The Mercury God must be real!

[Smalltownbassin]

Fishing a tournament last weekend with my freshly rebuilt 200ish powerhead, I feared the worst had happened with less than 10 hours on it. Not long after blastoff I was cruising up the lake at about 4k when all of a sudden she lost all power and sounded like an old single cylinder hit & miss motor washing machine! I knew she was a goner! I pulled the cowl to see if there was anything visible that could point me at the cause of failure when i noticed fuel all over the carb bodies and harness underneath. After fumbling around for a few minutes I found a cracked fuel line. Of course a cracked fuel line is always a bad thing but this one in particular was really bad. This was the bleed line that connects the top carb bowl to the enrichment valve. I was draining fuel out of the top bowl just as fast as the pulse pump could send it! To beat all, this was the only bleed line that wasn't the newer yellow tygon. It was the old black crap that should have been replaced but wasn't. Shame on me right? Yeah, that's what i thought too. At this point I knew the situation was grim. Probably lost Pistons #1 & #2 due to running it extremely lean. My tournament was obviously over for the day. Once i got the boat home i began assessing the damage. First up was the compression check. 120psi on all 6! No way! Well, if i have compression that at least means my rings and pistons are still in tact. So after talking this through with my 2.5 building mentor "Merc2.5", i checked spark. I got nothing on #1, #3 & #5. You know what that means? I lost a switch box! So at some point shortly after the fuel line started purging its lifeblood, the Mercury God knew i was destined for trouble so he reached down from the heavens and touched a switchbox for me! That's the only explanation i can come up with. I pull the cowl after every outing to make sure everything is ok so this fuel line definitely cracked open that morning. What are the odds of losing the switchbox just minutes after? Call it luck if you want but ill stick with divine intervention from Mercury himself. I replaced the box and she's running like a scalded dog now. Still finished 3rd that day too!
This may turn out to be an interesting thread. Post your experience with the Mercury God if he's smiled upon you lately.

[Forkin' Crazy]

You are lucky. I had my top carb get restricted for fuel and ended up with a hole in a piston. Ended up sleeving the block, new piston (of course) and a new rod.

BTW when one switch box goes out, sometimes is screws the other up too. Least it did on me last time. So I just replace them both now.

[CDave]

What really happened is your switch boxes have been hanging out with some of the EV cars and when that evil carbon based fuel hit them they got triggered and since it's a switchbox getting triggered means it don't trigger no mo. My .02

[Smalltownbassin]

You are lucky. I had my top carb get restricted for fuel and ended up with a hole in a piston. Ended up sleeving the block, new piston (of course) and a new rod.

BTW when one switch box goes out, sometimes is screws the other up too. Least it did on me last time. So I just replace them both now.

Did you figure out the cause for the carb failure?

[SUNKIST]

I'm not a fan of switch boxes at all...I think mercury f-ked us...probably not hardly any of us not left stranded in the middle of a lake or ocean...there should have been a swithbox bypass if merc ...really loved us...or at least came with spares under the cowling...with the stupid starter rope...

[Smalltownbassin]

Is it possible to rig...say a 1997 FF with the newer style electronics from a newer 2005ish motor? Those systems seem to be much more reliable than the older switch box & regulator/rectifier setups. I would definitely make the swap if its easily done.

[Forkin' Crazy]

Did you figure out the cause for the carb failure?

My dumb ass didn't have the bowl screws tight enough....

[Merc 2.5]

Is it possible to rig...say a 1997 FF with the newer style electronics from a newer 2005ish motor? Those systems seem to be much more reliable than the older switch box & regulator/rectifier setups. I would definitely make the swap if its easily done.

No no no lol. I'm not sure I've heard of anyone trying this , I'm sure u could do it, they just don't turn the rpms, and I wanna say fixed timing no adjustment??,, but they r more reliable. Once u get a good set of boxes (I know u do now ) they will last long time if everything else is in good shape, u gotta think. Lots motors running round from 80s with stock boxes. But lots of junk out there