Merc Mechanic

Looking for some suggestions on a crack mechanic for a 2003 Mercury 15 hp 2 stroke. Great motor went in for a new carb kit and was told I need to rebuild. Not sure that is correct but need an honest diagnosis. Very uncomfortable with the tactics they used to get me to buy a used motor form the mechanic on the side. Trade you this one and some cash. Seemed fishy. Out the door with a broken motor and a $600 dollar bill. Said they took 7 hrs of investigating the motor. I think you could have done a complete tear down and rebuild in 7 hrs. Not looking for a magic answers just someone I can trust for an answer of what I should do. Thanks for your help!!

the first thing I do in my shop is a compression test and spark check,if both of those are good a motor should run if nothing mechanically is wrong inside,broken reed,bad crankshaft seals,,or timing out of whack for example.
it does not take seven hours to diagnose these things !!

did they do any of these things to check your motor out??

Ckronbeck wrote:

Said they took 7 hrs of investigating the motor.

Bullsh!t. Total fraud. Absolutely unacceptable to put this much time into an outboard and not notify the customer.

You certainly could have done the whole top end in half that 7 hours on most motors.

What is the problem you’re experiencing?

Grouse

I was having trouble getting it started when it was cold. Has a primer system vs a choke so I thought it was just being fussy. Had a guy tell me put a new carb kit in it. During priming it was spraying gas out of carb weep hole so It looked like the diaphragm ball and spring in the primer was bad so new carb kit had all the new parts. Thought that would take care of it. Not so much.