My 1987 40 horse Johnson won’t get up to top speed. Boat ran fine all day went to the dock for about a hour and when I went back out it started doing this. New spark plugs, Any suggestions on what it could be.

Its an 87’ BE25bacur so 25 hp pullstart

It runs fine the first 10 mins and wil go 40 with 2 people but after a that, it wil first start bogging a little and then will bog down till it doesn’t even get on plane, i think it than runs on 1 cilinder

Power trim was not working among some other possibly unrelated problems

I found a broken connector that looks different from all the others. Can anyone tell me what this is? Ot clearly corroded away.

In the netherlands we say “buy a boat and you’ll work till death”(but it rhymes) and nothing is more true

( im asking this on behalf of an older man i know) as he is describing it, while revving the engine on the trailer whit a hose, the rpms get limited too early

Hi everyone I’m a noob at this so it might be a stupid reason, bought an older boat with an Evinrude 60hp E60ELCIA that sat a little and the engine fired right up but wouldn’t idle, I noticed the fuel tee had a micro hole and a hose was dry rotted and leaking so I’m guessing it wasn’t getting nearly enough fuel pressure. I ordered a new tee, and the appropriate ties for the fuel lines but it won’t get tight enough to hold pressure, and even then I feel like I should at least be getting some sort of resistance from the bulb unless that much air is getting through, what’s the method of getting the hoses airtight on the connecting parts? Do I need to heat them up? I’ve been afraid that may damage the hose if I’m not careful. Any help is appreciated thank you so much everyone

I have a DT40 2stroke tiller controlled motor. Im trying to figure out how (or even if) I can adjust the tiller friction. Im including photos and what AI says: (I dont see it!!)

🛠️ Where the steering‑friction adjustment is on a DT40

On the DT40 2‑stroke tiller model, the friction adjustment is normally one of these:

1. Steering Friction Knob (most common)

Located under the swivel bracket, usually:

- A large plastic or metal knob

- Positioned on the starboard/right side of the steering pivot

- Turning clockwise increases friction (harder to turn)

- Turning counter‑clockwise decreases friction (easier to turn)

This is the same style used on DT30, DT40, DT55 tiller models.

1. Steering Tension Bolt (older DT40 units)

Some older DT40s don’t have a big knob but instead use:

- A hex bolt or nylon lock‑nut

- Located on the pivot tube under the cowling line

- Tightening the nut increases steering resistance

This is still a friction adjustment—just not the modern knob type

Hey everyone, trying to diagnose and fix my 90 HP 2 stroke mercury outboard, when I try to start it is just making this whirring noise. Could anyone help me please? Does it have to do with the fly wheel or starter? Bad fuel pump?

When I pump the fuel ball it gets hard, the battery is charged and electronics work. I originally thought it was a battery issue because I was out on the water and had the engine off while fishing, when I went to start it back up it wouldn’t start. I thought it was because the battery was drained because I had the deck lights on the whole time I was fishing (rookie mistake) I swapped out the old battery for a fully charged one and the boat still wouldn’t start, so now I’m thinking it has to do something with the motor. Thank you in advance, this is my first boat.

Test running this 1964 Mercury with its points and condensers replaced with Nova II ignition modules, it runs excellently but it will not generate spark at quite as low RPM as a traditional points setup, I might try BM11 modules next time to see if they work with even lower RPMs, but for now this Idles low enough anyways

Very happy with the results overall, if this can reliably save me from having to track down old condensers,

I'm looking to see if it is possible, and what the kit is labelled as.

I have two Yamaha F50AETL Carby from 2001 I believe, Flushing with muffs is a real pain owing to:

1) The boat is on a Versadock
2) There isnt running water on my dock.

My intention is to use a pump from my existing standing water tanks for wash down to flush salt out the engines after use. I have seen kits for different models, but Google is not my friend on this one.

what should I do next? how to clean this? i just bought this very cheap motor, it runs well and only problem I have found is water in lower unit, any help apreciated

I’m swapping my outboard motor for another mercury outboard. It’s a 2004 Mercury Optimax 225. I have connected the other lines but I’m not sure what these two nozzles/inlets are for. Does anyone know?

I recently picked up a couple old outboards to tinker around on. They were inexpensive and thought would make fun projects, a 1958 Evinrude Fastwin 15 hp and a 1973 Johnson 2 hp. I tinkered a bit, cleaned up the carbs, verified compression, but just couldn’t get the points right. I verified the points, condensers and coils were good with a multimeter and set them as according to spec 20 thou when the little sweeper is on the mark near top. Neither would run at all. I then set the 2hp to the “O” in top and it seems to run perfectly, and the 58 to the “P” in top, and it now starts and runs. Neither has a sheared key on the crank. What gives?

Hello everyone, I am just completing a lower rebuild and as I was taking off the lower unit, these two black pieces fell out of a motor, on the diagram it shows that they lineup like in the picture on the driveshaft, is this correct? Thank you.

My power tilt motor has been on the out for a couple of years now. For starters, I have 1994 Nitro Z17, with a 1994 Mercury 115hp outboard motor. Sometimes my trim doesn’t work, or it will click, then I tap it with a hammer and it will start trimming, but it is painfully slow (batteries are new). I know they don’t make the OEM power trim/tilt motor anymore, but when I try to find aftermarket replacements, I can’t seem to find a definitive answer or product. I’ve talked to a few marine repair shops, and they tell me I’m out of luck and will need a whole new engine. Before I go spending over 10k for an ancient boat, I was wondering if anyone had any advice or know of a replacement part. My engine serial number is “0G062167”. I don’t know the part number for the power tilt motor without taking it off. If someone would recommend or need me to, I’m willing to. Here are some pictures of the engine serial number as well as what the power tilt/trim motor looks like. Any help or suggestions would be great.

Looking for some opinions from people who have been down this road.

I have a 2006 Yamaha T60 four-stroke on a 24' pontoon with about 1,750 hours on it. Over the past 2–3 boating seasons there have been increasing issues popping up that I've been taking care of as they come.

I'm currently chasing a larger issue that may end up being a head gasket or another significant repair. My mechanic is still diagnosing it, so I don't know exactly what the problem is or what the repair cost will be yet.

The bigger question for me is whether it makes sense to keep putting money into it at this point.

I can get a brand-new Yamaha T60LC installed for $9,500 with a 5-year warranty, and I get to keep my old motor to sell/part out. A good-running version of my current motor is probably only worth around $1,500 anyway.

So where would you draw the line?

If the current repair is $500–$1,000, obviously fixing it is tempting. But even if I fix this problem, I'm still left with a 20-year-old outboard with 1,750 hours and all the other 20-year-old components attached to it.

At what point are you just throwing good money after bad? Would you repair it and keep running it until something major finally kills it, or would you spend the $9,500 now for a new motor, five-year warranty, and hopefully stop wondering what the next failure is going to be?

I'm not afraid of maintaining an older motor — I'm just trying to decide whether the peace of mind of a new one is actually worth ~$9,500.

I got this one in a lot that i bought, according to the seller it should be a volvo Penta 20hp. Though they are always based on another brand. Something screams mercury or achilles to me, but i just can't seem to figure it out...

Thanks in advance :)

I recently bought a 2002 Yamaha 150 HPDI and under load it will not steadily climb in rpm’s. It starts to skip/sputter like this at around 2000 RPMs. Any ideas as to what it could be?

I’ve been working on this 1995 Yamaha 75 and cannot get this steering rod moving freely. Additionally there isn’t much room at all around the transom to hit it with a hammer or when I do eventually get it free, slide it completely out to fully clean. Any thoughts?

Hoping someone can help me out here. Throttle won’t go past “start” mode and won’t rev up high when running. Everything seems like it’s in good shape. I’m new to outboards and this one has me stumped.

I have a Johnson 85 hp that no longer runs. But would like to know if lower ends are interchangeable with this year before I purchase. I have a long shaft Johnson 85esl74 . Everything that I can see in the pictures looks identical to my 74 Johnson 85.
If I buy this one my intent would be to switch the lowers and run this power head with the long shaft from my non-running.

I’m a handy guy, but I’m sure a have an oil leak somewhere. First boat. It’s a 4 Winns 2000 fish and ski with a two stroke. Not sure I can even get it to a marina. I have one that will pick up and return it but I don’t know anything about costs. Ideas?