Can anyone help with 115 Merc?

[pointer]

i bought a used 2001 mercury 115 saltwater 2stroke i have noticed a strange whistling sound coming from the engine. It sounds like a squeling belt(but not very loud). The sound comes and goes, on and off. It usually starts a few minutes after i go. Is this a serious problem or normal for a 1 year old merc?? (B) second, when the boat is moving at idle speed the engine shakes slightly and makes some sputtering noises. This also comes and goes, at times worse than others and sometimes not at all. When i increase the speed the engine smooths out, but the high pitched whistling belt squealing sound still comes and goes. Any ideas of what this is and how it can be fixed?? (C). lastly, yesterday i went to a marina and when i wanted to leave the engine would not engage in reverse, it would shut off. After several atempts with no sucess i put the boat in forward gear and the engine shut off after about 15 seconds. I tried to restart it would not turn over. The trottle felt like it was stuck and it was very difficlt to mve back to nuetral. I turned the key off, and the boat restarted. Today both forward and reverse work fine. Why did this happen and is it a serious problem or just a fluke??? Are these three problems related. I am new to this so any assistance is greatly appreciated.. Thanks.

 

[Reel Appeal]

Re: Can anyone help with 115 Merc?

pointer,<br /> Not overly familiar with the new motors(yet).Check the neutral safety switch(under cowl).It may be sticking,loose,defective.This switch will disable starting while in gear...

 

[Reel Appeal]

Re: Can anyone help with 115 Merc?

Forgot to mention,sorry....<br />Make sure the motor is pumping water and getting oil.Your symptoms are touching on over-heating a little.The whistling could be steam coming out of the weep hole.Water pump ok?

 

[miloman]

Re: Can anyone help with 115 Merc?

tend to agree with reel appeal seems like your motor is overheating I have seen it before and the whistle was steam was the motor overly hot

 

[Bob Kimber]

Re: Can anyone help with 115 Merc?

Hi Pointer,<br /> I had a similar noise in my 2000 model 90 hp Merc 2 stroke, it occured from when it was brand new and used to cut out at idle speeds even when out of gear, went great at speed. I had dealer look for problem during normal services, they could not duplicate problem in test tank, I looked for vacuum leaks and other problems and eventually tracked it down to a small air leak in fuel filter / separator, this was compounded by the problem, that at idle the fuel pump couldn't pull all the air out of the filter, once the rpm went up there was no problem.<br /><br />I modified the filter by tapping an airbleed screw in top of housing and installing fuel line bulb upstream of filter so I can bleed any air out of system when changing filters. the carbs on the 90 seem to be extremely sensitive regarding settings and I also found that I had to richen the mixture screws (only 1/8 turn ) as the idle setup in test tank in gear was not suitable in actual operating conditions.<br /><br />In my case the whistling noise seemed to be in the carbs or airbox area and only occurred at idle or very low speeds. I did this about a year ago and the noise disappeared immediately and has not happened since. <br /><br />By all means check your water output and oil injection, but after my experience I would look for fuel supply problem or airleak in fuel system.<br /><br />Regards<br />Bob