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Old 06-17-2012, 02:22 PM
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s_erickson s_erickson is offline
 
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Default 50 hp merc help

Bought a lund rebel ss 1650 last year. Thing ran great on the coast. The voltage regulator gave out on it so i replaced it. engine still ran good. It seems to be sluggish now. with 2 people it takes a while to get up to RPM, with 3 it won't get on plane at all. From what i've read max rpm should be 6000 rpm, i can barely get 5000 out of it now. It's got a 13 degree pitch prop on it, from what i could figure out with the mercury website it should have a 10 or 11. Ive changed all the plugs, fuel filter, leg oil and engine oil. The leg oil looked good and same with the engine. It doesnt run rough at all. I also just changed the primer ball and fuel line just incase they were gunked up. It is EFI so there is no carb to be plugged up. Is there a marine specific injector cleaner i should run through it? Should i change the prop even though it worked fine last summer on the coast? I have included a couple pics of what appears to be missing lines of some sort. The one looks like it should be sensing engine manifold pressure as compared to atmospheric pressure. The other looks like it could be used to sense atmospheric pressure vs fuel pressure? Any help with this would be great guys. I will have to take it out and GPS it but once im on plane i run around 25 mph but i have to be WOT. Me and my wife were cruising on the ocean at 30mph last summer at WOT.
Thanks for any input you can give. I wish it was a truck so i could just put a CAI on with with a set of headers and a programmer
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  #2  
Old 06-17-2012, 02:52 PM
SNAPFisher SNAPFisher is offline
 
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I feel for you man. Not just because you are having issues but also there are a ton of lemons for the Merc 50 hp standard. I owned one as well. Worst motor ever. Mine had a part failure in what mixes the oil and gas. Too much oil, smoke, mess and I also had a power problem like you. Ended up turning it back into the dealer and upgraded to a Evinrude E-tec 75 hp. Never been happier. Running 4 years straight with no maintenance and tons of hours on it. Amazing thing. Will plane your boat in 20 feet...torque!!!

I knew of 2 others how had the stock 50 hp Merc and both had issues. One guy the exact same as me and the other just a fuel line problem. That is one bad track record IMHO. Merc does make great motors. I also sure there are stock 50 hp that work well. However, the track record I have seen speaks for that particular line - 4 lemons and counting.

Hope you get your issues resolved with it.
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Old 06-17-2012, 02:59 PM
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s_erickson s_erickson is offline
 
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I wish i could put a 75 on it, but it says its only rated for a 60 hp. No one has been able to tell me exactly what would happen if i were to put a bigger engine on it. I'm moving to Quesnel, BC as soon as my house sells, and i cant wait to get it on on lakes like dragon, ten mile and more importantly quesnel and horsefly lake. The last two are BIG bodies of water and i want to cruise 60-80 km up the lake and set up camp on the edge of the water. The boat is all setup for salmon fishing with 2 scotty electric downriggers and i got the rods and stuff for deep trolling so i can hit the 40 lb lakers and 20 lb rainbows they say the lake holds, but in order to do that i need something that will get up and move and won't power out on me. I'd also like to be able to maybe have someone tube behind the boat in the summer and i know with the way it's running right now theres no chance of that.
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Old 06-17-2012, 03:35 PM
6mmhunter 6mmhunter is offline
 
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I've owned several boats that had motors exceeding the Max Hp rating and never had any issues. My present boat is rated for 90 Hp but has a 115 Hp merc on it. It's been a great boat.
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  #5  
Old 06-17-2012, 03:40 PM
pelada trochu
 
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did you make an altitude change?
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Old 06-17-2012, 03:59 PM
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s_erickson s_erickson is offline
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by pelada trochu View Post
did you make an altitude change?
yup went from sea level to 2000 ft
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Old 06-17-2012, 04:27 PM
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Mudslide Mudslide is offline
 
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My boat runs way faster on the coast/Sea level. 2000 ft makes a difference. Less air at altitude means less rpm's
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Old 06-17-2012, 09:58 PM
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s_erickson s_erickson is offline
 
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so should i try the new prop on it then since theres nothing i can do about the altitude
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Old 06-17-2012, 10:14 PM
harrydude harrydude is offline
 
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Is there any engine codes?

Old or new fuel?

Lots of things can make a motor run bad... And many factors make a boat not plane....

And over powering a boat is mainly a weight issue and transom strength ....

Change of pitch on a prop will give you either more top end or a better hole shot... Depends on the way you go....

Did you do a regular mantainence?.
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Old 06-18-2012, 12:53 AM
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Mudslide Mudslide is offline
 
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5 miles an hour difference between here and the coast is about right. If you don't have an extra prop already, then a new prop is a good idea. Check out the new Mercury Spitfire 4 blade props and drop the pitch to 11. That will give you way better performance here and you will still have the other prop for the coast.
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Old 06-18-2012, 01:04 AM
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npauls npauls is offline
 
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Yup the altitude change will make a huge difference on how your boat performs.

I would try an 11 or 12 pitch prop and see if it makes a difference.

One thing that really worked for my boats performance is adding a manual jack plate.

With 3 guys there was no chance I could get on plane and it was pretty tough with 2 guys. Now it takes a bit but I can plane out the boat with 3 guys and hit about 24-25mph. I have an Alumacraft magnum 165cs with a 40hp 4 stroke. My boat is rated for a max of 80hp.
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  #12  
Old 06-18-2012, 01:32 AM
acedave3 acedave3 is offline
 
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I own a Lund1650 with a 60 Johnson motor (2004) and never had a problem, both salt and fresh water.
My brother just bought a 2013 Lund 1610 and he has a 75 Mercury on it so extra HP doesnt seem to be a problem.
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  #13  
Old 06-18-2012, 03:45 AM
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Kim473 Kim473 is offline
 
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With the altitude change, you should be able to take to a dealer and get ( assuming computor controled ) computor reprogramed or something like that.
Google search it on the net.

From what I searched, you lose about 3% hp every 1000 feet, and you probly best to just change the prop. As, if you go back to sea level and forget to adjust the fuel mixture back you can burn your engine out. Ask a dealer and like I say maybe just change the prop.

Last edited by Kim473; 06-18-2012 at 04:10 AM.
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  #14  
Old 06-18-2012, 05:31 AM
gmcmax05 gmcmax05 is offline
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by s_erickson View Post
I wish i could put a 75 on it, but it says its only rated for a 60 hp. No one has been able to tell me exactly what would happen if i were to put a bigger engine on it. I'm moving to Quesnel, BC as soon as my house sells, and i cant wait to get it on on lakes like dragon, ten mile and more importantly quesnel and horsefly lake. The last two are BIG bodies of water and i want to cruise 60-80 km up the lake and set up camp on the edge of the water. The boat is all setup for salmon fishing with 2 scotty electric downriggers and i got the rods and stuff for deep trolling so i can hit the 40 lb lakers and 20 lb rainbows they say the lake holds, but in order to do that i need something that will get up and move and won't power out on me. I'd also like to be able to maybe have someone tube behind the boat in the summer and i know with the way it's running right now theres no chance of that.
Gonna need a whole lot more motor & boat to see those speeds. I've got a 17ft with a 115 4stroke Yamy that will only do 48mph.
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Old 06-18-2012, 05:49 AM
briangeorge briangeorge is offline
 
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I have a 16 foot Smoker Craft Pro-angler 162 which is probably somewhere close to your boat. I have the 50 HP Mercury 4 stroke engine. Boat was purchased new 2 years ago so this is season #3 for it. When new it came with a 13 pitch prop. Max RPM was 5200. It would plane OK with 2 adults but with 3rd person on board it became very difficult. Went to a 10.5 pitch prop and Max RPM is now 5700-6000. Lost a bit on Top Speed but gets up on plane much better.
You are using your trim all the way down to get out of the hole correct? Once you start to come up to plane trim up until there are no rooster tails of water on either side of the engine.
Good Luck. Since I changed Prop I love my Merc.
Regards:
briangeorge
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Old 06-18-2012, 06:06 AM
Bigdad013 Bigdad013 is offline
 
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I had the same issue, had a 21 pitch on my boat, it was on the boat when I bought it. Great for cruising, but the hole shot was pretty poor. Went to the recommended 17 pitch, got the rpm's up and no problem getting on plane with a loaded boat. Lost 3 mph but well worth it.
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Old 06-18-2012, 01:59 PM
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npauls npauls is offline
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by gmcmax05 View Post
Gonna need a whole lot more motor & boat to see those speeds. I've got a 17ft with a 115 4stroke Yamy that will only do 48mph.
I think he is talking about distance.

Even if he is talking about speed he should have no problem hitting 60km per hour with his set up.

In my under powered overloaded rig I can hit 28mph which is getting up to that 50km/hr. speed and he has probably a lighter rig with less gear and a bigger motor.
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Old 06-18-2012, 02:40 PM
gmcmax05 gmcmax05 is offline
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by npauls View Post
I think he is talking about distance.

Even if he is talking about speed he should have no problem hitting 60km per hour with his set up.

In my under powered overloaded rig I can hit 28mph which is getting up to that 50km/hr. speed and he has probably a lighter rig with less gear and a bigger motor.
lol ,you're right, that's what working nights does to a guy can't read properly,lol. Thanks for setting me straight.
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Old 06-18-2012, 02:52 PM
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npauls npauls is offline
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by gmcmax05 View Post
lol ,you're right, that's what working nights does to a guy can't read properly,lol. Thanks for setting me straight.
No problem. I figured it was probably just misread.
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  #20  
Old 06-18-2012, 09:34 PM
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FiveO FiveO is offline
 
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Your forth pic shows a breather. Put your fingur on it while running and I gaurentee it will stall the engine. Dont be scared to trim the boat. I have 70 EFI 4STROKE and i only get WOT with it trimmed to the point its racking water but it also nets another 4 mph. EFI engines are tuned by the ECU for the specific conditions, if you had old fuel it would run like crap, spit, barf and smell foul. My 16' Crestliner with 3 guys only gets 34 MPH at WOT A 90 HP might get you another 10-12 MPH. If you choose to re-prop you will sacrifice either hole shot or top end.
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  #21  
Old 04-28-2013, 05:26 PM
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s_erickson s_erickson is offline
 
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Sorry guys, I know this is an old thread, but just finished some pre-season tune ups on it and thought I should let you know a few things I have found. There is a drain port on the bottom of the vapor separator. The manual doesn't say anything about it. Well guess what, it had a bunch of water in it. Also pulled apart the diaphragm priming pump, and water. Hopefully this gets rid of my current issues. Will have it out on the water in 2 weeks so I will know for sure.
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  #22  
Old 04-28-2013, 07:39 PM
e40water12 e40water12 is offline
 
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what kind of fuel been used?.
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  #23  
Old 04-28-2013, 08:26 PM
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JohninAB JohninAB is offline
 
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The minor change in elevation of 2000 feet is not going to affect the motors performance much at all. As the motor is fuel injected I would assume the computer would change the fuel flow automatically to keep it at an optimum rate based on the altitude you are running at. Same system as an EFI snowmobile. May see a 2 to 3 hp loss max. My buddy has the exact same motor and comes out here from the coast every year to fish with us for a week and he does not have any noticeable performance loss issues.

I think the water et al you have found in the fuel system so far is a bigger factor in loss of performance. I would say after getting the water out and draining your tank if possible, then fresh gas and some Sea Foam thru the engine would not hurt it one bit. Sea Foam is available at Canadian Tire or NAPA. Afterwards, change out the spark plugs, some new fuel and should be good to go.
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  #24  
Old 04-29-2013, 06:51 AM
Freedom55 Freedom55 is offline
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I would check the ignition coils. My '08 40 (4 stroke) had a bulletin from Mercury concerning those coils. Had two episodes with them until all three were changed.

Free
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