82 Mercury 90hp starter

[walterrj]

I need a new starter for my 1982 Mercury 90hp straight 6 outboard. No one in Utah that I have found can get one for at least 4 days. I wanted to get the boat back in the water this weekend.<br /><br />I looked online to order one and have it shipped overnight, and am finding a wide range of prices. Everything from $160-$390! I'm wondering if I'm finding the right part. The starter I pulled out says part number 50-72467. A friend told me West Marine was the place to go. They have a starter at $374.99, oem part 18-5636. I also found a starter at boatmotors.com, same oem part number 18-5636 for $179.11 (Sierra). The picture at boatmotors.com shows the electrical bolt on the bottom though, the one I pulled has it on the side. Am I safe to order from boatmotors.com or do I need to bite the bullet and get it from West Marine?<br /><br />Or is there an even better place to get it?

 

[JB]

Re: 82 Mercury 90hp starter

You are at the best place to get it, Walter.<br /><br />Would you walk into West Marine and ask them if you ought to get it from them or would iboats be better?<br /><br />Good luck. 3 out of 5 replaced starters don't need replacing. I hope you did thorough troubleshooting before you decided to replace it.<br /><br />Oh, and BTW, Welcome to iboats.

 

[walterrj]

Re: 82 Mercury 90hp starter

First off, thanks for the reply.<br /><br />OK, maybe I didn't ask the question correctly. I think boatmotors.com is iboats.com. Is this correct? I got there by following the parts link here. Is the part they show here <http://www.boatmotors.com/mall/part...d_poid.109359/gd_row.7/**********.161690384/> assuming the link works, the right part for my motor? I'm just suspicious of it being $100 cheaper and wanted someone who knows more to make sure. It won't do me much good to order from here and get a starter that does not fit in my motor.<br /><br />I guess I was expecting an answer along the lines of "Yep, it's the same part, go ahead and save yourself $100 and get better service to boot." or "Better get it at the other place if you don't know what you are doing because the price here looks like it isn't for the full assembly" or something like that.<br /><br />Now to answer the question of why I'm replacing the starter. Another family member was using the boat, heard the ubiquitous "pop" while starting and found the bendix assembly had come apart. Now the spring is missing and the spiral gear on the shaft and on the inside of the bendix gear are worn down at the top of the shaft/bottom of the gear so that the starter turns but does not drive the gear. The top of the starter has a layer of metal shavings. I could replace the spring and probably limp along for a while with the worn parts, but was hoping to avoid another breakdown on the water by just replacing the whole thing. Am I on the right track?<br /><br />Thanks again for the help. I haven't worked on an outboard for 20 years or so.

 

[emckelvy]

Re: 82 Mercury 90hp starter

OK, I think something is afoot in the Sierra catalog. Take a look at what Mercury Marine says your starter is supposed to look like:<br /><br /> http://www.mercurypartsexpress.com/...iceParts&statusMsg=&CID=168158185069230055274 <br /><br />Now, take a look at what Sierra says is the replacement for that starter (scroll down to get to the part # 18-5636):<br /><br /> http://www.iboats.com/mall/index.cg...8-5636&**********=965458252&*******=679919604 <br /><br />Something is afoot here and it would behoove you to figure it out before spending a lot of money on the wrong starter.<br /><br />Definitely compare your starter to the picture of the 18-5636, I'm quite sure you don't have the bracket shown at the top of the 18-5636. Also I bet the starter gear is the wrong size, and as you said the electrical conn is in the wrong place.<br /><br />As far as I know all '70's and up 99 C.I. Inline 6's mount the starter at top and bottom by split brackets, and the starter had rounded pads at top and bottom, cushioned with rubber to mount with. Not a separate mounting bracket as shown on teh 18-5636. I think there must be wrong info in the Sierra book, and if you go online it still shows the wrong starter. Don't know where to go now!!!!<br /><br />Unless you can physically compare the starters, it'd be hard to tell which is the right one. There are others in the iboats pics that look like the right one but can't tell for sure in the pics.<br /><br />Maybe this'll help, the chart shows the starter to have a 10-tooth gear:<br /><br /> http://www.seatemp.com/index.html?lang=en-us&target=d83.html <br /><br />Check this out too:<br /><br /> http://www.oldmercs.com/starters.htm <br /><br />Here's another place with starters:<br /><br /> http://www.rodnreel.com/dmarine/stam.htm <br /><br />Now, I suppose the other possibility is that the picture is wrong, but then how do you know that either?? Just about every site I've found says the correct # is 18-5636.<br /><br />Quite the mystery. Let us know how it turns out.<br /><br />P.S. looks like the aftermarket starter at www.oldmercs.com is the cheapest.<br /><br />HTH.........ed

 

[walterrj]

Re: 82 Mercury 90hp starter

OK here are the pictures of my starter.<br />

 

[johnz8]

Re: 82 Mercury 90hp starter

just got a starter for my 85 90hp inline 6<br />it was used for 75.00 this is the e-mail<br />mpoattndan@aol.com it took 5 days to get

 

[walterrj]

Re: 82 Mercury 90hp starter

The Mercury Marine picture looks right.<br /><br />The Sierra picture is close, but as you say has the big bracket in the way and the wrong placement for the electrical bolt.<br /><br />The old starter does have 10 teeth. Your description of the starter and how it mounts is dead on.<br /><br />Thanks for all the links. I'm going to have to pick someone to order from this morning and hope for the best.<br /><br />

Originally posted by Ed Mc.:<br /> OK, I think something is afoot in the Sierra catalog. Take a look at what Mercury Marine says your starter is supposed to look like:<br /><br /> http://www.mercurypartsexpress.com/...iceParts&statusMsg=&CID=168158185069230055274 <br /><br />Now, take a look at what Sierra says is the replacement for that starter (scroll down to get to the part # 18-5636):<br /><br /> http://www.iboats.com/mall/index.cg...8-5636&**********=965458252&*******=679919604 <br /><br />Something is afoot here and it would behoove you to figure it out before spending a lot of money on the wrong starter.<br /><br />Definitely compare your starter to the picture of the 18-5636, I'm quite sure you don't have the bracket shown at the top of the 18-5636. Also I bet the starter gear is the wrong size, and as you said the electrical conn is in the wrong place.<br /><br />As far as I know all '70's and up 99 C.I. Inline 6's mount the starter at top and bottom by split brackets, and the starter had rounded pads at top and bottom, cushioned with rubber to mount with. Not a separate mounting bracket as shown on teh 18-5636. I think there must be wrong info in the Sierra book, and if you go online it still shows the wrong starter. Don't know where to go now!!!!<br /><br />Unless you can physically compare the starters, it'd be hard to tell which is the right one. There are others in the iboats pics that look like the right one but can't tell for sure in the pics.<br /><br />Maybe this'll help, the chart shows the starter to have a 10-tooth gear:<br /><br /> http://www.seatemp.com/index.html?lang=en-us&target=d83.html <br /><br />Check this out too:<br /><br /> http://www.oldmercs.com/starters.htm <br /><br />Here's another place with starters:<br /><br /> http://www.rodnreel.com/dmarine/stam.htm <br /><br />Now, I suppose the other possibility is that the picture is wrong, but then how do you know that either?? Just about every site I've found says the correct # is 18-5636.<br /><br />Quite the mystery. Let us know how it turns out.<br /><br />P.S. looks like the aftermarket starter at www.oldmercs.com is the cheapest.<br /><br />HTH.........ed

 

[Clams Canino]

Re: 82 Mercury 90hp starter

All the inline 6 starters are interchangable after 1970. ALL of them.<br /><br />-W

 

[walterrj]

Re: 82 Mercury 90hp starter

I ended up picking go2marine.com to order from because of all the sites that seemed to show the right starter at a reasonable price, they were the first one I could get on the phone with and talk to a knowledgeable person. $199. Sorry iBoats.com, I wanted to order there but the combination of the wrong picture and a higher price scared me off. I likely could have gotten it cheaper.<br /><br />The starter came yesterday and went in like a dream. The only hiccup was the ground screw. The new starter had smaller threads for that hole, so I had to rake through the extra parts box and find a screw that matched the smaller threads.<br /><br />Changed the lower unit oil, it was due and a little low. The person that did it before me made the classic mistake of not getting the old gasket off the vent screw before putting a new one in, so it had two. I got lucky and it didn't leak. Now both screws are back to one gasket. Pulled the prop to check for fishing line or other problems and all looked good.<br /><br />Pulled the lower unit off and put a new impeller kit in. Old impeller was stiff and showed signs of cracking. Getting that lower unit back on sure was fun. I had a guy who knew what he was doing helping me out, but we still got the shift linkage misaligned and had to play with that for a while.<br /><br />Fired it up in the driveway and it ran well and sounded good. Mission accomplished, the boat is ready for the weekend!<br /><br />Thanks for the help and ideas!