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  1. #1
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    Nov 2015
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    Paris, KY
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    2004 Mercury 150 XR6 voltage regulator blown?

    A few weeks ago was on the lake idling through a no wake zone, all of a sudden I hear a faint "pop" come from the motor, motor continued to idle fine for about 30 seconds, then I thought I noticed it was very lightly sputtering, then the sputtering got worse, until motor finally sputtered to a stop, looked back at the motor again and smoke coming from under the cowling, smoke continued to get heavier. Dropped trolling motor and idled over to a close dock at marina, pulled cowling off. Once I pulled the cowling off, observed almost every wire inside the motor and several small "boxes" on the side of the motor where all the wires are ran to were melted and burnt so bad that I couldn't tell what was what. Pulled the positive cables off the cranking battery so nothing else would spark and possibly cause a fire, used trolling motor to troll back to the ramp, loaded the boat and went home. I have talked to my boat mechanic, and he has seen pics of the motor. He is going to try to get it in the shop in the next week or two, but I'm curious/worried what all is damaged. He said it sounds/looks like I blew a voltage regulator, and that was probably the faint "pop" I heard. He said the stator could have possibly caused the voltage regulator to blow, and then everything got hot and/or sparked, and it was likely all downhill from there with the wires and everything. He advised me that he hasn't officially diagnosed it yet, but I may need 2 new voltage regulators, a new stator, a new wiring harness(es), new wiring, and maybe new fuses, he advised I was likely looking at $1500 or so for parts, and that's if it didn't cause any further damage....... has anyone ever had anything like this happen, or can anyone advise what they think could have caused this and likely repairs? Thanks in advance.

  2. Mercury 3L/4 Stroke/Verado Moderator EuropeanAM's Avatar
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    #2
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    Inspection of the engine (or at a minimum, pictures of the damage) will be necessary. Sounds like a voltage regulator meltdown- which is almost always tied to a BATTERY or BATTERY CONNECTION problem (bad battery, wrong type of battery, heavily discharged battery, loose or improperly connected terminals/connections, or a bad battery switch).


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