225 ProXS Lower Unit Problems

[ss]

I finally got my off idle miss fixed earlier this year after many angry phone calls to Mercury, so I thought things were looking up. Now I have the prop shaft seals on the lower unit leaking. When I took the prop off, one seal was just setting on the propshaft and not even pressed into the housing any more. The inner seal appears to be damaged, possibly melted. I just had the prop off two weeks ago and didn't notice anything unusual, so I think it happened recently. Has anyone else had this problem, and what other lower unit problems have ProXS owner had?

[EuropeanAM]

Steve:

Haven't seen this specifically, but get it in to your local dealer for a check. Obviously, you're gonna need "new seals", at the least.

Not a major proceedure..... unless there's been a lot of water in the case (and other damage).

[Yellow Jacket]

I had the same lower unit leak in July of 2007. Dealer fixed it under warranty, since than I have put 100 hrs on it without any problems.

[PATRO]

I recently had a lower unit leak that was covered under warranty. Didn't find out what was leaking since the mechanic was not there when I picked it up. The lady at the desk said that he resealed the lower unit. Replaced my water pump to and only charged me for the impeller.

[dathom]

What was the fix on the off idle miss issue? I have a 225 pro xs that has done it from the first time I put it in the water...Mercury says they have never heard of one with that problem..

[EuropeanAM]

Dathom:

Serial #?

[dathom]

Serial number 1b541292.. I have right at 10 hours on it...

[ss]

Well dathom, Mercury is full of crap if they say they have never heard of the off idle miss. Mine did it since the first day I had it in the water. I tried to deal with Mercury to get the problem fixed, but they kept blowing me off. I finally decided that I paid too much money for that motor to just put up with the problem. Many angry phone calls and emails later, Mercury agreed to replace the entire dressed power head on my motor at no cost to me. That was 6 months ago, and it has run fine since then. It is no secret that Mercury and Brunswick Corporation are having serious financial problems right now. Every warranty claim that Mercury can ignore or deny is more money in their pockets. Of course that is just my opinion.

[dathom]

What all was replaced before the power head.. Sounds like you went through a lot of time and grief to get to that point? I certainly don't want to have to go through all of that if I can keep from it. I hate being without my boat.. The engine runs great when I get past about 1200 rpms.. Couldn't ask for better performance there.. Thanks...

[ss]

Nothing was replaced before the powerhead. I took it to a dealer to diagnose the problem. The mechanic could not find anything wrong with the usual diagnostic tools. He called Mercury while I was there and had the tech on speaker phone so I could hear the conversation. The Mercury tech said he was familiar with the problem, but that there was not a fix for it at that time. He said he thought they would have a fix soon. A couple of weeks later, I called Mercury customer service to get an update. I was told the same thing, they knew about the problem but did not have a fix. I asked when, and they said they did not know. Over the course of a month, I called and emailed regularly to ask the same question, and was given the same generic answer. After a while, the people at Mercury began to suggest that I was being unreasonable by asking them when my motor would be fixed. At that time, I sent several emails to some people at Brunswick Corporation (Mercury's parent company). I explained the situation and said that I did not believe Mercury was interested in resolving my problem. I explained that I had been a loyal customer until this situation, and that I may never buy another Mercury product again if this was how Mercury treated their customers. A few days later, I was contacted by Mercury customer service and they offered to replace the dressed powerhead (dressed means all of the accessories such as starter, alternator, computer, etc. are included) under warranty. Two weeks later, I had a new powerhead that ran like it was supposed to. I don't think the problem had anything to do with the actual powerhead, but with one or more of the other components. At least at that time, I don't think Mercury knew what component to replace, so they replaced everything. Sorry for the long post, but that was the short version of the story.

[redline]

I would recommend replacement of the bearing carrier as well. I've seen some carriers that no matter what you try the seals will not stay in place. If they won't replace it, insist on locktite and staking the carrier so the seals stay in place. It's nothing more than 4 punch marks at 12:00, 3:00, 6:00, and 9:00, at the end of the carrier where the seals fit into.

[ss]

Since it is a warranty issue, I doubt that Mercury would replace the carrier right away. After I have the seals replaced I will keep an eye on it to see if the seals stay put.

[EuropeanAM]

Steve:

Take it in for the seal issue. You may be surprised at how they deal with it...


BE SURE that the tech calls in to Merc to request advise on what method they prefer... and doesn't just "make the decision on his own".