2010 6-HP. Make sure to check the external fuel line and change the fuel filter.

[Thundra]

Back in 2012, I got a great deal on a new 2010 Mercury 6-HP as an employee from West Marine had bought all the leftover Mercury outboards and was selling them for real cheap and I was lucky to see his Craigslist ad quick enough to have gotten me one for $900 along with a new Moeller 3 gallon portable tank.

I got a Moeller fuel line and the fittings for the tank and the O/B. When I was breaking in the motor, it kept on stalling. I figured it was new and just needed tob e broken or run-in and just kept on running it. When the stalling would not go away, one afternoon I had decided to switch to a genuine/OEM Mercury connector at the O/B along with an OEM Mercury fuel line and bulb. I was shocked when I had looked into the end of the fuel line and saw that the lining of the fuel line was made from some plastic and was delaminating and cracking and that the fuel line was just crap. Just today I cut back 2" of the fuel line and then cut back another 6" and the entire fuel liner is just delaminated so I threw the entire line out.

The motor had been running fine for many years as I winterize by the book as well as run the motor until it dies every time I am putting the motor away for a week or more so it always starts on the first pull. I had upped the idle just a hair so that now it idles perfectly. A few days ago, the motor kept on stalling every 100-300 yards but it would start back up either after squeezing the primer bulb and when that didn't work, choking the motor would get it fired and going. When we stopped and spent a few hours on the beach, the motor started right up and only died twice on the way home.

I figured that as I had been using the motor for the past 6 seasons and had done nothing but replace the water pump a few years ago, it was time to change the spark plug and the fuel filter as I had come to the realization that all the crud in the line that had delaminated and sent all the crystal particles into the fuel filter and was causing it to plug up and stall the motor, that changing the fuel filter would solve the problem and it did. I love that Mercury used finger-pinch fuel line clamps that makes/made it so easy to swap out the fuel filter-working on these small outboards is a joy.

I will now remember to simply change the filter every few years along with the $2.79 spark plug.

I also ran the fuel (polished) through a water separating filtered funnel from West Marine and actually did it twice, once to get it into a 6 gallon fuel jug, then again to get it all back into the portable tank.

I'm sure that this Tohatsu/Mercury motor is going to be around for my boy/girl to enjoy and probably their kids as well. It is nowhere near quiet but a better sound than a two stroke, and it is also not smooth at all, but still not too bad as it is on a 14' MirroCraft from the 70's, but it is a good running motor and has no terrible smell from the exhaust.

[EuropeanAM]

The engine shipped from the factory with a 3 gallon Mercury fuel tank and line. The materials used on THAT tank and line would be suitable for today's fuels (the aftermarket stuff just doesn't seem to hold up in most cases).

Glad you're enjoying it!