I have a 87 mercury 45 classic 50 - I was running the motor dry and
noticed that the muffs had fallen off the water intake. I immediately
reconnected the muffs but it ran very hot. Currently I am
experiencing poor performance(will not stay running and wont come to
top rpms - even in the water with the additional back pressure. One
issue that I know I have is an air leak in the fuel line which I will
be taking care of. The most important part is that #1 cylinder is
clean and dry and the other three spark plugs have the usual build up
and are wet w fuel. Have I seized a valve or piston ? Can it be
fixed ? Is it expensive ? How can I assure that that is the problem
? Any help would be appreciated.

You don't have valves.
If a piston was siezed the engine would not turn over.

1. Fix your air leak on the fuel line. This may be causing all the
problems.
2. Get a compression guage and check compression. This will tell you if
you have a problem or not on the engine.
3. With #1 cylinder dry - you may not be getting fuel to it due to a
problem w/ the carb. You definetly don't want to run this engine without
fuel as you also are running without oil in that case. You can verify fuel
by taking the air box off and crank the engine (this time w/ water) and
place your hand over the throat to the carb for about 1 second. Should wet
your hand and choke the engine down. If not - that carb is dry and need to
rebuild it.


--
Tony
my boats and cars at http://t.thomas.home.mchsi.com

-
"l oc" wrote in message
oups.com...
I have a 87 mercury 45 classic 50 - I was running the motor dry and
noticed that the muffs had fallen off the water intake. I immediately
reconnected the muffs but it ran very hot. Currently I am
experiencing poor performance(will not stay running and wont come to
top rpms - even in the water with the additional back pressure. One
issue that I know I have is an air leak in the fuel line which I will
be taking care of. The most important part is that #1 cylinder is
clean and dry and the other three spark plugs have the usual build up
and are wet w fuel. Have I seized a valve or piston ? Can it be
fixed ? Is it expensive ? How can I assure that that is the problem
? Any help would be appreciated.

I say no to the muffs...

Just buy a used plastic drum from somewhere in the area (it seems there is
always someone selling them) and fit it for the size of your lower unit so
that you can fit it under and enough water will be there.


"tony thomas" wrote in message
news:ihdAe.156173$nG6.127202@attbi_s22...
You don't have valves.
If a piston was siezed the engine would not turn over.

1. Fix your air leak on the fuel line. This may be causing all the
problems.
2. Get a compression guage and check compression. This will tell you if
you have a problem or not on the engine.
3. With #1 cylinder dry - you may not be getting fuel to it due to a
problem w/ the carb. You definetly don't want to run this engine without
fuel as you also are running without oil in that case. You can verify
fuel by taking the air box off and crank the engine (this time w/ water)
and place your hand over the throat to the carb for about 1 second.
Should wet your hand and choke the engine down. If not - that carb is dry
and need to rebuild it.


--
Tony
my boats and cars at http://t.thomas.home.mchsi.com

-
"l oc" wrote in message
oups.com...
I have a 87 mercury 45 classic 50 - I was running the motor dry and
noticed that the muffs had fallen off the water intake. I immediately
reconnected the muffs but it ran very hot. Currently I am
experiencing poor performance(will not stay running and wont come to
top rpms - even in the water with the additional back pressure. One
issue that I know I have is an air leak in the fuel line which I will
be taking care of. The most important part is that #1 cylinder is
clean and dry and the other three spark plugs have the usual build up
and are wet w fuel. Have I seized a valve or piston ? Can it be
fixed ? Is it expensive ? How can I assure that that is the problem
? Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks, Tony. Working on the fuel line now, and will go from there.
Appreciate the help!

tony thomas wrote:
You don't have valves.
If a piston was siezed the engine would not turn over.

1. Fix your air leak on the fuel line. This may be causing all the
problems.
2. Get a compression guage and check compression. This will tell you if
you have a problem or not on the engine.
3. With #1 cylinder dry - you may not be getting fuel to it due to a
problem w/ the carb. You definetly don't want to run this engine without
fuel as you also are running without oil in that case. You can verify fuel
by taking the air box off and crank the engine (this time w/ water) and
place your hand over the throat to the carb for about 1 second. Should wet
your hand and choke the engine down. If not - that carb is dry and need to
rebuild it.


--
Tony
my boats and cars at http://t.thomas.home.mchsi.com

-
"l oc" wrote in message
oups.com...
I have a 87 mercury 45 classic 50 - I was running the motor dry and
noticed that the muffs had fallen off the water intake. I immediately
reconnected the muffs but it ran very hot. Currently I am
experiencing poor performance(will not stay running and wont come to
top rpms - even in the water with the additional back pressure. One
issue that I know I have is an air leak in the fuel line which I will
be taking care of. The most important part is that #1 cylinder is
clean and dry and the other three spark plugs have the usual build up
and are wet w fuel. Have I seized a valve or piston ? Can it be
fixed ? Is it expensive ? How can I assure that that is the problem
? Any help would be appreciated.