Hi all, been a while but I'm back with a new toy. You read that right, I picked up a complete 1983 Mercury 4.5hp long shaft off craigslist for a whopping $10, and that was asking price. I ended up asking the guy 2 separate times that $10 was his asking price... i just couldn't believe it. So he claimed "I ran it then the impeller went, and I didn't notice it until the motor shut off". He ended up buying a newer Honda 4 stroke, and basically just wanted this one out of his basement. He did take the lower leg off and took the old impeller out--then left it. I stop by, pick it up without asking much and took it home.
The next day I did a little investigating, not much. I pulled the cord and the motor turned over beautifully. I took the cowl off to get a look at the motor and I noticed it looked really really good inside... Even saw red grease pencil on the motor (see picture), so I thought maybe there's still some hope for this motor.
Today I took it the next step. Put the impeller back in, buttoned it up and put some fresh 50:1 mixture into it. Opened up the choke and pulled the starter cord. First pull, nothing... Second pull and LIFE, well for about half a second anyways. I kept pulling but it just sat there. After about 5 minutes, I took off the cowl and looked immediately noticed gas spilled out everywhere under the hood at the base of the motor--it was terribly flooded.
Hmmm, where could this gas be coming from? I assume its something to do with my fuel delivery system. See, I didn't want to buy new lines and a new tank for a $10 motor if it turned out I wasn't gonna be able to resurrect it. So I rigged up a gravity feed system where I used a plastic paint cup, silicone and some 1/4" hose and fed it down into the female coupling from the Attwood 8899LP6 kit I picked up from Walmart on Clearance. This provided a steady flow of gas to the fuel fitting, im just not 100% thats the correct fitting to run into the motor (although it looks right). I hope this is where the problem lies, as I have ordered what I know to the the correct part from Amazon today which will be coming in Wednesday. I cleaned it up and left it for tonight... and thought I would post this to see if you fine people could help me out and where to check next.
And then... Curiosity got the best of me. I thought maybe there's enough gas in the lines to fire it up. So I pulled the cord ONCE and this little $10 motor purred to life and it was the most beautiful sounding 5 seconds of my life (except maybe when my wife said "I do" or when my kids first screamed after being born). The water shot from the back at a steady stream and I realized this motor is going to be exceptional. I have never owned a motor that started so easily, let alone one that had been sitting for months in a basement that was supposedly dead and I bought for $10. I just get this fuel situation buttoned up, and I hopefully will be good to go!
The next day I did a little investigating, not much. I pulled the cord and the motor turned over beautifully. I took the cowl off to get a look at the motor and I noticed it looked really really good inside... Even saw red grease pencil on the motor (see picture), so I thought maybe there's still some hope for this motor.
Today I took it the next step. Put the impeller back in, buttoned it up and put some fresh 50:1 mixture into it. Opened up the choke and pulled the starter cord. First pull, nothing... Second pull and LIFE, well for about half a second anyways. I kept pulling but it just sat there. After about 5 minutes, I took off the cowl and looked immediately noticed gas spilled out everywhere under the hood at the base of the motor--it was terribly flooded.
Hmmm, where could this gas be coming from? I assume its something to do with my fuel delivery system. See, I didn't want to buy new lines and a new tank for a $10 motor if it turned out I wasn't gonna be able to resurrect it. So I rigged up a gravity feed system where I used a plastic paint cup, silicone and some 1/4" hose and fed it down into the female coupling from the Attwood 8899LP6 kit I picked up from Walmart on Clearance. This provided a steady flow of gas to the fuel fitting, im just not 100% thats the correct fitting to run into the motor (although it looks right). I hope this is where the problem lies, as I have ordered what I know to the the correct part from Amazon today which will be coming in Wednesday. I cleaned it up and left it for tonight... and thought I would post this to see if you fine people could help me out and where to check next.
And then... Curiosity got the best of me. I thought maybe there's enough gas in the lines to fire it up. So I pulled the cord ONCE and this little $10 motor purred to life and it was the most beautiful sounding 5 seconds of my life (except maybe when my wife said "I do" or when my kids first screamed after being born). The water shot from the back at a steady stream and I realized this motor is going to be exceptional. I have never owned a motor that started so easily, let alone one that had been sitting for months in a basement that was supposedly dead and I bought for $10. I just get this fuel situation buttoned up, and I hopefully will be good to go!
