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Merc 115 things to be aware of?

S

ship wreck

Contributing Member
I've been looking for a 115 for the pontoon boat. I've run across a few possibilities for Mercs. These are all 70s era 6 cylinder "tower or power" motors. My limited OB experience is with my current Evinrude 70 and I'm pretty comfortable in evaluating an old Rude but I know very little about the Mercs.

What are some of the "gotcha"s with mercs of this era? I'll be doing compression checks on anything I look at and running them on the muffs but that only says so much. What are, if any, things to look at during a visual inspection and are there things to be wary of?
 
The tower of power is an excellent motor for a pontoon boat.-----------They are more expensive to rebuild than say a V-4 115 HP OMC model of the 1980 /1990's.---Just price the reed blocks / pistons if you must see the $$$ in these.-------I would at any rate replace the impeller on a new to you motor.----On the inline 6 Mercury I would also replace the bottom crankshaft bearing and the 2 seals found there.
 
Thanks for the reply. Impeller is a must for sure. Replacing that bearing and seal is a bit more than I would bargain for but good to know!

As far as rebuilding goes that's not really economical here. Yes you get a "fresh motor" out of the deal but right now I can buy three different boats with 115s for under 1300 asking price. Once you negotiate a better price and sell off the hull and trailer you're in it for around 800 or less. From what I've seen typically if a motor fails it's catastrophic so rebuilding is not even an option but you've got a parts motor after that which is a bonus. So rebuilding cost is not a factor for me.

We'll see. I'm going to look at one today and if that doesn't work out I've got another one that to see on Monday. I'm looking at spending 600 for the motor and controls, the guy on Monday has accepted that offer which is contingent on a good compression test and test run on the muffs.

If I can make the deal I'll have all winter to learn about this motor and take care of any major things. The 70 is running fine and the season only has about a month or so left so I'm not going to hang a new motor until the spring.
 
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