Anyone have advice on dealing with Mercury on an out of warranty motor?

[Tom7227]

I obtained a boat with a new 60 HP Mercury 4 stroke in 2009. Since then I have changed the oil and filter every year and when I did it this year the oil had no water contamination. I started the motor with muffs and it ran well. Launched the boat and it ran for at most 10 minutes and died. Started once more and died again.

The shop predicted a bad impeller and an overheat resulting in a blown head gasket. The motor guardian system was working as there was a beep when it was started, but it did not go off while running the boat. The shop told me last week that the impeller was good, the head gasket was good, but that there was water in 2,3 and 4 cylinders. There was a lot of water mixed in with the oil when the system was drained. The shop has sent the block to be tested but expects a cracked block.

Obviously the motor, at 4 years and 3 days, is beyond the warranty. I can honestly say that I have not run this motor hard. The boat is on Bald Eagle and never gets run full out for more than 20 minutes at a time. I have used around 25 gallons of fuel each year and store the boat with a full tank of fuel that has had marine Stabil added, done according to manufacturers recommendations.

I simply feel that this motor had to be defective. I can't see of a reason for a cracked block when there hasn't been an overheat and the motor has so few hours on it.

I still have the oil I drained this spring and I intend to get the block back from the shop. They are replacing it with a new one.

Can anyone give some advice on how to approach Mercury? Do I have even the slightest chance of getting any satisfaction from them? The bill is going to be close to $4500 when all is said and done.

Thanks for your time.

Tom

[harvey lee]

I have a 2007 Merc 50hp 4 stroke motor and it came with a 5 year warranty.

Did the motor have less than a 5 year warranty when u got it new? Were you the original purchaser?

I would check with Mercury if the dealer said it is out of warranty.

Maybe I got a special deal with my motor when I got it new also. May have been an added promotion.

When my motor was new in the 1st year I had numerous issues and I ended up calling LUND as I was getting nowhere with my issues with the Merc dealer.

Lund called Mercury and then Mercury called me.

They said I would have to take it to a different Merc dealer and that they would pay my mileage to go the 100 miles one way to another dealer.

After everything was fixed, some issues with the water pump, I asked how those repairs were going to effect my warranty as I did not want to have issues with it a month out of warranty. I was very concerned about the motor with the water in the crankcase. I said they needed to do something or I would contact the BBB. My alarm system did go off a couple times and my water pump was working and I was concerned about damage to the head or block from overheating. When my alarm went off, the motor went into limp mode so I could still move but at a max of 1800 rpm's if I remember correctly.

I found my issue when I changed the oil and my crankcase had alot of water in the oil.

If the motor got excessive heat, the guardian system should have sent the motor into limp mode to do less or no damage to the motor.

Merc said they would extend my warranty another 5 years so I would have no worries about anything with this motor.

They were very good when I went to mercuy and bypassed dealing with the dealer. I believe Mercury was as fair as they could have been.

I would wait to see if the block or head has damage and then contact Mercury and asked why the alarm system did not work.

I know the dealer that I purchased the boat from had a terrible repair shop and they lied to me numerous times about the work that was done and the issues the motor had. Went to the dealer that Merc sent me to and found a totally different issue.

if you want to discuss this farther or in more detail, give me a call. I can explain what I did and how Mercury handled it totally.

507-964-2773

[harvey lee]

I have been looking online for the warranty on a 2009 60hp 4 stroke and found 1 for sale and it advertised a full waranty yet.

I do not know if that motor has a extended warranty or if it is still the original warranty.

I think it would be worth your time to check into the original warranty period other than what the dealer has told you.

[Tom7227]

First thing I did when problems started was to check and the paperwork said 3 years. On line there was a offer for an extended warranty but you can't buy it is you are past the base warranty. They confirmed that I was out of warranty, and again it was confirmed by the repair shop.

[jentz]

If it were me,I would bypass the dealer and go directly to merc.I'd do it now to get it rolling,You have all the info you need in your post to make a complaint and check just what warrenty that motor had or has.Harveys sounds similuar to yours so its possible merc already knows of a problem.Dealers dont want to do any more than they have to where merc has to protect its reputation.

[harvey lee]

Mercury has had issues with these motors and oil in the crankcase.

[BoxMN]

Tom, mine is 5 year as well. Possibly Merc will work with you since you are still within 5, even though paper says 3. Hopefully they do, as even with my stepsons (150) the dealer gave him the 5 even though it was beyond the "you can have 5 year" timeframe (i.e. boat show added warranty).

Stinks that is broken, and $4500 is big ouch, sorry to hear that.

[Tom7227]

Just got the latest update from Goose Lake Marine. There were NO cracks in the head. They milled it to make sure it was perfectly flat. The head gasket showed no sign of failure. Bill told me that there was nearly a cup of water in the cylinders and that the motor 'water locked'. He has no explanation for that but it going to Hallberg to talk to their Merc tech to make sure nothing has been overlooked. There was water in the oil which I had just changed a few days before launching the boat. He checked the fuel and there is no water in the fuel.

This makes no sense to me at all.

[tlbigstump]

Have them check out the exhaust cover gasket if that fails you will get water in cylinders and it won't show on any leakdown tests. Other than that the only way in is through the intake as in swamped engine. If water gets in the engine cover and when you hit the throttle it would have to be sucked in through the intake. Unlikely but could have happened.