Merc 60 4 stroke problem

[Didley]

I’ve got a Mercury 60 4stroke, on a Quintrex Topender, many of you know the boat. I bought it off another Ausfish member around a year ago. This boat is immaculate, very well maintained, and a credit to its previous owners.
Two weeks back, after a trip across to Moreton Island and back, I noticed a patch of salt on the upper, side of the leg cowl. On inspection after removing the leg cowling, there was a hole around 4mm round at the joint of the leg casting and top plate where the exhaust was leaking out. After a pull down by a well known “Ausfish recommended” outboard mechanic, the exhaust journals on both the top adaptor plate and leg castings were found to be corroded throughout, and ready to go through in other places. Next thing, the journal wall breakdown would have caused exhaust and water to enter the sump, no doubt causing major failure.
The repair of this is going to include parts valuing over $1500. My question to you is weather Mercury should have any accountability here. This motor is stamped 2002, and is outwardly in, close to, as new condition. It has 259 hours on the clock. It is, maybe 4 years out of warrantee and I have no log books.
I drove the offending parts from Clontarf to Coomera, to show Mercury’s service manager. A computer check showed the motor had no warrantee claims and was sold to a private user in December 2001. I was told he’d seen similar damage in the Torres Straight to motors used in hash environments. If the complaint was coming through a “Mercury Dealer” he might put it through the system, but wouldn’t give it much hope of getting any where, but as it wasn’t a dealer referral, and the motor was out of warrantee, there is nothing he would do.
On the trip back I visited 2 Mercury / Suzuki dealers, inquiring about trading to a Suzuki. I was told the Suzuki was far superior but about $3000 more expansive (around $10000). One guy told me of a Suzuki that he’d traded from Thursday Is. with 5000 hours on it (covered in barnacles but still running well).
Is this a reasonable attitude by Mercury, the motor is 4 years out of warrantee, but I’d have thought you’d expect to get more than 259 hours over 6- 7 years out of a 60 4 stroke, before the castings are rotted through. I’d be interested to know people’s thoughts.


Cheers Grant

[FNQCairns]

The parts you need are produced for $15.50aud, the outboard sell price has nothing to do with it's inherant value an if it did would shave 50% of it's rrp price.
What this amounts to is companys where it doesn't much matter if one person hops of their merry-go-round as someone else will hope on soon enough. It's a good place to be for them.

Buy your new parts form O/S, save near 50% to your door and be happy in that.

cheers fnq

[kitty_cat]

As a Mercury Dealer I will start by saying " Fair Go ! " .
Every day we encounter various engines that people are trying to sell / trade , whilst most are fairly good condition , we do get our fair share of shockers . Not mentioning brands , we have recently had engines that are just coming out of warranty ( 3 years ) and have required complete rebuilds with hours less then mentioned above . Recently we had one with only 50 hours on it and 2 years old requiring a complete rebuild . Reason , operator error and miss use !!!
The various manufacturers around specify guidelines that need to be met in order to get maximum life span out of the engines , and it is our experience that most engines that develope issues are simply not serviced as required , wrong oil use , and most common not even flushed after use . If we follow the manufacturers servicing and maintainance recommendations it is very unlikely that we will have problems with our engines .
As manufacturers are upping their warranty periods with some now offering 5 years , some consumers are even more reluctant to follow the guidelines knowing that the manufacturer will cover any issues the engines might develope . Manufacturers back their product and a fairly good when it comes to coming through on claims if a engine is faulty due to poor workmanship , and I can say there is not a high rate for this type of claim . We are also starting to become a throw away society , and why wouldn't we knowing that within 5 years we would have moved on to a new engine or even a complete rig , so we don't need to worry about servicing and maintaining our equipment like we should . Some manufacturers are even promoting that you don't need to service your engine for 3 years ! Go figure .
Having said all this , beware of buying USED from private sale . Buying from a dealer wether the engine is 5 years old or 15 years old , they can offer warranty up to 5 years !
Having been around boats all my life and having owned most brands of engines I can confidently say that I have not had any problems . Call it luck if you want but I would rather put it down to being fussy .
My thoughts on wether or not Mercury are being reasonable or not , well ask this question , Why should they do anything not knowing the history of the engine ? , would you if you owned Mercury !
All brands are good if they are maintained , they just have different appeal and different selling points . It is up to the consumer and the sales person at the time on which brand of outboard you choose to buy . And you can see I haven't rubbished any other product as a dealer , but as a Dealer we do get tired of constant write ups rubbishing engines because there is a unhappy consumer !
And no discredit to the previous owner !
Just one more thing , if the engine is a 2002 model then it should have been serviced 6 times since bought new , if this has occured and can be proved then maybe Mercury should look into it further .

[ozbee]

he is not chasing abuse that could cause engine failure its housing failure so put it straight how do you abuse, pros may have there leg everyday in salt water.so tell me how even if he didn't flush his motor there's old Johnson still running around after 20 years and there housing are still fine mate simple fact poor casting material probably more reactive with unleaded fuel s of today so put it straight its a design fault. looks like going back to the old black anchor days are we.

[tin can marlin]

Fair go kity kat the motor has only done 259 hours and mercury is a massive company makeing massive amounts of money. Now i know from talking to a lot of dealers are finding it hard at the moment but the motor comanys like merc would have a huge bank. I think that it is fair enougth for didley to be unhappy put yourself in his shoes. i THINK MERC/SUZY dealers saying that the suzy is a far better product says it all if the dealers can't sell mercs with a possitive attiude what chance have merc got going into harder times. All the best didley i think you have got most of the ausfish family behind you.

[Didley]

Ozbee, has got the same feelings as I do. How long should pro fisherman, or say a houseboat expect a Merc 60, 4 stroke to last. This is a boat that has had maybe an hours run every few weeks (if its lucky) and very well cared for. Outwardly it still looks as new and in 6 1/2 years its stuffed.
I once had a ski boat that had a 115 Evinrude on it that had to be at least 20 years old.
I understand it may only have had a 2 year warrantee, but they still should support a product beyond that, when there is an obvious quality issue. It comes down to what's their commercial responsibility, verse what a good long term quality supplier should do to protect their valued name.
I've had 4 Mercs now and what do you think I'll be buying next, an other Mercury? For what it would have cost them to supply me with the parts to fix this one, they've defiantly lost the sale profit on a new motor in the future, do the maths on that.

[coucho]

mate I feel sorry for you but I don't think you got anything to stand on, warentee is warrantee its like cars go one k over your 150 000 k or day past your three years you know exactly what a car dealer will say don't matter which one you deal with.

[Didley]

mate I feel sorry for you but I don't think you got anything to stand on, warentee is warrantee its like cars go one k over your 150 000 k or day past your three years you know exactly what a car dealer will say don't matter which one you deal with.

Yes Coucho, I agree, but if U new the boat, (as the people at Mercury don't, I do understand) then you'd know why it's very annoying. But that's life

[tin can marlin]

If i were you didley i would go to crew marine at redcliffe they are the new merc dealer on the northside and they seem to be looking after people well ask for the manger ian jones real good bloke he might be able to go to bat for you as i think they are one of the biggest merc dealers around. Worth a go you never know.

[black runner]

This begs the question about whether the oil residue from the exhaust of the std 2 banger has an anti-corrosion effect or not?

Cheers

[Spaniard_King]

This begs the question about whether the oil residue from the exhaust of the std 2 banger has an anti-corrosion effect or not?

Cheers

Nope... more to do with the quality of the fuel being used... shoulda seen the dramas the early model 140 V4 evinrudes had with exhaust corrosion...good old super

[black runner]

Garry, are you are talking about the corrosive effect of sulphur compounds in the exhaust mixing with water (sulphuric acid)? What type of fuel (quality wise) would cause Didly's advanced corrosion and why on this particular Merc and presumably not others.

Cheers

[Spaniard_King]

Garry, are you are talking about the corrosive effect of sulphur compounds in the exhaust mixing with water (sulphuric acid)? What type of fuel (quality wise) would cause Didly's advanced corrosion and why on this particular Merc and presumably not others.

Cheers

Hard to say what didleys issues are.. could be several factors.. ie were the anodes fitted correctly. Is the engine subjected to any electric feilds or stray currents.. This could be from a poorly setup wirring system using the hull as an earth or possibly the engine has spent some time moored to a stray electrical source that is connected to the water.

Does the engine have any aditional stainless hardware attached to the engine.. this will promote corrosion. Dissimilar metals are generally the culprits.

Very hard for a manufacturer to come to the party when the engines background is unknown.. this is mainly due to the change of ownership.. an original owner may have had a beter chance if they had good service records.

[Didley]

Garry

The corrosion in my motor is only in the exhaust areas of the casting every where else is in very good nick. This backs up the fuel issue mentioned earlier I guess, but what is it that's wrong with some fuel and how do I ovoid this?

Didley

[Spaniard_King]

Didley,

Not sure you can avoid the fuel issues.. but when the new exhaust adapter is installed make sure they seal the gaskets with a good silicon based gasket sealer (ie 3 bond). Then I would steer clear of standard unleaded.. try to use mainly the 95 octane premium without ethanol.