2002 15hp Mercury 4stroke sale prep

[c52000c5]

Hello everyone!
I bought this motor over 5 years ago and it has been sitting in my basement untouched since. I had plans to buy a small skiff but it never happened. I put new plugs in when I bought it but what should my next steps be from here? I'm not even sure if it is oil injected. Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!!!

 

[galamb]

So it's a 2002 that you bought used in 2011'ish - correct.

You basically took it home and laid it up.

It's a 4 stroke, so not "oil injected", it has a wet sump oil system like a typical 4 stroke.

I would pull the plugs and give it a good shot of fogging oil in each cylinder and turn it over by hand just to make sure nothing is locked up.

Next, in no particular order I would change the oil/filter, lower unit gear oil, minimally replace the water pump impeller (but a minimal kit with a couple of the water pump seals/gaskets might be a good idea), you may have got some dry rot and you may not know how old the impeller was when you laid it up.

Unless you totally drained the carb it should be pulled and thoroughly cleaned - who knows what cooties have got into it over the years (or what kind of shape it was in when you bought it).

Most motors don't like to sit idle. A 4 stroke outboard in particular doesn't like to sit around unused - more die from sitting around than burn out from over use.

With new motor oil, new gear oil, a serviced water pump and a clean carb you can fire her up and see how it runs.