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dnej
22-03-2007, 08:23 PM
Has ony one owned one of these.

My brother is thinking of buying a second hand one.This one is about 10 years old.
Any review available on them,good or bad. Any bad habbits?
David

Roughasguts
22-03-2007, 08:40 PM
Is that the tower of terror.
Inline six.

trev1
22-03-2007, 09:05 PM
isn't that the model that earnt them the nickname "black anchor"?

saurian
22-03-2007, 09:56 PM
I don't know about anchor but I remember black max 150's about 20yrs ago.
Might be getting a tad long in the tooth ????
Ta

PADDLES
23-03-2007, 08:12 AM
dnej, i've got the next size down black max (135 and 150 are a 2l v6 and the 175, 200 and maybe 225 are 2.6l) they're pretty simple old beasts that with heaps of go. i got a bit of an opinion from the guy who inspected it for me (mines a 92 model 135 with 400 hours) and he reckons they're an awesome motor, a little thirsty on petrol but what v6 2s isn't. the only thing he said to watch was all mercury motors have the wiring connectors bundled together tightly, they then heat up and eventually wear through, short out and start a fire. this is from the factory, so have a good look at the wiring loom and seperate all the wiring connectors a bit. apparently the power trim/tilt units were a bit suss too, luckily my mate who i bought my boat from had just replaced this and i've had no problems in 2 years.

dnej
23-03-2007, 12:57 PM
OK< I will get more information, tonight, and post same, for more comments.
David

DALEPRICE
23-03-2007, 03:53 PM
in my oppinion they are a good motor, provided they are serviced and maintained
had a 135 black max 94 model and
it never missed a beat. i didnt think that the black max
goes back 20 years, they were then called red band, blue band, ect..............
correct me if i am wrong.....
cheers dale

disorderly
23-03-2007, 04:17 PM
Does anybody know during what era the merc's actually earned the "black anchor" moniker.
Was it, in actual fact, a reference to a particular series, or just a general perception of Merc's.

cheers Scott

435_Mark
23-03-2007, 04:43 PM
Scott,
The term "black anchor" was given to them in the days when they had steel (as opposed to stainless) driveshafts. The evinrudes & Johnsons (and even the lowly Chrysler) all had stainless driveshafts. Other problems included sideplates corroding through and the bottom crankshaft seals rusting out in the powerhead. In both cases you ended up with a seized motor that was good for nothing more then using as a (you guessed it) "black anchor". They were still a great motor if they were serviced on a regular basis and the sideplates and bottom crank seals were done every 5 years or so.

The 175 Mercs are a V6 and have given great service over the years. About the only thing I would be careful of was that for a short time some of them had a chrome bore (no steel liner at all) which meant that if a motor overheated and seized it made the repair even more expensive then normal. Paddles has it right though, they were pretty heavy on juice.

Disorderly, I'm pretty sure they changed to stainless driveshafts in 1977.

Cheers,

Mark