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Our 76' V Mate I

LOL.. She's pretty awesome. Usually I take on a project and go absolutely nuts with it. It can't stand to leave anything alone and usually turn each project in to something I'll never have enough time to finish... This time she's helping me focus and just get it functional and fun... ;)
 
Well, we finally got to take the Checkmate out on it's maiden voyage tonight and overall it went pretty good! My dad took his boat along in case we needed a tow home and e ended up being the one who needed a tow... He hit a sand bar and got hung up, then got pissed and tried to power off... Didn't work out too good for his impeller...

So back to the mate; we put in on the east end of Lake Macatawa in Holland, MI here. Note how green the water was at the launch... freaking disgusting... Anyways, it fired up great at home on the muffs but didn't go as well once in the water. Got it running though and then ran just fine. First issue we found was apparently my settings aren't quite right w/ the throttle controls and the motor wants to die out when shifting from neutral to forward or reverse. Worse in reverse. I have to shift quickly and give it a little throttle.. I'll ask for your thoughts in a few..

Next issue was the trim, while it works fine when in neutral but will not trim up under load. I think this may be due to the trim system not being properly bleed yet out yet since we didn't spend much time with it this weekend when we replaced the lines. Hopefully we don't need to rebuild the pump...

Final issue was the motor seems to be losing fuel under throttle and it gets worse the longer it runs. When we first took off from the dock it felt pretty good. After running for a while it just kept losing power and felt like it was losing cylinders. Then we stopped for a while and watched my dad try to drive off a sandbar and took off again. That time it opened up again for a minute or so but then progressively got worse... By the time we got back to the dock it was bagging pretty bad. Once we throttled back and slowed down is was no problem idling in to the dock.

So. Anyone have any thoughts? My plan is to tear in to the carbs later this week and try cleaning and rebuilding what's needed. If this doesn't do it maybe fuel pump rebuild? Or switch over to electric at this point. For the trim we'll try bleed it out some more. I used power steering fluid to refill it. Is this OK? I know most guys run motor oil or ATF but this is what I had around on Saturday and didn't think it mattered much... Then we're back to the neutral to gear shifts. Can I just bump up the idle a little? Or do I need to play around with the shift and throttle cables? Please remember, I'm about a green as the water we were in tonight on this outboard stuff.. I know I can figure it out but I'm mostly a car guy... LOL

Here's some pics:

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The 150 Inline im putting on my Vmate runs great but not under a load . It does the same as your motor does . Carbs were rebuilt and still the same . I bought a Mercury compression gauge and found that number 2 cylinder only had 35 psi and the rest were at 145 psi ... Mine will be getting sent to south carolina for a rebuild .....
 
First issue we found was apparently my settings aren't quite right w/ the throttle controls and the motor wants to die out when shifting from neutral to forward or reverse. Worse in reverse. I have to shift quickly and give it a little throttle..

I've never known these tower of powers any other way. Been running mine that way for the last 15 years since I had it. Ran others inline mercs and it was the same thing. Idle them too long and the run like crap too.

Oh just about forgot. The pics look great.
 
I did a compression test when I first got it and I have 125 psi across the board so I feel like this motor should be OK... I did have two floats sticking originally and now it looks like the middle carb is still leaking out gas if I pump up the primer ball extra hard. I'm thinking this isn't necessarily the problem but gives me reason to go through them... Hopefully this isn't a wild goose chase...

Well I guess I can live with this throttle deal then.. I didn't know if there was some setting I could fine tune or not. I did just replace all the cables and rebuilt the box so I thought maybe there was a setting I had off. I simply set it up like it seemed like it should work.
 
motor

I would deffinatly check compression, clean all the fuel components, and put a new impeller in while I was at it. Just remember that fuel=lubrication on these motors. Boat looks great. Don't forget to let your wife drive once in a while.:)
 
I really prefer the old inline Six motors . Mine seem to idle fine I have never had a issue with that just with top end on the one in the garage . My other 150 inline runs like a champ and have never had any issues with her ....
 
Well, we basically spent our entire weekend working on the Checkmate... W had planned to take it out Sunday to a big cove party near by but it wouldn't start in the morning... So I ended up taking the carbs off and going through them thourougly. Still didn't seem to fix the starting issues but did fix my leaky middle carb... Monday we decided to make it out to the big lake or bust. Well, we made it home but it was tough...

The thing just won't open up and just bogs and bogs... We noticed that the boat will slowly start to speed up if I just very gradually roll on the throttle. It was too choppy to keep going but it seemed almost like it was getting up and going pretty good after it built up some throttle. This makes me think it's a fuel issue, or maybe ignition... I don't know.. I'm going crazy here...

Next stop is to rebuilt the fuel pumps. If this doesn't do it I feel like it's on to timing and then ignition.... Any thoughts?

Anyways, here's what we did Saturday night for 6 hrs.

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Here's a couple shots from Labor day out on Lake Michigan.

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And here's a guy who was taking pictures of water... Who does this???

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On a side note... Does this forum not let us edit posts after a while or something?? I just moved some pics around in my hosting account and now the link is broke and I can't go in to the post to edit it... :(
 
I would pull the carbs all the way down, and soak them in carb cleaner for a few hours. then so all new gaskets/needles/seats, rebuild the fuel pump, clean fuel filter and make sure your fuel lines/tank/gas are good.

Then run a can or two of mercury power tune through it like the can says.

then check for spark on all cylinders using a timing light or similar, and verify timing.
If that does not improve/fix it, time to investigate further.
 
Sounds like I'm on the right track here then. I'm confident with the carb work I did except the middle carb had a slightly dinged up end on the idle jet... Looks like someone tried removing the main jet w/o backing up the idle jet first putting a screwdriver in to the tip of the idle jet... I tried to reform it the best I could figuring I could replace that jet later when the motor was back together if needed... I feel like this wouldn't be a large enough issue to mess up higher rpm's though...

Am I missing something on the fuel filter on these motors?? I can't find one anywhere... Nothing in-line, the strainers were not in the float bowls, haven't seen anything anywhere else... Did the previous owner eliminate this? Or am I just blind??

I've verified spark but have yet to finish understanding the timing procedure. Still need to research that one a little more..

Fuel pumps are next.

Thanks!
 
I did the same thing - cleaned my carbs real well, or so I THOUGH. Problem was still there, so I tore them down again and soaked them in carb cleaner. There were tiny holes and passages that I didn't even know were there, and my problem was pretty much fixed
 
I've never known these tower of powers any other way. Been running mine that way for the last 15 years since I had it. Ran others inline mercs and it was the same thing. Idle them too long and the run like crap too.

Oh just about forgot. The pics look great.

My 73 1500 will idle for a long time and still run fine.I wonder if yours is missing the restrictors in the transfer ports?They have a tendancy to fall into the motor and disappear.With these missing it will really load up the engine.
 
Sounds like I'm on the right track here then. I'm confident with the carb work I did except the middle carb had a slightly dinged up end on the idle jet... Looks like someone tried removing the main jet w/o backing up the idle jet first putting a screwdriver in to the tip of the idle jet... I tried to reform it the best I could figuring I could replace that jet later when the motor was back together if needed... I feel like this wouldn't be a large enough issue to mess up higher rpm's though...

Am I missing something on the fuel filter on these motors?? I can't find one anywhere... Nothing in-line, the strainers were not in the float bowls, haven't seen anything anywhere else... Did the previous owner eliminate this? Or am I just blind??

I've verified spark but have yet to finish understanding the timing procedure. Still need to research that one a little more..

Fuel pumps are next.

Thanks!

Another thing that causes issues is crap in the distributor cap or the center contact in the dist. worn down bad.
Definitely rebuild the pumps.You should do a Lync and Sync if you can.If I can find a link for this process I'll post it.I had no experience with these when I bought mine,but the insructions are step by step and I did get it done.Don't skip any steps though.Also if it won't stay running when put into gear your idle circuits are partially plugged or the screws are just not opened up enough.Another thing you can check is right after a run pull the plugs and check for evidence of water on the plugs.A bad lower main seal will let water by and also they're known for the exhaust divider plate corroding through and allowing water into the cylinders.Not trying to scare you off,but these old TOP's do have their quirks.They run super,but do take a bit of patience to properly set up.
BTW I had a 69&1/2 440 6-Pac Roadrunner that was almost the same colour as your boat.I loved it because they were so rare that I never saw another one like it here in Ontario.There were a couple of Orange ones around,but I never saw a nother Green one other than in pictures.
 
THANK YOU for the info guys! I seem to have a magnetic field around me that attracts larger projects than I have time for yet I always seem to end up with them and end up and expert in the end... When we bought this thing I had never worked on an OB either... I'm getting my fill now and kind of intrigued by it. Not to say I'm a novice with engines by any means though. I've built race engines for years and done lots of work with airflow research in my earlier days. I've taken many a project to a whole new level most people around me never imagine... My wife is feeling another one coming on... lol

I'm going to order up the fuel pump kits soon along with carb rebuild kits(might as well), new plug wires and maybe a new Mercury switch since ours has wires completely rotted away. Anyone think these are necessary? Should I get new caps for the plug wire too? Or are the springs usually fine as long as the rubber is still good?

Does anyone know if I can get a distributor cap rebuild kit or do I need to suck it up and buy a whole new cap if I want to freshen that part up? Ours looks clean but it the center contact is hard to tell...

Thanks for the link too. I will definitely be going through all of this.

I'm determined to figure this out. I've researched a lot now and have found a couple people who say you can try everything and in the end find out the motor is shot even though the compression is good due to carbon buildup(??) I will be really frustrated if I try everything possible and still find out I need to rebuilt the motor... Not the end of the world though.. And definitely not the first time something like this will have happened... lol
 
replace it all. you dont want a weak link. starter looks good and the price is nice also.run some sea foam thru that old girl!And i think merc makes an additive to de carbonize .
 
I picked mine up at a BRP/OMC Dealer.They had done fuel lines,cleaned the carbs and who knows what all.They couldn't make it run right and the Dealer told me the reeds were shot.Basically said the motor was shot.I knew nothing about setting them up,but I went through everything again and then did the Lync & Sync.It works fine now other than being a bit of a pig to start if it sits for a few days(sh*tty choke sys).Cleaning the dist cap made the biggest difference of all.Didn't want to spend $300 for a new cap untill I found out if it was going to work.I'm still thinking of adding an enrichener system for cold starts though.
 
Also, anyone know if this is a good starter to go with? Seems cheap...

http://electricmotorserviceonline.c...OUTBOARD-50-72467-1065221-M030SM-P514427.aspx

I'd worry. I took that route and bought a cheap starter, figured why not a starter is a starter. It ended up not being that strong. Doesn't turn over fast. It does the trick but I probably wouldnt go that route again. The brand I bought was dbelectrical, so not exactly the same as the one in your link

The Arco products on the other hand are a whole other story, quality is awesome and they are made in the USA. You will pay more. If you can afford it get the starter from them. :thumb:
 
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