1997 Merc 90hp "DITW"

[Scupper]

"Dead In The Water"!

1997 Mercury 90 hp. No spark. Where do I start looking for problem?

Have owned since new. No problems ever.

While navigating back upstream from south of Lock and Dam 1 we approached Lower St. Anthony Lock. Attendant told us it would be 15 minutes or so to lock thru.

We drifted back in the turbulent water there and fished. The motor cut out as we were drifting. It was in neutral. I tried to restart motor. It cranked over like it should but it would not start. I got that sick feeling as we drifted.

I dropped the Vantage trolling motor in but it was no match for the current in this part of the river if your going up stream. I navigated to a nice sandy area downstream. Removed the hood and pulled fuel line at filter. Plenty of flow. Pulled plug wires one by one and cranked. No spark...

A friend was kind enough to come and rescue us around 10:00 pm. We got off the river at midnight as our friend had towed us upstream to Boom Island launch.

[delcecchi]

Standard question number one. No way you or someone else bumped the kill switch?

[jac714]

This sounds like what happened to my 75 hp Merc, it was the stator. It is under the flywheel. If you are at all mechanical you can get the Clymer manual from the Hennepin county Library and it walks you through the entire process of troubleshooting and replacement. The worst part is the cost of the flywheel puller, if you decide to take on the repair let me know and you can use mine.

[boatfixer]

As mentioned above, check the kill switch 1st. from there its gonna take a trouble shooting flow chart and the right test equipment.

[Scupper]

Del, Boatfixer?

If I would of had your phone numbers yesterday evening you would of gotten a call from me...

Yes, it was the kill switch and I did find my coffee cup laying on the floor of the boat last night as we cleaned it out from our days excursion. My coffee cup which doubles as an all around beverage container sits just in front and up from the kill switch. This is probably the cull-prate that went unnoticed as as we were bobbing and twisting in the darkness of the current.

Thank you.

Jac714, thank you also for your thoughts and for the offer of your tool. Your scenario was more of my thinking last evening.

I don't think I will forget about the kill switch anytime to soon...

Thanks fellah's...

[Valv]

That is one of the most common "failures". You will not believe how many times it happens. Sometimes it looks just fine like nothing happened, just a simple remove and re-insert will take care of the problem.

[delcecchi]

Glad to help. It has happened to me. On my boat the Merc's kill switch was on the control on the side right next to my "hip".

[OnAFly]

My brother didn't know what that little switch was once, so he flipped it. It took me a half hour to figure out why the motor wouldn't start.

[delmuts]

I think we have ALL done that atleast once!

[pinkfloyd4ever]

first time I borrowed a friends boat, he threw me the keys and said take it away for the weekend. I thought what is this funny thing here? I really think at the time I thought it was some sort of anti theft system, so I yanked the thing out. Upset and embarassed that it wouldn't start, I swallow my pride and call him from a pay phone, this was pre cell phone times. He had no idea at first then asked me about the kill switch? Umm.. what kill switch??