haines hunter with 115 mercury

[Reg]

Hi all I have recently purchased my 1st boat.An old one but a good one Iam told.Iamhaving difficulty in starting the115 Is there a trick to it?I would also like to know if there is a site where I can obtain information on haines hunter boats ie 1987 models,did they make a standard cover for the anchor well etc

[Blackened]

G'day
It's a 115 merc? What year? Presumably '87 as the boat? All i can suggest is hook up the the muffs with the engine down, run the water. Jump in, squeeze fuel primer bulb until firm. There will be a leaver on the remote control box which is the idle speed. Pull this up and with the engine in neutral. Push the key in as you turn it(if thats the way the choke is configured) and hold it there with the engine turning over, until it fires. It should only take a few seconds. As revs increase, slowly back the idle leaver back down until the engine is running smoothly. This should be the general method of things.
Dave

[Ron173]

G,Day Reg,

My Merc was always a bit fussy on starting, ALWAYS needed the fast idle lifted up till you feel it just starting to pick up the throttle linkage, then push in key and turn. Generally would start ok if this procedure was followed, even from hot.

If it doesnt start after a few revolutions, its time to investigate. Continous cranking will only flatten battery and oil up plugs.

One other point, if its oil injection, which I assume it will be (seperate oil tank) if it was empty of fuel before you commenced, it will most likely have oiled up the plugs as you were trying to start it.

As its drawing fuel through from empty its still pumping oil in, which causes this, and is why you should not run an oil injection engine out of fuel, like you would a premix.

Take plugs out, clean and check condition, replace n see how you go.

If still probs you will need to check compression etc. but wont go into all that now.

Hope this helps

Rgds

Ron

[Spaniard_King]

Mercs have a problem with the electric choke loosing prime

whilst cranking the engine and pushing the key in (choking) squeeze the primer bulb, this will prime the choke

I bet she goes

If you leave the boat for more than a few days you will need to do this proceedure again

Garry

[mark221263]

There is a nack to starting carb mercs, their choke system works on one or more carbs and are the lower ones in the stack.

Each is feed fuel via a solinoide valve that allows fuel to run down from the upper carb fuel bowl to the lower carb inlet manifolds. The solinoide is energised when the key is pushed in.

I have found that cranking while pushing the key in can over fuel and flood the engine. For best results I recommend the following,

1) prime the fuel bulb until nice and firm to ensure that all fuel bowls are filled with fuel.

2) in neutral raise the fast idle to about 1/2 way up.

3) with the outboard tilted down, the closer to vertical the better push the key in while NOT cranking the motor count for 5 seconds, then release the key

4) turn the key in its normal out position to crank the outboard until it starts, normally within a few seconds.

5) adjust the idle position to a fast idle of around 1200 rpm unitl things settle down a bit.

It took me a while to find this technique until I discovered it on a similar question answered on the "screamandfly" bass boat site. Works a treat.

Try on the muffs at home 1st to get the hang of things as they seem to start easier when out of the water with less back pressure.

Cheers Mark

[Reg]

Thank you for your help I forgot to mention it was a Brown Band.Could you also advise whether or not it is recommended to run it out of fuel. I hve herard both sides of the argument

[Ron173]

Reg,

I was told by my Mercury dealer, when I had an engine that I had to premix oil in the tank, he told me to run it out of fuel every time, to stop it forming varnishes, and going stale in carbs, as there was oil with the fuel, which can seperate etc.

When I upgraded to an oil injected engine with the seperate oil tank, he specifically told me not to let it run out of fuel, as there is no oil in the fuel itself, but when you try to start it again its pumping oil in as its drawing the fuel through, and the oil gets there before the fuel does (as youve not ran your oil tank out) and oils the plugs up.

I can totally see his theory here, and unless storing up for months at a time I would say its the go. I did it for a good while like this with no probs.

Long term storage I WOULD run out, and then take plugs out and crank whilst priming fuel lines, when taking out of storage, although never did it.
I never go three weekends without boating!

Interesting to hear a theory on why you would run out an oil injection engine if not for storage long term?

Hope this helps clarify

Ron

[rojac]

Similar technique

1. Prime bulb till hard

2. In neutral fast idle all the way.

3. turn key without pushing in for choke.

4. When it fires adjust idle accordingly.

Found that using choke flooded it more times than not.

The motors idiosyncracies.