Force by Merc Marine 5 HP...advise needed

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Ringo Steele

Ringo Steele

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Hi folks,
I have a 5 hp Force (by Mercury Marine) that has been sitting up for a year. It had a problem starting last time it was used. My thoughts at the time were probably the carb gumming up.I bought the motor from a friend of my wife's. Her parents bought it new in the crate to take to Maine when they retired, but never used due to their health. It is a 1998 model, and I have only used it 2 or 3 times at a local lake.

Any ideas? Any comments in general on this motor, as to reliability, maintainence, parts availability, etc.? Any ideas as to where I can get a manual for it?

Thanks,
Ringo
 
I had an 03 Two stroke and it was a great little motor. I'd pull the carb and use some brake cleaner and make sure you remove any visible build up, replace the plug, get some fresh gas, and some starter fluid. You could try sea foam once the motor will run long enough to get the rest cleaned out. Just make sure it's pumping water properly.

Manuals can be found on ebay, paid about $20 for the service manual and it covered everything. I've got a couple left over plugs I never used, let me know which ngk it takes and I might be able to help.
 
Well good news and bad news. I got the motor running fine after getting fresh gas, adding StaBil and Seafoam with the 2-cycle oil, cleaning the spark plug, and cranking several times. However, there is very little water coming out of the pee-holes (4 small ones in a square on this motor). Not close to what should be coming out. Is this probably the impeller, or could something be clogging up the pipes. How could they be cleaned?

Anyways, how hard is it to replace the impeller on this motor (I haven't done one before), or should I take it to a marine mechanic? Any advise appreciated.
 
Well, I watched the videos. I pulled the two fasteners holding on the lower unit, but it would only pull out about 1/2-3/4 inch. Anything I could be missing? I tried it in neutral and also in forward (no reverse on this motor), but that didn;t help. Any suggestions?
Thanks!
 
the linkage for F&R may be holding the lower unit on, look on utube for some vids. the ones I have watched indicate you need to take the gear linkage loose/apart to remove the lower unit. You should see a couple nuts/bolts that connect the lower & upper linkage togther.
 
Ringo Steele said:
Hi folks,
I have a 5 hp Force (by Mercury Marine) that has been sitting up for a year. It had a problem starting last time it was used. My thoughts at the time were probably the carb gumming up.I bought the motor from a friend of my wife's. Her parents bought it new in the crate to take to Maine when they retired, but never used due to their health. It is a 1998 model, and I have only used it 2 or 3 times at a local lake.

Any ideas? Any comments in general on this motor, as to reliability, maintainence, parts availability, etc.? Any ideas as to where I can get a manual for it?

Thanks,
Ringo
Click to expand...

did you check the top of the page of these threads? theres a link for ebcohost with a password, id be willing to bet your manual is in there..... just a thought.
 
I checked the ebcohost link, but they only show the Force 5hp that was made by Chrysler before Mercury produced them. It may have some similarities though, so I'll see what I can find.
 
Hey Ringo,
I just bought my first tin boat last November and I have a Mercury Force motor as well, but it's a 9.9HP and I had the exact same concern...very little water coming out of the "pee-hole". I just started working on the motor this week, so I will tell you what I find. I am thinking that maybe the water output increases as the motor temperature rises? Has anyone ever heard of that before?

I'll keep in touch, we might be in the same boat :wink:

On a related note, is there any harm in storing an outboard motor in my garage all year without ever starting it up? I'm reading the manual now and it's recommending I put Quicksilver Storage Seal in all of the lines. Do most people do that?

-House
 
HOUSE said:
Hey Ringo,
I just bought my first tin boat last November and I have a Mercury Force motor as well, but it's a 9.9HP and I had the exact same concern...very little water coming out of the "pee-hole". I just started working on the motor this week, so I will tell you what I find. I am thinking that maybe the water output increases as the motor temperature rises? Has anyone ever heard of that before?

I'll keep in touch, we might be in the same boat :wink:

On a related note, is there any harm in storing an outboard motor in my garage all year without ever starting it up? I'm reading the manual now and it's recommending I put Quicksilver Storage Seal in all of the lines. Do most people do that?

-House
Click to expand...


I to have a 9.9 and I see no water coming out of the holes. I think my impeller is bad. I did replace it 15 years ago and it was a bugger to connect the shift linkage back.
 
agentxman said:
I to have a 9.9 and I see no water coming out of the holes. I think my impeller is bad. I did replace it 15 years ago and it was a bugger to connect the shift linkage back.
Click to expand...

Yea, I'm worried about my impeller too. I have a small stream of water coming out of mine, but it's not a lot. My friend has a huge output like a garden hose on his Yamaha, but since he doesn't have a Force motor I don't know if I can compare the two. Can anyone with a Force motor out there comment on how much water should flow out from the impeller on these things?
 
Well, I stil lhaven't gotten time to work on the motor any more, but I did internet shop for the impeller, and was astounded by the prices I saw! Retail for the impeller seems to be around $80 :shock: , and the cheapest I found was around $55. Last motor I priced one on was many years ago, and it was less than $20! I am finally ready to shoot the last coat of paint onthe exterior of the boat though! :mrgreen:
 
I would replace the impeller anyways, but that motor may not require a constant stream, I had a johnson 2 horse with little holes, and even at wide open throttle only a little bit of mist came out, and it never over heated. The impeller was brand new.

Go to youtube and see if you can find a video of this motor running, and watch to see how much water is coming from it to give you and idea on if yours is bad or not.
 
I have a 96 Gamefisher 15hp made by Force and Mercury built. I assume that is the engine yall are talking about. I had to order an impeller for mine yesterday. I bought mine from iboats.com. It was $14.00 with shipping. From what I see on mine, the lower unit drops a little then you have to remove a screw that holds the shift linkage together. The 9.9 should be the same as my motor, just a detuned version. I had an 85 Force on a ski boat and it didnt put out water like a Merc or Johnson. Most motors have a line that the water "pees" out of. The Force engines just has a small exhaust port that the water sprays out of so it will appear that not as much water is comming out.
 
Thanks for those last 2 posts guys. I found this video of a 15hp that shows a pretty steady stream of water shooting down:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uIgmHPvPg5Q

Here are some links I found for FORCE parts:
1) https://www.crowleymarine.com/mercury_mercruiser_hp/FORCE.cfm
2) https://www.boats.net/parts/search/Merc2/Force/parts.html

My engine has a sticker that reads serial # is OE14736, but I do not see the year. Is that listed elsewhere?
 

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