Mercury regulator/rectifier recall 2005

[dinodog]

Hi Everyone.
Does anyone know of the 2005 recall of Mercury 2002/2003 30,40 and 60 hp regulator /rectifiers?

http://www.recalls.gov.au/content/index.phtml/itemId/952854

My 2004 60hp 4stroke efi outboard has lost it charging circuit and left me stranded on Port stephens last thursday. My 100amp/hr battery was dead flat and possible has not been getting any charge from the motor for some time.
Anyway, finding the recall on the internet, I immediately called my local Mercury dealer to investigate if my motor is a candiate for a free replacement. I know my motor is a 2004 but the serial number falls within the range specified for the recall.

Has anyone had their regulator changed or had a regulator blow up on the water? Was anyone aware of the recall? What has been the response from Mercury to faults now that it's a few years past the recall issue date?
cheers Dean

[dinodog]

hi, with many 1000's of members on this site , has nobody got a 30/40/50 or 60hp 2002/2003/2004 Mercury outboard that was included in the recall?
Interesting.....

Maybe no one knows about it.......

cheers

[cormorant]

If it is in the correct range and you were having it serviced at anytime by a Merc shop and they didn't replace it I would not be happy. Would be wanting a battery as well.\

What did your Merc dealer say?


Give people some time to respond as they log on occasionally

[Steeler]

Dean

Goes back a long way,is this the first time you have had charging issues ?. Might pay to hop on Brunswick's Mercury Australia website and obtain a phone number for them and give them a call. Are you the original owner of the outboard ?. If not it may have been done already or did you submit any paperwork to Mercury with updated ownership details for them to have been able to contact you.

Better off getting an answer to your concerns straight from the horses mouth so to speak.

Cheers

Steve

[dinodog]

G'day Steeler.
I had a call back from my local mercury dealer yesterday afternoon. All was looking good for Mercury to replace the regulator at no charge right up to the point where i said i don't have the original purchase receipt because i am the 2nd owner............oh no...........

The dealer said he would have to check with Mercury as they assumed i was the original owner. He seemed to think it would not be a problem but said he would check and call me back with an answer. Haven't heard yet.....

Not to be one without information, I immediately rang the ACCC, these are the guys that run and operate the government recall website. I asked them if there was any limitations to the recall. They said no, there are no limitiations on time or ownership. This recall has nothing to do with any warranty or implied warranty or any statutory warranty. This is a safety product recall because the unit is unsafe. This product is no longer for sale and is not be sold. It can explode and catch on fire as i have seen the forum extracts from people who have had it catch on fire while out in their boats. They said to call them back if there are problems with getting the regulator replaced.

So, as you can see I'm still in a bit of limbo. I am the 2nd owner of the boat, Mercury Aust originally accepted that they would replace the regulator and that the serial number from the motor has not been done before this time. It seems the original owner did not have it registered with Mercury either and i didn't botther as the motor was out of it normal warranty period when i purchased it 18months ago. I've had no charging problems with it before and so when I got stranded out in boat last thursday I thought i would be covering the costs. The internet is a great source of information and i would not have found the recall notice had i not gone looking for further information on the source of my charging problems. I am hopeful that Mercury Aust do the right thing. I'm sure they would have contacted the right people too before they say anything.

As for the mercury dealership, my local guy didn't even know of the recall when i contacted him on monday. They obtained their dealership for Mercury sometime last year. It does seem though that the recall has been kept somewhat quiet. You would think that all dealerships would be made aware of a national recall for a fire hazard product.

I'll keep you informed of my progress.
Thanks for the replies.
cheers
Dean

[FNQCairns]

Guaranteed all dealers received some notification which I would guess was quickly filed in the "not very much money in it for us" section in the filing cabinet.

It's good your getting the word out.

cheers fnq

[cormorant]

Warning to all of us when we book a motor in to have a item listed on the work to be done for them to tick off.

"serial number checked all updates and known warranty recall issues addressed"
"confirmed ownership details in database"

My details fell off their database , or the new dealer couldn't see them. Some dealers just never bother to lodge the paperwork or pass it on to manufacturer. I was told with one of my motors it must be a grey import as it hadn't been "sold and registered " by a Aussie dealer.

You should be right since it is a recall.

[Scaredy Cat]

Thanks for the info, whilst my motors are 2006, it is worth me checking the charging unit on 1 motor as I have had 2 batteries fail in 12m, I thought it might have been an isolation sw issue as I have a battery for each motor and a emergency switch to parallel the motors just to make things difficult to sort out,

[dinodog]

Great news, the regulator has been replaced free of charge.:)

From what i was told at the dealership when i picked up the boat, it was not just a matter of changing the regulator. The service document also included that a plate on the side of the motor was also replaced. This is to do with the cooling circuit. The new plate had extra fins on it and was to help with keeping the regulator cool as its bolted to the side of the motor. Also something else to do with the exhaust manifolds, they were replaced too.

cheers

[Steeler]

Xcellent result dinodog.

Mercury always come through,but i am a little bias.Black is beautiful.

Cheers

Steve

[cormorant]

Make sure when they service the motor in a couple of seasons time they look at the "cooling plate" and clean the scale off it to keep circuit cool.

Good result - the right result but why had it not been done before or they only do it on failure?? That is the bit that sucks.

[murf]

mmmm I have a 60hp version, I will have to check up on it

thanks for the heads up and a good result for you :)

cheers Murf

[Kleyny]

I have a 03 60hp 2 stroke going by the look of it the recall is only for 4 bangers.

At a guess the rectifiers must be different.

neil

[dinodog]

How many other units are out there that have not had the regulator replaced?? That is the scary part. If you have not had the engine registered with Mercury and you do not get it serviced by an authorised Mercury dealer, I'm guessing you would not know about any recall and your outboard would have a suspect regulator. Untill it fails or at worst catchs on fire, you would not know.

Also, my concern would be that even if i took it to a dealer and asked them to inspect the charging circuit because i now have a problem, would they have replaced it for free if i had not asked about the recall?? I don't really trust the dealerships. I also don't take my ford to a ford dealer for services, they don't do what they are supposed to do.

I'm a happy customer because i was armed with information but how many others have been caught out due to lack of information?

[Steeler]

There is a lesson in this,whether it be an outboard,boat,car etc always notify the manufacturer of any change of ownership details.I wonder how many people are driving around in vehicles they did not purchase new yet the vehicle has in the glove box the necessary paperwork to send off to notify them of a change but they just couldn't be bothered.

After all manufactures don't have crystal balls.

Just my thoughts

Cheers

Steve

[murf]

talked to my Merc man today but he was unable to get hold of Merc to see if my motor has been done

found this

http://www.ishopmarine.com/ishop-catalog/bcat/MM/001/03/2002/EN_19.PDF

cheers Murf

[cormorant]

Manufacturers should be forced these days to have a website that you can type in your model and serial number and easily see if there is any known issues. Be nice if teh dealers actually looked at it as well!!. Not saying it should tell you if it has been fixed as you don't want to cut dealers out altogether but seriously if dealers had brains they wouldn't supply "warranty or upgrade" parts to ayone but themselves as they should have also recieved the notes or training on installation as so often nit is stuff like rerouting a wire etc.

Do dealers or mechanice charge out warranty parts and labour - hell yes if they are unscruppulous dealers so they doule dip. Manufacturers are partly to blame as they only allow XX ours to complete a job they is often more time consumng han hours allowed

[murf]

also found this

Mercury Marine will credit the dealer for the cost of parts and labor until September 30,
2008.

http://www.ishopmarine.com/ishop-catalog/bcat/MM/001/03/2005/EN_11.PDF

cheers Murf

[murf]

and going by that last link I posted my motor hasn't been done :(

will be interesting to see what they can do??????

cheers Murf

[murf]

haha bloody Murphy's LAW :(

well it stopped charging yesterday

threw every test at it from the book and all seems OK??? the stator tests ok so my 99.9% guess is the reg

out of interest what would the open circuit voltage be on an outboard reg?

booked into the boat Dr's tomorrow so will see what happens

cheers Murf

[murf]

all good ;D all sweet and replaced with no problems at all

thanks Mercury and thanks Jetty Boating in Coffs for looking after me :)

and thanks for the heads up with this post

cheers Murf