Rod,

Yes it has a squeeze bulb. Been there, done that; it didn't help.
When I removed the plugs after the first shut down, they looked
relatively clean. I wiped them off and re-installed them. The engine
runs fine when the outside air is cool, but in the afternoon sun, it
stumbles and stalls. The problem could be the impeller not delivering
enough water, it could be the fuel pump, at this point I'm too
embarrassed to be towed back to the dock again without at least
letting a mechanic check it out. Unfortunately I must wait until
August 21 for an appointment. Since the boat shop is near the lake,
they can take it out and hopefully the problem will be fixed or maybe
they will need to be towed.

Thanks for your input.

Harvey

"Rod McInnis" wrote in message ...
"Harvey Arkawy" wrote in message
om...

The original owner stated that the boat &
motor only had about 30 hours total and that it had been about a year
and a half since it had been in the water.

I have my own horror story about low hours Mercury outboards that sat for a
year. I hope yours turns out better than mine!

Since it stalls when warm,
I'm more inclined to believe that vapor lock is causing my problem. I

Does the motor have a squeeze bulb between the tank and the motor? If you
are experiencing a vapor lock situation then simply giving the bulb a
squeeze should clear it up. If that helps the situation then I would
recommend changing the fuel pump.

From your earlier post I had the impression that once the engine died it
wouldn't restart until you changed the plugs. This wouldn't be vapor lock.


will have the impeller checked out as soon as I can find a Mercury
Force mechanic who is not swamped with work.

Water pump impeller is not that hard to change. The lower unit bolts to the
mid section with four or five bolts. Remove the bolts and drop the lower
unit and you should have easy access to the water pump housing. 4 to 6
small screws should hold the pump housing on and the impeller is under that.
It will take you less time to change it yourself then driving the boat down
to the dealer.


Rod