MacGregorSailors.com

Decided I better finish things up last night, so I removed the top cover and planned to spray the cylinders etc with fogging oil. On all of the other outboards I have had, the spark plugs were right there in front in a row. Granted that it was evening and I only had the outside house lights and the failing sun, I still could not see the spark plugs anywhere. So perhaps I need to familiarize myself with this motor before I need to be. Do any other Merc 50 owners know of a good repair/parts breakdown manual? I checked Merc's web site and did not see anything useful. What are you using? Before I just buy something from WM, are there any good ones out there?

DIESEL ????

I have a repair manual,spare parts, and new prop, if your interested, bought a E-Tec...

Looking at the back of the motor on the left side of the head
http://www.mercruiserparts.com/Show_Pic ... COMPONENTS

Bawgy
Thanks, I completely missed this part of the site. All I could find was sales lit and disclaimers. I will print it out and laminate it as part of the boat papers.

I am glad I could finally help someone out on this site as I have gleaned numerous times from others . Great idea about putting it on the boat .

Tan - I carry the Mercury factory repair manual with me on long trips - I think I ordered it direct from Mercury online

This is why I read these, I had same difficulty locating those darn spark plugs. Now that I know where they are, how do you reach in there to remove the connecting wire to get at the spark plug? Just reach in there and give a firm pull on the wire?

You want to pull on the rubber connector to the plug, not the wire..MUY IMPORTANTE!!!!

As Cat said, NEVER pull on the wire, pull only on the boot. Sometimes it helps to twist it a LITTLE to break it free from the plug insulator. If I recall correctly, I had to remove one of the coils or something else to get to the lower plug.

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Moe

My Merc dealier had some special fuel additive that they ran through the engin before storage. Worked great. No real need to pull the plugs. It does help to turn the key on (not starting) as this will pump fuel into the float, every 3 months.

James V wrote:My Merc dealier had some special fuel additive that they ran through the engin before storage. Worked great. No real need to pull the plugs. It does help to turn the key on (not starting) as this will pump fuel into the float, every 3 months.

Hummmm that means you let fuel sit in the tank all winter?
I have been disconnecting the fuel line and running my motor dry of fuel and then draining the tanks and using it in my snow blower. . . . So Far So Good
BTW I run stabilizer in my boat fuel year round. I figure, I filler up in April and drain off whats not used in October. . . .

Well it was 7 months in the summer in Fl, very hot and the float did dry out the varnish gumed up the valve. Took the expert about 1 hr to fix with carb cleaner in the fuel line and he told me what to do so that it does not happen again.