I can pick up this used for @ €700.All I know about outboards is how to start them so given that it is for sale from an outboard mechanic and looks in very good nick I am looking for help in asking the right questions before buying.Also what should I look at on the motor to determine if it is in good condition and worth the money.Cheers lads.
Ferg

Make sure it has plenty of compression and that when it is running it pumps a healthy amount of water. If you can find out how many hours it has done it would be useful.

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A Bad Days Fishing Is Better Than A Good Day At Work

Thanks Mac ,I am trying to arrange a trip out with it .Sorry for being a bit thick here but by checking the compression do you mean removing spark plug and making sure there is a good blow there ? About the hours used all he said is that its not had a lot of use but all in freshwater.
Ferg

If you are staring it with a pull cord you should be able to feel the resistance witch is caused by the compression. The cord should not be pulled to easily.

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A Bad Days Fishing Is Better Than A Good Day At Work

I'd ask the seller when the water pump or impeller was last changed. If they don't know, I'd ask him to change at least the impeller before the sale because who knows if or when the previous owner did it. If you look at my recent thread on this, even though my impeller was severely worn, it was still pumping a healthy amount of water, so you cannot tell by the indicator stream alone, you have to know when it's been changed last.

If the gear lube in the lower unit and the crankcase oil (and filter if there is one) haven't been changed recently or it's not known when they were last changed, I'd change them. This is a simple process and takes about 20 minutes, IMO everyone should learn how to do this themselves.

Beyond that, you can kind of check the compression by the feel of the recoil cord when pulling slowly, but this only really will tell you if things are very bad and there's next to no compression. To get an exact reading, you need a compression gage. Of course, you'd also need to look up the spec to see what the acceptable range is.

I'd be really surprised if compression was an issue, but you don't say year of the outboard or how old it is. As Mac says, if there's healthy resistance when pulling the cord SLOWLY by hand, it's almost certainly not an issue.

Very rarely do outboards die from over-use, it's far more common to see problems from them being rarely used and not stored properly. It's completely common to run into 2 stroke outboards from the 1970s that have been used extensively but still have their compression in spec, so it takes a lot of use to wear out an outboard. As long as it hasn't been used in a commercial application where it's been run hard every day of the work week, and generally you can tell by the condition if this has been the case.

Grouse

Thanks for the fairly comprehensive reply Grouse,I had a look at the motor tonight and it is a 2003 model ,just been serviced and looks very clean.The mechanic assures me (as a friend ) that is is a good outboard ,well looked after with not a lot of use.It seems the seller is out of town until the weekend so I would hope to chat with him maybe early next week .I did run the outboard in a barrel to get a feel for the compression and it seems ok .I will also question when the impeller was last changed .Thanks for the replies lads ,they are very helpful and I will let you know the outcome next week.
Corky

Sorry for not getting back sooner ,been chasing the sea trout and although the sport is good the late nights/early morning finish sure knocks the s#ite out of me.
I took the Merc out on L.Leine with Stormfry on here and must say we were disappointed with it.Stormfry likes to be the captain and I being a lazy sod let him away as boatmen ,thanks Will.The motor seemed to have a mind of its own and was nuisance to start up after the drifts.Just as well the day was nice enough with only light southerlies and we easily able to row a bit.Brought it back and the seller asked if we had used his tank ,which we had not so he thought we had maybe introduced some dirt from ours.He rinsed out the carb and we gave it another go on a pike lake but the performance was still off with occasional bad starts .I have returned it to the seller and am back looking for a motor.Thanks to all for the input it was much appreciated.
Ferg

It may just be me, but I've never been all that convinced by small mercury 4-strokes (2-strokes a different story). Have a look for a Honda; I'm certainly not selling one of mine, but all three (2hp, 71/2hp and 30hp) are excellent starters, smooth (well, the 2-horse might be questioned, but then it runs on fresh air) and totally reliable. They get routine servicing, nothing special, really just like the CBR

Any outboard of 2003 vintage shouldn't be a hard starter unless there's something wrong with it. 4 strokers especially are sensitve to water condensation in the fuel, so that would be the first place I'd look. Not that I'm saying Ireland is damp or anything, but ya know. . .

Beyond that there are a host of other possible explanations, but there's a 4 stroke Mercury hanging on a lot of transoms here in the Land of 10,000 Lakes and if they were "bad starters" everyone would know it by now.

BTW, I believe the early 2000s vintage Mercury 4 stroke engines were made by Suzuki or Tohatsu, both of which are good outboards in their own right.

Grouse