Long sad story 60HP Merc

[Soccerdad]

I am fit to be tied with my boat (co-owned with the sob-in-law), and even more so with an 'authorized Tracker dealer' in Columbus Georgia.
The boat is a Tracker Pro Team 185 (2000 Model) with a 60 horse Tracker motor (which is a Merc). About a year ago, during a trip to Keaton Beach,
the motor started losing rpms when hot. Basically, it would run for a half mile at WOT and then just scale back to 1500 to 2000 rpm and run as slow as
thick ketchup. Idle fine and rev in 'neutral advance' but no speed or rpm if under a load (in either F or R). A local shade tree mechanic changed out
the prop and cleaned up the carbs. (Seemed odd that he said "spun prop' as a spun prop would rev but not torque .. no? As opposed to not reving up in gear?) But anyway, out to the lake and same thing .. run a quarter to half mile, scale back and not handle a load. So off to the 'factory authorized' dealer/service in Columbus. We had used these guys some in the past, but they were decidedly expensive, slow, and unfriendly. A friend of ours had suggested that 'if you have compression, and if your fuel is clean, ask them to check the stator. So we did. After some supposed testing and a few weeks of diagnosis, they gave us the good news. A power pack!
Problem solved .. just write the check! Not the stator? Nope, we checked it. So back to the lake. No change!! Quarter mile at WOT, and then max 2000 rpm and a
limp back to the dock. Damn! By this time the sob-in-law had gone from Ft Rucker to Ft Bliss (in El Paso), so I told Mr factory authorized that I would borrow a truck and bring it the 60 miles. Our problem was discovered in August and it's now November. Frustration building. More frustration as almost every phone call from me goes unanswered by the dealer. Finally, they come and fetch the boat and tell us, "This is on us. We failed to fix it. We will fix it." So the boat sits uncovered in their yard. And sits. And calls go unanswered. Every time I do connect, there is another excuse .. bad fuel (the tank was bone dry and I drained it a quart jar at a time and found no water, no debris). Then "all the contacts are corroded" so I told them not to worry about the dash .. just do the one red and one black and connect the motor to the cranking battery. And oh yeah, check the stator. "No we tested it, it's not the stator." In March the kids were in town and we wanted to go to the Gulf. Supposedly, we were "this close" to having the boat all ready to go. Whoops, no - tested it on the river, no change!! Did you check the stator?? No, not the stator, maybe the voltage regulator?? Kids now back in Texas again and I'm fishing from the kayak, so I call every few weeks. Most calls go unreturned. April goes by. May. June. So I'm in Columbus in June and I go in. New service manager, "Who the hell are you?" he wants to know. The old guy is now parts manager. The new guy says we will get it in the shop tomorrow. Well - not TOMORROW, but as soon as we can. Another few weeks go by. Another dozen calls go unreturned. Then one day the first guy (now parts manager) calls and says, "this is the most embarrassing call I've ever made. You have asked us 10 times to look at the stator, and 3 different mechanics have instrument tested it, but today we pulled the flywheel and the stator is burned! So, once the new one comes in we're good to go. Oh, and the general manager won't agree to do this for free." OK, I say, charge me for parts only. He'll see what he can do. And another few weeks go by. And finally - in August - a year after the original problem began - and after several misdiagnoses - we get the boat back and have a new voltage regular and a new stator, and "we ran it on the river for two hours and it runs great!" So we take it to the river over here - starts fine - idles good - won't shift into F or R!! So back home. And we take the throttle/shift control apart and fix the button for
neutral advance. Back to the river. Same old same old. So I call the 'authorized dealer' and they swear up and down that they did indeed change out the parts, and they did indeed run it for 'at least 45 minutes' on the water, and 'it must be my tank, filled with water and debris." We ran it on an external tank they say. It's not coughing, it's not sputtering, it's not dying, it idles fine, it runs good, it just won't run with a load. So I trot out and buy and external tank, and a hose, and fittings, I clean the carbs with Sea Foam. And while I'm waiting for the sob-in-law (who is moving back to work at Rucker) I drain the old tank again. One jar at a time. No water. No debris. So Sunday we go to the river. Starts right up. Idles great. We run a quarter mile ... and the rpms drop to 2200 to 2500. We putter around running clean gas through, assuming that if there's any crap in the carbs, we are running it through and burning it out. So despite running 'slightly better', we have given up an entire season and tolerated the nonsense of the factory authorized eejits with a patience unknown to modern man. These guys don't know boats from potatoes.

So anyway - long, long story, but here we sit with a clean looking engine (relatively few hours for 8 to 9 years), new power pack, new stator, new voltage regulator, carbs rebuilt twice in the past 18 months, carbs cleaned three days ago, and fresh plugs .. we have compression in all 3 cylinders, clean fresh fuel, full ignition in neutral, but insufficient ignition under any load. We like the hull on this boat just fine .. we can fish rivers - salt or fresh - lakes, bays and the flats, but I'd take a dime for this engine. Maybe a nickel. And I wish that either Tracker or Mercury cared what evil lurks in the minds of their authorized dealers. I have called both manufacturers
on the phone and they have a true "so what" attitude. Anybody have an idea?

[Barhopr]

My lord! That is a story you hate to hear if you own a boat. I can't offer any help on the tracker and if I were you I would take it out fishing anyway. Just be sure to have a buddy follow along for safety sake. You never know, bad weather can just come out of nowhere and with a boat that may not be able to get out of harms way, you may need your buddy to rescue you if the boat swamps and sinks.

[FUTCHCAIRO]

THOSE MERKS REALLY DON'T MAKE VERY GOOD ANCHORS EITHER. THERE IS A FELLA OVER IN WHIGHAM GA THAT CAN FIX ANYTHING WRONG ON MERKS. HE IS LISTED IN THE PHONE BOOK AS JAKE HODGES. HE ONLY WORKS ON ENGINES AFTER HIS REGULAR JOB AND ON WEEK-ENDS. IF IT CAN BE FIXED , JAKE CAN FIX IT. HE IS ALSO A GREAT MECHANIC ON ANY OUTBOARD ENGINE. HIS PH. IS 229-762-3635.
PA THE OLD MAN

[Flanders]

Man that really sucks... I hate to hear you had to go through all that crap...

[Reel Cowboy]

That sucks.
I might would have to lawyer up and get my money back.

[Fishman]

Talk about a nightmare

[Soccerdad]

Thanks for your sympathy guys. The upside is not buying a lot of gas and oil right?
The kayak runs on apples, sunflowers and beer ... the all american fuel .. oh wait, I guess our breweries are being bought up too, yeah? And our farmland

Thanks FC for the ref to Mr Hodges. Worth a try.

[RHTFISH]

Famous last words....."IT SUNK" !!!!

And when filing insurance figure all the parts, charges, etc., into the value!

[Natureboy]

Tough luck Cuz. Buy you a 60hp Yamaha and go fishing because that Mercury aint never gonna be right. Trade it in on the Yamaha. Good compression = Good trade in money.

[wevans]

Could be a bad heat sensor, it will restrict RPM's if it thinks it is running hot.

[sundown]

If you need a real mercury mechanic take it down to Flint River Marine and let John have a look at..He's worked on my mercs and always been quick to find any problem associated with them..Which have been few. I've always been very pleased with Mercury motors.

[Soccerdad]

SD - thanks for the ref to John at FRM. They are close! I SD

[Lighterknot]

I was told those mercury's are disposable. Sounds like the makings of a new reef!!!!.
Be sure and post the coordinates.. Is this what they mean by waters having to much mercury content..??

[KLONG]

Could be a bad heat sensor, it will restrict RPM's if it thinks it is running hot.

I think Wevans may be be right. Soccerdad, I had the same problem but with a 70 hp evenrude. Went through the whole bad gas,stator,power pack,etc,etc. I got tired of rebuilding a motor a trip at a time. As it turns out there is a small heat sensor somewhere under the flywheel that will shut down the fire to the middle cylinder. Only after I found out that it was the middle cylinder that was not firing, I was able to get it fixed.

O well, at least now I have all new parts on my motor. BTW, Lenny at Lenny's Boats in Albany did the work. The heat sensor was less than ten dollars!

[Soccerdad]

Thanks guys !!!!

This is why I come here on Sunday mornings and skip church. It's more than just solid info. It's spiritual food!!!

ps .. I used to skip church and go fishing. Then it started raining .. and raining .. and raining ..