On Sat, 09 Oct 2004 04:33:20 GMT, "mgg" wrote:

~~ snippage ~~

If I was a poker player, I'd call your bluff. 16 hours? Gas a contaminate
(what are ya supposed to run 'em on)? Instead, since I like to fish, I'll
call this a troll, and leave it alone...sheez.

I don't know about the carb thing because I have never had that happen
and I've never heard of such.

However, I can speak to Mercury warranty policies and they frankly
suck. I have a 67# thrust MotorGuide trolling motor on my Ranger
(Great White) and the control potentiometer caught fire. Obviously,
the trolling mtor is now junk as the lower unit also took a huge hit
internally and burned out at the same time. It was purchased new two
years ago and this happened about a month before the warranty expired
(this summer in fact).

Mercury said in refusing the warranty claim: "The motor must have been
submerged at some point causing corrosion and we're not responsible
for those kind of owner/operator errors".

That's an exact quote from a letter received from Mercury concerning
this warranty claim. In short, they don't want to have to replace my
trolling motor.

I'm still working on it and the prospects are excellant. However, I
would be willing to believe anything about Mercury warranty practices
at this point.

Oh, and just for the record, I wouldn't buy a Mercury engine if you
paid me. Not only because of this problem, but when you shift gears,
there is so much gear lash in the lower unit that it sounds like a
head on collision between two eighteen wheelers doing a buck twenty
five.

Ok - that's hyperbole. I meant to say eighty five.

Take care.

Tom

"The beatings will stop when morale improves."
E. Teach, 1717