When making use of a boat, there are some unstable movements.
One of the causes of this is always due to turbulent water waves.
But apart from a turbulent water wave, you can still experience boat vibration on stable water.
When this occurs, it is usually due to the outboard motor used.
Mercury outboard motor vibrations will occur when it has some faulty parts in it.
Some of the reasons why a Mercury outboard motor vibrates include damaged propeller, overloading, low engine compression, faulty ignition system and use of contaminated fuel.
These problems reduce the performance of the Mercury outboard motor and should be fixed to avoid extended damage from occuring.
Causes Of Mercury Outboard Vibrations With Solutions
1)Loose Contact With Boat
An outboard motor is a type of engine that is used to run a boat.
To help in moving the boat, it has to be attached to the boat.
But for the performance of the outboard motor to be efficient, the outboard motor has to be tightly secured to the boat.
This will help avoid vibrations from occuring due to loose contact when the outboard motor is functioning.
But if the contact of the outboard motor with the boat is not tightly secured, there will be problems when using the boat.
What you will experience is that the mercury outboard motor will be vibrating when used due to loose contact with boat.
Solution
a)Secure Outboard Contact With Boat Tightly
When you discover that your Mercury outboard motor is vibrating, you have to check for the cause of the problem.
In doing so, one of the places you have to check is the contact between the boat and the Mercury outboard motor.
If the contact is loose, then you have to make sure that you secure it tightly.
This will help eliminate Mercury outboard motor vibration problems due to loose contact.
2) Mercury Outboard Vibration problen Due To Misaligned Propeller
The primary function of an outboard motor is to help in moving a boat.
This is made possible with the help of the propeller.
The propeller creates a circular motion that helps in moving the boat in the direction of the boat operator
But for the propeller to move the boat well, it has to receive energy.
This energy is usually a circular movement that is created by the engine of the outboard motor.
With this, the propeller will be able to spin.
This will help the propeller to move the boat.
But if the propeller has developed some fault like being aligned wrongly, problems will occur when the outboard motor is used.
A misaligned propeller will cause vibrations when the outboard motor is functioning.
This can easily damage the outboard motor and propeller due to the wear and tear that will occur.
Solution
a)Align Propeller Well
If you discover a misaligned propeller after troubleshooting a Mercury outboard vibration issue, you have to fix it.
To fix it is to make sure that the propeller is well aligned.
This will help the propeller to spin well without obstructions due to it being misaligned.
With this, the engine will be able to perform efficiently and the propeller will move the boat faster.
3) Faulty Spark Plug
When a boat is functioning, it is always due to the power that is produced from the outboard or inboard motor.
This power then drives boat components like the propeller to produce a circular motion.
This circular motion is what helps the boat to move.
This occurs when the outboard motor is functioning well.
But sometimes the mercury outboard motor may vibrate when the boat is used.
One of the common cause of this is low power output from the outboard motor.
A low power output from the outboard motor is usually due to poor ignition of fuel mixture.
One of the leading cause of this is clearly a faulty spark plug.
When a spark plug is faulty, it can cause the cylinder of the outboard motor not to output power.
When this occurs, the cylinder with the faulty spark plug will not produce power.
As a result of this, the overall power output of the outboard motor will reduce.
Solution
a)Use Good Spark Plug
While making use of your outboard motor, the quality of spark plug used determiners the overall performance of the outboard motor.
If you use a good spark plug, the outboard motor will have a flawless performance.
But if you use a bad spark plug, the outboard motor will not perform well.
A bad spark plug causes the affected cylinders not to produce efficient power.
This will affect the functionality of the other cylinders that are producing power too.
This easily makes the Mercury outboard motor to vibrate due to low power output from the outboard motor.
To fix this, you have to make sure that you replace the bad spark plug with a good one.
This will help correct vibration issues in the outboard motor.
b) Clean Fouled Plugs
Sometimes a spark plug might not perform well even if it is still in a perfect working condition.
One of the leading cause of this is when the spark plug is fouled.
When a spark plug is fouled, carbon covers the tip of the spark plug.
This reduces how effective the electric charge released by the spark plug will be.
Due to this, the spark plug will not be able to ignite the fuel mixture in the combustion chamber well.
This leads to a power loss and causes vibrations of the outboard motor.
To correct this, you have to make sure that you decarbonate the spark plug.
This is done by dipping and rinsing off the carbon on the spark plug with the use of fuel.
After the decarbonisation of the spark plug is done, leave it to dry well before putting it back.
This will help the spark plug to efficiently ignite the fuel mixture in the combustion chamber.
4) Faulty Fuel Pump
The fuel pump plays a vital role in the functionality of a Mercury outboard motor.
This is because it helps in sending out fuel.
With this, the combustion chamber is fed with fuel for ignition to take place.
But this fuel is not just sent out by the fuel pump.
The fuel pump releases fuel at a certain level of pressure.
This is what makes the fuel to reach the combustion chamber at an efficient rate.
With this, combustion will easily take place to help the outboard motor produce power.
But if the fuel pump in the outboard motor is bad, the performance of the outboard motor will also be negatively affected.
Solution
a)Use a Good Fuel Pump
If while making use of your outboard motor you discover that the fuel pump is bad, you have to replace it.
In doing so, make sure that you replace it with a good fuel pump.
This will help your outboard motor to function well and avoid vibrating due to power loss.
5) Use of Bad Fuel
In running your outboard motor, the level of power that is produced is controlled by things like the quality of fuel used.
This is because for power to be released from a combustion chamber, ignition has to take place.
This ignition is simply the burning of fuel mixture in the combustion chamber.
Through this, there is pressure build up which forces the piston up and down to produce power.
A good fuel also creates a quick combustion when the spark plug supplies a spark.
But when the fuel is contaminated, effective ignition in the combustion chamber will not be possible.
This can be due to contaminants like water or particles in the fuel.
Water in the fuel will make the fuel mixture less volatile.
This will affect power production due to poor combustion which causes mercury outboard motor vibration problems.
Solution
a)Always Use Good Fuel
In order to have a great performance when making use of your outboard motor, you have to make sure that you use a good fuel.
This will help in making sure that the ignition of fuel is efficient.
Due to an efficient ignition of fuel in the combustion chamber, the outboard motor will produce great power.
But if you use a bad fuel, the ignition of fuel to produce power will be affected.
That is why you have to make sure that you always run your outboard motor with a good fuel.
6) Poor Engine Compression
For an outboard to produce a good level of power, it has to maintain a good compression in the cylinder.
This is what will help generate more power and avoid power loss.
But as the outboard ages, the contact of the piston and cylinder wall will develop some wear and tear.
This will lead to pressure loss which affects the performance of the outboard motor.
Solution
a)Rebuild Engine
When you discover that your Mercury outboard motor is having a low compression, it can be due to issues like a cracked engine block or faulty piston.
That is why you have to troubleshoot.
When you discover the cause of the low compression after troubleshooting, you have to make sure that you fix it.
This will help put your Mercury outboard motor back in good performance.
7) Overloading
As much as you can, always make sure that you do not overload your mercury outboard motor.
Overloading causes a strain on the outboard motor due to extra power it needs to push the overloaded boat.
When a boat with a Mercury outboard motor is overloaded, the outboard motor will struggle to move the boat.
One of the ways in which this will show up is that the outboard motor will vibrate when accelerating.
This is due to the inability of the outboard motor to comfortable push the overloaded boat.
Solution
a)Do Not Overload Boat
When you are making use of your Mercury outboard motor, make sure that you avoid overloading it.
For this to be possible, you have to know the maximum load that can be imposed on the outboard motor.
With this, you have to make sure that you do not exceed this load limit.
This will help in avoiding Mercury outboard vibration problems.
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