8hp Mercury 2 stroke smokes excessively, has milky oil coming out of exhaust ports

platothetoad

Cadet
Joined
May 1, 2012
Messages
13
I just picked up an early-mid 1990's (I can't figure out how to date these things) 8hp 2 stroke Mercury on Craigslist. The seller said it was winterized 2 yrs ago and not started since. It fired right up on the 2nd or 3rd pull when I got it home, but it smokes like crazy. I figured it might be trying burn through the fogging oil, but after 2-3 minutes it would still smoke heavily when I gave it ~1/2 throttle and I noticed tan milky looking oil running down the back of the leg from the exhaust ports. Is this likely from fogging oil and/or an out of whack carburetor, or something more sinister? The milky looking oil seems bad to me. Thanks for any input.
 

roscoe

Supreme Mariner
Joined
Oct 30, 2002
Messages
21,842
Fogging oil, exhaust gases, and unburnt oil along with cooling water will make a milky goo.
Also, too many people are putting way too much oil in the fuel mix.

I would suggest running it a while, above 1/4 throttle.
Then examine the plugs, and clean them.
Get some fresh fuel with correct oil mix if you haven't already.
Then run it a bit longer and check out the plugs again.

The plugs will likely have oil and gas on them.
If the plugs have water on them, thats a problem.
 

platothetoad

Cadet
Joined
May 1, 2012
Messages
13
That's what I thought. I'll check the plug and try running it with some fresh gas for a while. If it's still smoking real bad I'm sure the carb could use a cleaning. Thanks for the input
 

Scott Danforth

Grumpy Vintage Moderator still playing with boats
Staff member
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Jul 23, 2011
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51,669
best to run it under load and get some heat into the motor. sounds like its been sitting with fogging oil.

BTW, two strokes are supposed to smoke a bit.
 

platothetoad

Cadet
Joined
May 1, 2012
Messages
13
I'm familiar with the smoking habits of 2 stroke, but this was excessive. When I opened up the throttle I nearly lost sight of the motor in the ensuing cloud. It acted as if I was actively fogging the motor, which could give credit to the notion that there has been a lot of fogging oil sitting in the carb/cylinders for too long.
 

quicktach

Petty Officer 1st Class
Joined
Aug 24, 2012
Messages
394
Decarbonizer will give you lots of smoke too......fresh gas mix at 50:1 ...and run engine till smoke clears..clean plugs afterward
 
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