175 xri performance after new reeds

[ChuckBIR]

1995 Mercury 175 xri, Serial# 0G000688. Skeeter S-1850 deep V.

I replaced the original factory metal reeds with Chris Carson's reeds and added his cage spacers (I can't recall the correct name off top of my head of the "spacers"). Followed proper protocol for prepping reeds and installation.

First runs after installation seemed great, much better starting, idling and overall better take off. Full RPMs unchanged at about 5600. Overall speed was OK, but down 1-2 mph in general.

Ran boat 4 days for a tournament over the weekend. Humidity/dewpoint was really high. I added a partner to the boat with the same load I've had for many years. Now I notice much more noticeable smoke in the air at idle (worst I've ever seen in 14 years of owning this motor). Always run Amsoil marine full synthetic. Take off was really, really poor and boat did not want to plane out well at all. Speed is reduced by 3mph and my RPMs could not exceed 5400. I did not always have full tank of fuel during these runs on different days. This has never happened.

I filled up with premium fuel at 2 different gas stations.

Obviously my motor has poor performance issues when I added another guy to the boat.

Thoughts?

(More history: Lower unit was serviced by Merc mechanic at the same time reeds installed. New water pump and new pump housing seals due to a leak. 3 gallon oil tank had a small crack in the tank and I applied a plastic epozy to fix. Oil sprayed all over under splash well.

I just don't understand excess smoke and it's my main concern at this point. Thanks for any advice.

[JOE54]

my understanding is you built more crank case pressure when you added spacers to it so if you had an adjustable ecu you could adjust mixture accordingly, but this beng a stock mtr

[EuropeanAM]

See Sticky Posts at the top of the forum- Please post in the correct forum for your engine.

Thanks!

Did you perform a complete Sync-n-Link Procedure after reassembly?

Idle Timing?

WOT Timing?

TPS Setting?

Do you still have an Idle Stabilizer/Advance Module?

[ChuckBIR]

European, with all due respect I think a mod needs to change the forum title. This is a "stock" motor, and not a "high performance" (modified) motor. I thought by Mercury "stock" forum description I was in the right place. I know there's a lot of 2.5L modified "hi performance" (race) motors out there...mine is not one.

Sync-n-link was performed. I did not check the timing. I will inquire with my mechanic.

I ran the motor again after my 1st post. Weather was 81 degrees and much less humidity. The motor smoked bad upon initial start up and then it fizzled out as I ran the motor more. Almost like the computer sensed a change and modified fuel/oil mixture. No visible smoke the remainder of the day. I also had much better take off and overall power with a heavier friend in the boat. RPMs are still running on the lower side, so I can always experiment with props too. This motor has always been propped on the heavy side and I suspect the motor is getting tired as RPMs and speed seem to drop over the course of 14 years running this combo.

Thank you

[SilverFox579]

The forum title is a little misleading, the word "and" is missing between the displacements and high perf. Moderators can't change titles, as it's an admin function. The 2.5L forum is correct one for your engine.