Bigkat650
Well-known member
Guy posted this 1983 Mercury 4.5 on craigslist for $10 as a parts motor. It looked pretty complete and in relatively good shape. I figured it was a miss-print, and he intended to put $100. I called him up and he said $10 is all he wanted. I said I would take it because I figured at $10, even if its ceased its still worth $50-$150 or more depending on the rest of it and how far I wanted to go in parting it out.
He said it was a great little motor but the impeller went and he didn't catch it until the motor quit working. He never said it smoked, or did anything other than it died on him. He took the lower leg off and took the old impeller out and that's where he left it. Didn't try firing it up again, didn't even put a new impeller in. Just listed it and sold it to me because he wanted it out of his basement.
I get it home and by god it looks like it would be ready to fire up tomorrow if I put a little gas to it. I'm hoping that will be the case, but i'm expecting i'll have to get a tad more involved then that. This is kinda where my questions begin--where do I go from here? Assuming it doesn't fire up, and knowing he ran it without the impeller circulating water until the engine quit... my thought was to check for compression. Did he blow the head gasket or worse, crack the housing. Now--it kinda feels like it has pressure when you crank it, but I am by no means an expert.
I guess i'm just looking for a little guidance. If you came across this outboard, knowing the back story, where would you begin?
Thanks for the help, and let me know what you think of my score!