Mercury Autoblend system

[Selmer]

I just purchased a used Lund Stinger, 1988 with 1989 Mercury Classic 50 45 HP. Previous owner had it for 18 years, took very good care of the boat and motor and I purchased it for a great price. Thing is, it's good this Autoblend doo-hickey on it. He ran it this way for 18 years. I'd never heard of it until I bought the boat, but my paranoid/anxiety switch went to full throttle when I saw the system. All I could think was, "When that thing quits, I cook my motor like a Christmas goose." After a little research, my suspicions of no alarms when it goes out are confirmed. So...my instinct says to ditch this thing and mix my own 50:1 gas for the motor when I fill up. Does anyone have any reason to argue against that? And all I need to do to accomplish this is simply disconnect the Autoblend and run a direct line from my tank to the motor with the priming bulb in between, correct? Thanks for the help! The motor runs like a top and I want to keep it that way, I can't afford another. If this were to cook out I would have a nice 16' Lund Stinger hull in my garage for a few years while I saved money...

[tlbigstump]

If you get any arguments for keeping it their crazy. Pull that baby out and just premix the gas. Many an engine lost their life due to those things. At the shop we do a pull and pitch method, pull it out and pitch it in the garbage.

[Selmer]

Pulling it is today's project. Looks like it should be pretty simple - but what do I do with the wires going to the Autoblend? I don't have any manuals on the motor or Autoblend - should I just tape them off, remove them all together or what? I'm only concerned about the alarms on the motor being affected. Also, what oil should I be using to blend? 2, 3, or 4 cycle? The previous owner was using full synthetic 4-cycle in the engine. I don't know the difference between the three different oils.

[DTro]

You can just tape the wires off.

You should be using 2 cycle, are you sure he was using 4 cycle that doesn't sound right.

As for 3 cycle, pretty sure you won't find that anywhere, although I've seen a few 5 stroke engines and they sure do purr. (inside joke)

[boatfixer]

That one came and went about as fast as omc's goofy 2 chamber gas can.

[BehindtheHead]

i had a auto blend and i took the wiring harness right out of my motor. just trace the wires back. there are 2 that are attached with a phillips screw and one that has a plug. i didnt want the wire hanging there.

[Selmer]

Well that was probably the easiest boat motor project ever. Took less than five minutes - now I have a place to stash my tackle boxes. There was a handy battery post cover sitting behind the Autoblend - fit over the plug perfectly, I'll just leave it there until I feel like taking them off as well. I'm assuming that he used 4-cycle because that was the factory label on the half-empty quart oil bottle next to the Autoblend. But if he is like some of us, maybe he just used that bottle as an emergency stash off of his bulk 2 cycle bottle. I'll give him a call and find out.

[DTro]

Well it can be done, but 4 cycle oil isn't designed to be burned so it will smoke a lot more and you can end up with excessive carbon and gunk build up.

[Selmer]

I called him up. That oil bottle is for topping to the tilt/trim motor, not the Autoblend. 2-cycle only in the motor. I picked up a gallon o Quicksilver Premium Marine Outboard today. I should be good for a while.

[Kyhl]

The tilt trim should be hydraulic fluid and shouldn't need to be topped off unless there is a leak.

Sounds like it may have a leak that the previous owner found cheaper to pour cheap oil in rather than fix.

[Selmer]

I'll figure it out - I'm more comfortable working on the hydraulics than on the 4-cylinder motor. But now with the Autoblend out at least I won't wonder if the oil is mixing while going WOT down the river or across the lake... And I also pulled out the radio that the original buyer had the Soo Sports install with two 6x9" speakers. He had them put all of it in the lockable rod storage box, therefore rendering it useless for storage. silly-me. I pulled it all out and covered the speaker holes with a double layer of 1/4" mesh hardware cloth. Much better.

[Berniemack]

Mine is 89 BassTracker I've just started restoring it and I hooked up the gas tank to the auto blend,the gas pass through but the gas wont come out in the outlet going to the motor,it I'm thinking that the auto blend is clog up,I'm thinking to open and work on it.