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A couple of weeks ago I was all set to winterize my 10-year-old Mercury Mariner 4-stroke outboard and was dutifully following the owner's manual. One item was to remove the spark plugs and spray some oil in there. I had purchased socket wrenches for spark plugs.

Low and behold, the correct size wrench for the spark plugs will not fit in the round holes where each spark plug resides. I tried a couple of brands but a "normal" spark plug socket wrench is just too "thick" to go in there.

I called a local marina and the lady there said, "Yes, our guys sometimes find they have to file down their wrenches to fit into certain engine spark plug holes."

What gives? How silly is it that a very mainstream marine engine requires non-standard tools?

I'm paying someone to come service the engine dockside as the snow is falling and I'm out of time to fiddle with this nonsense.

What I need to know is this: Where can one obtain the correct wrenches to perform this task? I can't be the first person to encounter this frustrating situation.

Oh, and one other little side-story I thought might amuse you. Before I went on a one-week holiday about 14 days ago, I had contracted with a company to perform the winterization as, again, I had simply run out of time. When I returned I phoned to find out how everything went. Over several days there were no return phone calls. Eventually I drove over to their building and found a security guard and repo men attending the site. Turns out the company has gone bankrupt and all its assets have been seized. Yes, the debited my credit card for the work, but I have no way of knowing if it was performed. My credit card has been refunded (by VISA, pending the outcome of their investigation). I have to assume the work was NOT performed, and put the refunded money toward having new people do it. (I have found some reliable folks.)

What a nightmare!

Enfused,

I have a honda 50 and experienced the same issue with removing the plugs. I went to Autozone and bought thinwall 18mm deep socket. Funny thing is I bought 2 one for a spare. The next time I went to remove plugs the extra socket was just a tad too thick. So I would ask for the thinwall type and maybe even be willing to try different brands until you find the correct mix.

Gary

I assume you don't have the original owners tool kit that probably came with the engine?

Try ebay as there are always all those things you have lost or need urgently!

Why not just run & fog the eng. no need to remove the s/plugs you can buy the eng fogging oil in a spray can @ crappy tire , drain the lower unit & refill in the spring if its to cold & grease grease points & tilt the eng down & your done ! You'll have to remove the air filter if your eng is fitted with one to fog the eng. & reinstall after

J

Highlander wrote:Why not just run & fog the eng. no need to remove the s/plugs you can buy the eng fogging oil in a spray can @ crappy tire , drain the lower unit & refill in the spring if its to cold & grease grease points & tilt the eng down & your done ! You'll have to remove the air filter if your eng is fitted with one to fog the eng. & reinstall after

J

I agree with you on this. I've decided to bite the bullet this year and have someone who knows what they're doing perform all of the above with me standing there watching. Fact is, my mechanical knowledge is rudimentary and I ran out of time this year. I'll have time in the spring to do all the warm weather stuff, but this is my first fall/winter with the boat and I don't want to overlook anything that could be expensive later.

Since you're in Meaford, maybe I could come visit you in the spring and help you put your boat in the water and you can let me watch what you do to your engine at that time of year.

Enufsed

I slip my boat in Meaford & live about 45mins from Collingwood
http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee20 ... 010140.jpg


I store my boat inside at home so I can work on it when I want like last wk-end , installing more 120v hydro outlets have many more mods on the go so it will be late spring before I get in next year still have a lot of new equipment to install yet also !
But we can meet then if you want & maybe I can give you some hints & perhaps later when I get my boat in take the boats sailing invite Alex & Beene along also , We usually meet for the Jan boat show in the big TO even if not buying anything just to see whats new & exciting & it breaks up the winter wait, take the camera along & snap some pic's of anything I see that would be a nice mod on my boat ! ?

J