phishinphree
New member
Hey all
So I picked up a 65hp mercruy 650 pretty cheap the other day and I'm working on getting it running good. I don't have much experience with outboards or two-strokes. I mostly work on small tractor, lawn mower engines or my personal vehicle.
The motor starts right up, seems to idle and rev fine and has a strong stream out the tell tail. I changed the gear oil in it and the old oil looked new and it shifts fine so I don't suspect any problems there.
When I changed the plugs out, I noticed the plug on the bottom cylinder was cleaner than the rest which made me think it wasn't firing. I checked it with a spark tester and it is fine. However, when I pull the plug wire while its running, I don't notice a change. When I try the same on the top and middle cylinder, it does start to stumble but doesn't die. The weird thing is if I only connect the the bottom plug, it'll still start (and run bad ofcourse). I'm not sure what to make of it, maybe theres no issue at all.
Anyway, I came to the conclusion that perhaps I don't have a good sense as to what these things should sound like at an idle out of water. It seems rough to me on the video below
I also did a compression test and all 3 cylinders gave 90psi. I take that with a grain of salt as the tester is old and came from harbor freight.
Any pointers in general would be greatly appreciated. I've searched around a ton for more info on these motors and I'm not finding much helpful. Are the Seloc manuals worth it? I'm often disappointed with the chiltons I've bought in the past when working on cars.
I really appreciate any advice the community has to offer.
-Jason
So I picked up a 65hp mercruy 650 pretty cheap the other day and I'm working on getting it running good. I don't have much experience with outboards or two-strokes. I mostly work on small tractor, lawn mower engines or my personal vehicle.
The motor starts right up, seems to idle and rev fine and has a strong stream out the tell tail. I changed the gear oil in it and the old oil looked new and it shifts fine so I don't suspect any problems there.
When I changed the plugs out, I noticed the plug on the bottom cylinder was cleaner than the rest which made me think it wasn't firing. I checked it with a spark tester and it is fine. However, when I pull the plug wire while its running, I don't notice a change. When I try the same on the top and middle cylinder, it does start to stumble but doesn't die. The weird thing is if I only connect the the bottom plug, it'll still start (and run bad ofcourse). I'm not sure what to make of it, maybe theres no issue at all.
Anyway, I came to the conclusion that perhaps I don't have a good sense as to what these things should sound like at an idle out of water. It seems rough to me on the video below
I also did a compression test and all 3 cylinders gave 90psi. I take that with a grain of salt as the tester is old and came from harbor freight.
Any pointers in general would be greatly appreciated. I've searched around a ton for more info on these motors and I'm not finding much helpful. Are the Seloc manuals worth it? I'm often disappointed with the chiltons I've bought in the past when working on cars.
I really appreciate any advice the community has to offer.
-Jason