Mercury 115hp 4-stroke water in oil

[Gus49]

We own a 2004 Mercury 4-stroke 115 salt water outboard. It initially displayed the loss of power, missing, etc. problems discussed on your forum. Last week, we noticed the crankcase was extremely overfilled and we are sure that the new fluid is water!! The engine has extremely low hours (40 or less.)

Question - is this common for this engine, any experiences or suggestions??

 

[JB]

Re: Mercury 115hp 4-stroke water in oil

My experience is that Merc questions get much better results in the Merc forum, Gus.

I will move this.

 

[tjstaffy]

Re: Mercury 115hp 4-stroke water in oil

Hi, I thought you maybe interested in what I have say.I have a 60hp 4 stroke efi Mercury outboard on my Stacer 5.00 bowrider, I brought the boat in 2002 brand new it was great for the first couple of years and then I put it in for its first service. Thats when the problems started, the mechanic found water in the oil,he pulled the power head off and found the head gasket to be faulty this motor had only done 10hrs as we never used it due to my job.Remember the boat was bought in 2002 in 2005 the problem started.the dealer told me to my delight that Mercury would fix it under warranty" great " but three years down the track the motor had only done 20hrs it happened again the same problem with the head gasket now Mercury are saying they cant find the first warranty claim and now they can not help me. Other than that the 4 stroke works well in the dams in Australia for bass and trout trolling , as it can idle so low so the craft is just moving the outcome is that I am taking Mercury and the mechanic to Fair Trading which consumer affairs in Australia.

 

[quietseas4john]

Re: Mercury 115hp 4-stroke water in oil

Hi I have a Merc 115 EFI and Have found water in the engine oil. After reading quite a bit and trying to let the dealer check it out (No help at all). At the suggestion of a mechanic I changed the gasket on the oil drail plug. that took care of my problem.
Some other things that might help:
1. If you start loosening the drain plug and there is unmixed water in the oil it will leakout of the threads long before you take the plug out.
2. A lot of people spoke of a raising oil level because of water or Fuel. Most of these people attributed it to running the motor too slow, too cold (I did have a bad Thermostat stuck wide open) or fuel pump problems.
3. I CANNOT ever seem to get a good oil level reading on the stick. The oil is too clean, drips off too quickly, can't get it straight enough in my driveway, but most of all because the oil tends to drain out of the oil filter when I turn the motor off. I did make sure to use a Mercury filter this last time to see if that helps any.
I hope this may help somebody and God's best to you,
John

 

[fragged]

Re: Mercury 115hp 4-stroke water in oil

i'm so glad i found this thread John, i have a 2006 115hp and just drained the oil and
have been sulking all afternoon thinking I have a HUGE bill coming my way, I changed the
oil about 10hrs ago and was horrified at the sludge coming out. I do hope your fix
is the cure ....

Rich