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Hi. I had an issue with my Mercury Verado 250 last night that I'd love some thoughts on as I am confused as to what it could be and can't get a shop to look at it for a couple of days. I was out for a quick spin last night and cruising at 4000 rpm when a line fell in the water. I immediately dialed the throttle back to neutral and heard a small clank as I was coasting to a stop. After retrieving the line with no damage to, I realized the motor had stalled. I inspected the prop and it was clean. When I go to start the motor back up, it is behaving like my batteries are dead. Starter is clicking, only turns the motor over once or twice before quitting. Boat Tow arrives and tries to jump me and the starter sounds a little better but still only cranking once or twice. I charge my batteries over night and both show 'Full' on my charger but the starter still behaving like the batteries are weak. Is this a mechanical issue? An electrical issue? Or both? The tilt work fine and sounds strong and all electronics work fine. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

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Any fault codes thrown? Could be water in the gas (check the red castle filter), loose electrical connections or something as simple as the emergency shutoff switch not being fully engaged. When it does crank, is it making a grinding sound? You could pull the plugs to see if you are getting any spark.

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Sounds like hydro lock to me (sucked up some water into a cylinder when decelerating), this is not uncommon on some motors. Pull the spark plugs and see if it turns over freely and check for water being spit out.

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Wow, I sure hope not, but it does sound like you ingested some water and are hydrolocked. Since I assume the motor and the whole boat are still under warranty, I'd take it right back to the dealer. What boat is this?

Please keep us posted on the outcome - I hope they're not going to call it operator error and expect you to pay for the new motor.

Hoping for your sake it's just a dud starter or key switch...

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So now turning the key just gets me a click from the starter and 3-4 seconds of weak effort then it shuts itself down. The message I get is "Engine Actuator Voltage Low".

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The Verado is a sophisticated engine and can be very finicky.

It is clear you do not have sufficient amps to start the motor. Could be a connection or your battery (>1000 CCA minimum) is not holding a charge.

I would check

- battery cable connections on the starter and ground. Loosen, remove, reattach.
- battery cable connections at the battery.
-remove battery and get it load tested.
-if more than 3 years old, replace it.

Get a certified Verado tech to review.

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Thanks for all the input. I managed to get the plugs pulled and at that point the starter was able to crank the flywheel. There was brown discharge from the the bottom cylinder that I took a pic of but can't figure out how to attach it here. I then replaced all the plugs and buttoned everything up and at that point the starter was cranking the flywheel like it should but the engine would not fire after a couple of attempts. Thoughts? Recommendations?

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Is is still under warranty? If so, take it back to the dealer right away. Brown goo coming out of a cylinder is never good, and the clank you heard could have been a connecting rod breaking. I hope not, for your sake.

When the problem happened, was the water rough, so a following wave might have come in the air intake?

Tim

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Tim. Yes, it is still under warranty. I purchased it used in July from a dealer but I am not certain if they submitted the warranty transfer information or if it is actually required. I will submit it myself today to be sure.

The water was not rough at all, it was actually quite calm. If that is indeed what happened, there is a serious design flaw. The dealer can't look at it until tomorrow.

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If you search in Google 'Verado" and "hydrostatic lock" you will find your catastrophic condition is not an unfamiliar circumstance for this Mercury engine with DTS controls.

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Ugh - the thread on "that other Whaler site" is distressingly familiar - someone relatively new to the boat, quick stop, apparent water in bottom cylinder. Hate to say it, but it may be new motor time.

Do the Mercury controls not have a stop in neutral, so you can't inadvertently shift into reverse in these situations? Maybe that's the case for electronic controls for other vendors as well, for all I know.

Tim

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Does anyone know if Mercury has been standing behind this issue?

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I don't understand this AT ALL.

If there is water inside that engine from stopping any boat attached to it as FAST AS POSSIBLE, including throwing the engine into reverse, this just does not make sense.
I have been on several boats that were and are powered by Mercury Verado 250's. I have seen these engines take water from backing down on fish, heavy seas, etc. All of the boats I have been on have these motors mounted lower than the stern height on apparatus very similar to Whaler Drive platform brackets. I have been soaked by waves of water backing down on fish I was catching that I saw roll over the tops of Mercury Verado 250 engines. There was no damage to those engines from that abuse, and I was safely returned by those engine's owners over 100 miles back to port.

So why is there an issue here of water damage to a Mercury Verado 250 that was operating in calm water? I don't get it.

I also don't understand the term "bottom cylinder".

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Frank, Pardner, do a Google search with keywords Verado and hydrolock and you'll find the other post, which answers your questions.

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Here is a Verado discussion forum for Mercury Verado motors.
http://www.veradoclub.com

I personally wouldn't want to go to any boat site to learn about some brand of motor.
I would want to go to a motor site dedicated to that brand of motor.

Mercury
Evinrude
Yamaha
etc., etc.

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Backing down quickly, engines mounted to low, or taking a wave over the engines was usually an issue with the gen1 verado (like mine) specifically with the pencil coils. This just happened to me where the two lower pencil coils were exposed to enough water after having to back down very quickly because of two reckless jet skiers (but that's another story) that the coils failed -therefore causing the engine to not run on all cylinders. The motor would still start just shake very bad at higher rpms. It was a $90 fix and the newer engines have the "upgraded" coils. That said, coming off plane I will keep the engines trimmed up a bit more :)

I'm not an expert but from what I'm reading is that hydrolock is not just a verado issue, rather a possible (bad) result of certain conditions coming together at once.

Hope everything works out for you...

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I finally have an update. I am waiting for a warranty replacement powerhead from Mercury to be delivered and installed. Water was found in the bottom cylinder and the official cause was a faulty gasket. It's taken so long because the first shop I brought it to was listed as Verado qualified but said they were not able to perform the warranty service because they are not an outboard dealer. The second shop couldn't look at it for another week and here we are almost a month later...... I'm just glad it's warrantied and it happened at the end of the season

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Excellent outcome. Mercury seems to be doing a good job of standing behind their engines.

Verado Club has some good information about the optimum mounting height of Verados. I highly recommend you spend some time reading on that site.

Rapid deceleration from on-plane operation of Verados is to be avoided. "Chopping" of the throttles can cause extensive damage as you have learned.

There is an adjustment for throttle resistance at the binnacle. Verado Club, IIRC, has a "how to".

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It's great that they are standing behind the motor, and interesting they called it a faulty gasket, which it clearly was not. Sounds like they may have a hidden warranty program going.

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Thanks Butch. I was poking around Verado Club last night and didn't see anything on mount height. I'll look better this evening. I have already made adjustments to the binnacle.

Tedious. How do you think the water was ingested? I've spoken to a couple of experienced local guys and they can't understand how the water would have been ingested other than via bad gasket. I'd also like to understand so that I can avoid something like this in the future.
Thanks,
Chris

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Chris, if you follow the directions in post #10 by "Weatherly" it will tell you what you want to know.

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Rapid deceleration causes a large stern wave that pushes the stern forward with a lot of force. That force pushes a lot of water into the propeller hub/exhaust of any outboard. If the engine is at idle or low RPM the exhaust pressure is low. When the water pressure exceeds the exhaust pressure water is forced into the exhaust passageway. When an exhaust valve is open the water can be forced past the valve into the cylinder.

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Butch. Thank you for the explanation, it certainly helped.

I stopped by the marina yesterday to check on the motor and, as luck would have it, the replacement powerhead was dangling from a lift behind my boat ready to be installed! I stuck around for the install, watching, snapping pics and picking the mechanics brain. My first question, of course, was 'how did the water get into the cylinders?' He told me that Mercury did not allow him to open the damaged powerhead so he could not be sure. He also told me that they have a client who is running the sh#* out of quad 300 with 2000+ hrs on the motors and he's personally replaced 6 warrantied powerheads (for various reasons) between them, so Mercury is clearly standing behind these motors.
I have some good pics that I'd be happy to share if anyone can suggest the best way to do that.