh pair of filters are inbound. I took apart the vacuum separator and cleaned the screens - there were some particles, but nothing significant. The vacuum separator electric fuel pump motor spun freely and fast when tested directly to 12v power.
Upon closer inspection of the ignition side, I found #4 cylinder harness connector was fried, and the corresponding coil pack was cracked with what looked like foam coming out (but it was hard, not squishy like foam). The connector is melted and upon disassembly, it looks like two of the wires may have shorted out, but maybe they're just melted together with plastic.
I pulled all coils and plugs. The top three spark plugs were dry and grey at the tips. The bottom one (#4) is wet - kind of makes sense if it was being bombarded with fuel from the injector, but couldn't spark. Otherwise they looked good. They were DCPR7E instead of the Champion RA8HC that the factory parts fiche called for (new set of Champions inbound too). None of the #1-3 coils show any external damage.
I can only find one fuse on the engine (although the parts fiche shows three) and it wasn't blown.
So my plan is to replace both fuel filters, all 4 spark plugs, the #4 coil, splice in a fresh connector to the harness, button it up, and hope it works.
My fear is that the failed coil may have fried something else in the electrical system, but we shall see when I get the parts.
Any advice folks would be willing to offer would be appreciated.
Thanks for letting me join.
I just joined the forum. Thanks.
I recently picked up a Lund Laker with a 2006 Mercury 50 EFI ELHPT - tiller, 12 pitch stainless prop. I've had a bunch of Mercury outboards from the 70s-now, but this is my first EFI motor. The seller had 5 boats and only used this for duck hunting, so the motor only had 244 hours. He had records and stickers on the motor from regular service up until last year.
Before taking it out I did a little preventative maintenance - impeller service, lower unit gear lube, oil and filter change.
We took it to a local lake, it started right up, but ran without any power (kind of doggy, for lack of a better description), not like I'd expect a 50 to run. We ran a half mile maybe where it bogged further, beeped twice and died. It seemed like it was starving for fuel when it died, but that may be me making up a reason.
It wouldn't restart (cranked strong, but no ignition), so I got to arm-strong power it back to the dock with the emergency paddle. Great exercise...!
I got it home and did a full review of the fuel system and verified that the low pressure and vacuum separator pumps are working with no broken parts. Neither external filter (x2) is clogged or dirty, but a fresh pair of filters are inbound. I took apart the vacuum separator and cleaned the screens - there were some particles, but nothing significant. The vacuum separator electric fuel pump motor spun freely and fast when tested directly to 12v power.
Upon closer inspection of the ignition side, I found #4 cylinder harness connector was fried, and the corresponding coil pack was cracked with what looked like foam coming out (but it was hard, not squishy like foam). The connector is melted and upon disassembly, it looks like two of the wires may have shorted out, but maybe they're just melted together with plastic.
I pulled all coils and plugs. The top three spark plugs were dry and grey at the tips. The bottom one (#4) is wet - kind of makes sense if it was being bombarded with fuel from the injector, but couldn't spark. Otherwise they looked good. They were DCPR7E instead of the Champion RA8HC that the factory parts fiche called for (new set of Champions inbound too). None of the #1-3 coils show any external damage.
I can only find one fuse on the engine (although the parts fiche shows three) and it wasn't blown.
So my plan is to replace both fuel filters, all 4 spark plugs, the #4 coil, splice in a fresh connector to the harness, button it up, and hope it works.
My fear is that the failed coil may have fried something else in the electrical system, but we shall see when I get the parts.
Any advice folks would be willing to offer would be appreciated.
Thanks for letting me join.
