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mariner / merc 8hp idle wire

captain birdseye

captain birdseye

Member
ok guys, so i have the 1988 mariner / mercury 8HP long shaft and thought i would give it a good going over before putting her into service,

i stripped and cleaned the carb and rebuilt it and have refitted it but i am totally stumped as to where the idle wire fits under the flywheel??? :confused:

when i disconnected it from the enricher / fast idle assembly it must have unhooked at the other end and i cant see where it goes back in.

please help :eek:
 
That steel wire / linkage hooks into the timer base and andvances ignition for warm-up.-----On the one I looked at 15 seconds ago there is a white plastic piece with a slot in it.--That is where it hooks into.
 
racerone you sir are exactly right, i had a look from the front and noticed the slot where the white plastic arm comes down from the timing plate, have adjusted the idle acordingly and all is well the engine is running and idling but is still a touch lumpy like its missing now and again.

does anyone know the mixture setting? i have it from full in wound back out 1 1/2 turns is that about right?
 
Most of the Merc (and Merc/Mariner) portables in the 1980's/90's - 25 horse and under - shipped from the factory WITHOUT a thermostat (I own 3 of them). It may have saved Merc 50 cents a motor but it left numerous small motors with a poor idle at cold start.

The thermostat and gasket run about 20'ish bucks at most Merc part sources and are well worth the money in the long run. They quickly take care of that hitching/stuttering you experience when you first start the motor at slow idle.

You might have noticed that the choke knob also rotates. If you take a close look it has slow and fast on it. Turning the knob counter clockwise will give you a slow idle - clockwise - fast (and is variable between two extremes).

If you operate it with the hood off you will see that it operates (to an extent) that little wire rod you initially asked about and affects the carb butterfly. Often as these motors get older that mechanism sticks (that controls the knob idle speed) - it will advance to fast idle but won't (retract) when you go back to slow. A bit of lithium grease (or white grease or even high speed bearing grease) on all the contact points (that are apparent if you work it with the hood off) will get it working fine again.

You can use that knob in place of a thermostat (which I would still install if not present). Simply crank her up to fast idle until the motor warms up (she will rev high - upwards of 1000 rpm) and then you can back her down to slow idle, which is usually almost perfect for trolling speed, even on a smaller boat.
 
I believe the t-stat was deliberatelyu left out due to problems it caused--blockage and overheating.

Jeff
 
racerone said:
That steel wire / linkage hooks into the timer base and advances ignition for warm-up.-----On the one I looked at 15 seconds ago there is a white plastic piece with a slot in it.--That is where it hooks into.
Click to expand...

I've got the same problem with an 8hp Merc 1999 long shaft. I can't find any white plastic piece. The wire is only so long so I figured it's got to snap into something close by. The only thing I can see is a hole in the flywheel (I think it's the flywheel).
 
racerone said:
That steel wire / linkage hooks into the timer base and andvances ignition for warm-up.-----On the one I looked at 15 seconds ago there is a white plastic piece with a slot in it.--That is where it hooks into.
Click to expand...
Ten years later, this was very helpful. Mine was black. Thanks!
 
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