First Successful Outing On The Lake

[BB63QM]

My project boat went live this weekend (Glaspar 150 Cutlass with mid-70’s Mercury 850 Thunderbolt)

Problems:
1. Could not find reverse. Back on land, discovered that the shift cable was coming up short, so spun the adjustment once and now shifts fine (manually, on land)
2. Shifting hard to forward. Maybe too high on the RPMs? I have it idling between 800-1000…can’t get it smooth under that.
3. Part also may be the controller (ancient MerControl)…getting off the detent is less than smooth leading to either a granny shift or a heavy clunk, and with the RPMs at their minimum, lots of stalls as the prop engages. In order the avoid stalls l, I resorted to hole-shots or quick acceleration after the shift, but that isn’t ideal in close quarters.
4. Not cold-starting without Starter Fluid (usually fine with the key once all warmed up and fuel flowing. Maybe I just don’t have faith in the wild (flop-sweat, all eyes on me, and worrying that I’m going to run the battery down chasing a start…at home I usually test on the charger, so that’s not an issue)
5. TellTale is not flowing a lot. Plenty of water circulating in the motor, not overheating, blows water on muffs, but tell tale usually tricked and sometime flow, but never flows hard. Is that a symptom of something other than perhaps a clogged telltale? (I recently broke the plastic tell tale connector at the power head, as of replacing that a month ago, the tube was clear from there to the outlet on the other side)…could there be a clog inside the power head?
6. couldn’t get on lake1…failed Mussel inspection due to rain water in the bilge due to clogged drain and test/muff water in the lower unit. They are strict and require a completely dry boat at some CA lakes. (Better cover during weather, better drain checks, muff testing day before, not morning of)
7. Fuel gauge not working (electrical issue to chase)

Successes:
1. Gets up on plan nicely
2. Rides smooth at all speeds.
3. Really rips…don’t know how fast we got it, but we found out what was tied down and what was not. Spent most of the afternoon at 4500+
4. Good steering at all speeds.
5. Handled parallel and perpendicular wakes well (no loss of control)
6. Nice day with the family on the lake.

Any advice is welcome. You all have been a big help throughout this project.

 

[ROY WILLIAMS]

I have a Mercury 850 4 cylinder with the Thunderbolt ignition system that is overheating. After I dropped my friends off at shore, I headed to the boat dock at full power when the motor died at full speed. I initially thought the battery for the motor was too drained, so I used the trolling motor to get to the dock. I took it back out the next weekend with a full charged battery and took off from the boat dock. I idled out of the launch area with no problems and got up to speed. I drove a few hundred yards when it lost power and died again. I put the boat back on the trailer and went home. When I got there I noticed the telltale was plugged so I ran a piece of wire about a foot into the line to clear it. I then hooked up a flush attachment and it pushed clean water out of the telltale. . While the motor was running, I watched the telltale, and it spit out a few drops of brown water and a consistent stream of exhaust appearing gas. After the motor had been running for about 5 to 10 minutes, it started slowing down and died. When i was feeling the motor to detect heat, the top half was warm but not too hot and the main part of the case directly above the water line was extremely hot. I let the motor sit overnight and flushed it out today and it had a solid stream of clear water coming out of the telltale.
I have it idling between 800-1000…? 600RPM.

 

[keithb7]

I am extremely reluctant to use starting fluid on a 2 stroke. Its very dry stuff and dilutes and removes lubricant oil from the cylinder walls and piston rings. This lube is vital to the life of your engine. No lube leads to scored cylinder walls and expedited piston ring wear. Leading to poor compression. Starting fluid might even cause a broken a piston ring or two. Its a hard no for me.

I prefer to use a small syringe with a short piece of clear line attached. Suck some pre-mix out of your fuel tank. Squirt some into your carb. Will it start?

Check all cylinder compression. Then make a plan from there to address hard starting.

 

[jimmbo]

As mentioned, do NOT use Starting Fluid on a 2 Stroke(I know I'm gonna hear: "I use it and No Problems"; or "a little won't hurt" until it does.) but it is your motor and money...

How long have you owned this Motor?

Water Pump Impeller should be replaced

Start with the Basics
1) what are the actual Compression Numbers
2) is it providing a Spark strong enough to jump a 3/8" Gap to every Cylinder?
3) What do the Plugs look like? Cylinder 1&2 share one Carb, 3&4 share the other. If #1 looks lean and #2 looks okay, the upper Crankshaft Seal might be leaking.