Merc recoil problem

[MIKE IN lINO III]

1981 50 hp Merc pull start.

When I start this motor it sounds like the recoil doesn't disengage fully. When the motor is running there is a rattle and when I pull or play with the starter cord it changes tone. That is way I think it is the recoil.

Anyone know what I need to do to fix this, or is it a different problem?

Thx,

Mike

[Hemlock]

I had a 1980 Merc 40 hp. A bit of a bear for a pull start. Kudos to you and your 50!

The recoil on that motor was a bit of a bear. More so, the start-N-gear protection. It somehow slipped into forward gear once, about half way through a pull. Wow, did that hurt to be stopped in mid pull by the "safety" mechanism.

Getting back to your question, our had a wierd pinging/rattling noise, and I think that was normal. Seems to me the recoil made that noise, but if it wasn't broke, we didn't fix it.

Tough motors to work on, but they pur nice and had lots of snort.

[MIKE IN lINO III]

Thanks Hemlock,

Problem is that it never made this noise before. I've had it for about 6 years and bought it from the original owner, an older gentleman that I'm sure was tired of trying to start it. When I bought it it took at least 10 minutes to get running, wanted to flood all the time. I brought it in for a tune up and it ran good for about 1/2 day on a labor day weekend. Nice! I brought it back to the shop and they fixed some sort of bladder, now it starts within 10 pulls.

You are correct, it is a bear to pull.

Back to my problem, it just started making noise one day. It doesn't sound good but runs fine. I just don't want to ruin anything.

Mike

[Fisher Dave]

take the recoil off and see what has been rubbing.. the only way your going to figure it out.. replace what is scraped up if need be.. something will eventually fail if its rubbing.. you may have lost a little retainer clip or something underneath.. I have never seen the recoil for one of these motors, and I dont expect anyone is going to have a repair manual in their head.

Take it off and look to see what is rubbing and go from there.