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125HP Mercury Outboard 2-Stroke Issues

RawSwans

New member
So I was getting boat ready for the summer when some issues came up I had to fix before taking it out.
S/N 0G622970 - 1998 125ELPTO

First problem came after using it twice last year, the engine would not idle. I could only get it turned over by choking and would idle for 5-10 seconds and sputter out. Decided to clean the carburetors (4 carbs), replace gaskets, replaced float needles, and for good measure replaced the fuel pump. Fired up pretty much no problem with muffs providing water. Put it in gear in driveway, worked fine. We decided to take it out to the lake and once we got there, things were also fine until we wanted to throw it in high gear and cruise at about 30mph.

Shifting from low speed to high speed, the RPM's would drop causing the motor to die sometimes, sometimes it would recover until I tried to do it again. If I got past this RPM drop, it went into high gear/speed no problem and ran great going roughly 30mph over the water, no issues. Just that transition from low to high speed.
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I did not fully remove part 24 and 22, but I did lose count of what turn I was on after cleaning and putting back together. I half turned 8 times to get the needle part out so I could clean the hole it was going in. I matched the first to the 2nd after doing the 2nd properly and remembering my turns. Would this be part of my issue?
I'm ready to siphon the old gas out to replace as well, but not convinced that will fix this issue at all.
 
On carb cleaning, on an engine of that series, I thought I had thoroughly cleaned a carb and just before I reassembled this carb I decided to give it one more blast of 100# compressed air. Lo and behold, a tiny black (piece of degraded fuel line) cam blasting out of the bottom of the bowl where the high speed jet is located.

With that done, I decided to investigate the contents of my main fuel filter and it was full of tiny pieces of degraded fuel line. New filter and fuel lines, fuel pump kit.....all the way back to the tank..... link and sync, and things worked as designed......well except for the EPA mandated squeeze bulb. Wished you could still buy the old diamond shaped Mercury bulb.

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