Thread: It's been difficult getting someone to help getting my new 2.5hp Mercury to start

Originally Posted by SpeckMaster

As for dealers not being willing to do warranty repairs on units they didn't sell, it's in part because warranty repairs tend to be losing propositions. Manufacturers will only reimburse for flat rate plus parts and their flat rate schedules are established with expert technicians working in perfect conditions. It's not easy to match flat rate times in a working shop. It's one thing to lose money on a warranty repair for a customer who purchased from you and whom you would like to keep, it's another to do one for a walk-in who may never give you another dime.

Not saying it's right, just saying that's how it is. I've worked as a dealership mechanic.

BTW, while I presume this is a new motor and designed for today's lower octane gas, the same doesn't go for older motors. Some won't run at all on regular, other may run but will run much better on mid-grade or premium.

I've had the experience of buying gas that my car will run on but my old small engines won't.

It is understandable. Yet giving a customer of the brand you sell the run around ensures he will not be spending another dime with you and or likely the brand in question. I also understand work is plentiful now. When it is not most dealerships would be happy to have warranty work to fill in the gaps.

It's a $900 motor, I dont mean to sound rude when I say this but I would not worry about warranty. Yes you need to use authorized service locations for repair work to keep your warranty, but for a 2 month wait I would forget about it start troubleshooting myself. A 2.5 4 stroke is not a hard motor to work on, basically a tiny lawnmower engine. Fuel, air, spark. Basically its spark or carb.

With all that being said, this motor has a reputation for being hard to start. It is very picky with choke and throttle when starting, one of the worst in its class IMO. Double check its getting spark through the plug, if its getting spark then I am confident its just being a picky motor. There isnt anything else that would cause it other than carb, and these are very reliable and I find it extremely unlikely you gummed it up in 3 starts and less than a month of ownership (especially if you said its been hard to start each time). Unless something physically broke, I'm guessing its just being picky. Running it through full break in period will help with starting, as will using clean 87 fuel with no ethanol and treated with mercury quickare.

As for dealers saying long waits, that is what is going on right now. Help is hard to find, everyone and their brother had their boats sitting for a year, people are buying used boats instead of new ones because there are no new boats on the market, and part distribution is slow which makes for lengthy repairs. I dont know any dealer that is less than 4 week wait this year, even for a simple oil change. I checked around for 300 hr maintenance for my 90 merc and was told 3-6 month wait and $900-1000 from each shop. One shop said schedule now and they might be able to get it in before next memorial day... whole lot is full of boats and none are for sale.

Good luck and hope you get it figured out. I would say to even call up some small engine repair shops near you and ask if they will look at it.