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Issues with long-stored 175. Suggestions?

W

Wulfman

New member
I'm trying to resuscitate a 175 Merc outboard that's been in storage. It was initially well winterized, then left outdoors under cover for 5 years. The fuel filter must have had some water in it because it rusted away. I flushed the gas tank, replaced the fuel filter and all the gas lines I could reach. Tank is now full and has a bottle of SeaFoam in it. I've fired the engine with muffs on, but don't want to take it for a run until I at least replace the impeller. I'm inexperienced with these engines, and am looking for suggestions as to anything else I should do to it.

A couple remaining issues:
1) Gas tank has a cap with 2 connectors. One connector has a single wire, black. Other connector has 2 wires, black, plus what looks like a broken red wire. Gas guage does not read with connectors attached, pegs the needle if I attach the broken red wire (I checked first...no voltage on the red line). A friend with a similar boat says his gas guage always pegs at power-on, then settles back. Mine stays pegged.
2) There's a very small diameter water hose running from the engine to a pressure guage on the dash. The hose has a leak back by the engine and sprayed water all over when I test-fired the engine. Can this water line be repaired or should I replace the whole 20' length?
3) Engine is oil-injected and oil blew out of a crack in the oil reservoir cap when I test-fired the engine. I can replace the cap, but I see that a lot of boaters just remove the injection system and go with manual mixing. Any recommendations?

Thanks.
 
1. you will have to test the sender unit in the tank.
2.I would replace the whole 20 feet of hose.
3.I would stay with oil injection unless there is a problem with the system.
if you don't have one you need to get the manual for your motor.
 
With your engine sitting so long, I would also recommend pulling the plugs one at a time, and squirting a shot of mystery oil into the chamber, and rotating the engine by hand once all have been hit. Be sure to make sure battery is disconnected.
 
Thanks for the suggestions.

I've ordered a new cap for the oil reservoir; the injection system appears to be working perfectly so I'll stick with it. I was concerned because when reading up on these engines I learned that injection system problems were one of the main causes of engine failure. This is my first outboard with injection.
Calling around today looking for the water hose.
I've already run the engine without manually squirting oil in the cylinders, but I had pulled several plugs and verified that they were wet with oil (probably preservative) before I turned the key. Got quite a puff of blue smoke when it first fired up, so I'm hoping it was plenty lubricated.

Any ideas on a procedure for testing the gas tank sending unit?

Thanks again for your help.
 
Any ideas on a procedure for testing the gas tank sending unit
Click to expand...

The float on the sender may be heavy. Since the gauge needle pegs I would just replace the entire sender assy. They aren't that expensive. Make sure the wire ends are not corroded. By your description of the engine start it appears that it was put into storage correctly. Since you just woke up a sleepng engine take it easy on the throttle the first hour of operation. Take the carb cover off and look for mud wasp nests and remove them. If you don't the dirt will get sucked into the engine as the nest falls apart.
 
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