Mercury power heads

[bswartzel]

I am looking to buy a mid to late 90's outboard.In my searching I see an awful lot of Mercurys with new or replaced power heads.Is there a problem or problems that i should know about.I have always owned OMC but i am certainly open to something different or better,I am looking in the 110 to 175 hp range.

 

[Maxell]

Re: Mercury power heads

They are notorious for running to lean and melting Cylinder 6. There is also a difference in the crank shaft splines if its a jet, like the mercury 175 XR2 SportJet that I have, I had a hell of a time finding a replacement powerhead, I found one on craigslist in my area for 500 but it wasn't a sport jet, I had to transfer over the internals Crank and Pistons. aswell as the exhaust.

Either way building a motor is expensive. I now have problems with water getting into my oil bleed system. If you need a manual for the powerhead let me know.
I also use http://www.mercurypartsexpress.com/ catalog to cross and get part numbers.


-Maxell