125 mercury?

G

garbubba

Junior Member
I'm on the search for an engine & found a 2002 Merc 125. I love that it only weighs 350lbs. It should push it OK don't you think? They came with 140's before they changed where they measure horsepower, that should make the 125 a bit more powerful than the original engine.

What do y'all think?

Doug
 
I think these boats are perfect with 150's but hey as long as you are in no hurry ant thing will work!
Just make sure to get everything looked at, you no want to get a junk!

Good Luck!
 
I personally wouldn't buy it. That engine is a FORCE design with no cylinder head to it(the block and head are one piece). They do have a cylinder cover that goes on to cover the cooling passages, but these are known to corrode away and spray water all over the inside of the cowling and ruin the ignition system. They are a fairly cheap engine, but you get what you pay for here I believe. If you do look at it, look VERY closely around the spark plugs where the cover bolts down. If you see corrosion or pitting by the plugs run.
 
I think that motor would be the 2+2 motor. Meaning two cylinders cut out at idle speeds and come back on at a certain rpm. Some users complain that the transition from 2 to 4 is a bit rough.

Pretty certain that this was a Mercury only and not a Force- Mercury hybrid. As the Force versions were 120 horsepower and did not have an L head design. The Force Mercury motors used the mercury lower unit and electronics but with a Force/chrysler powerhead with a removeable cylinder head. Cowling would also denote Force by Mercury in the graphics.



Brian
 
One of the only advantages to this motor is the fact that its a force motor.

I don't know what y'all have seen, but being a svc mgr at a mercury dealership i've not seen a stronger motor in a commercial environment then a force, granted the serviceability is lacking, and it is a 1 time use motor IMO. The last force i worked on a the service center before i resigned was a 125 on a dock barge with well over 4500 logged hours of hard intense abuse.

On that note, under powering your boat will always and i mean ALWAYS leave you with a world of regret.

Power the boat with what the sticker allows, and enjoy the speed of getting in ahead of a squall, the higher cruising speed with better MPGs and the fact your motor is simply going to last longer because its not working as hard as a smaller motor would to push that boat.
 
that motor is not a Force, it may look like it, but its not. Its part of the 75, 85, 100, 115, 125 3cylinder/4cylinder family of Merc engiens commonly referd to as the "metric motors" as it was one of the first motors merc made that was all metric. The 3 cyl versions of the motor have great power for their size, but you can't make them idle smooth(you can, but it takes a lot of time and $$), the 4 cylinder motros are the 2+4 motors, they idle on 2 cylinders, then pic up the otehr 2 above around 1400 rpm. If you set tehm up by the manual, they feel like a 4bbl kicked in, right about the time a skier is getting on top of the water. You can get them to transition smoothly, you just have to play with them a bit at the water. They are a decent motor, not exactly my first choice, but they do run decently for the size. If you are considering one, look under the flywheel and see if it has the red stator, if it doesn't you'll end up haveing to upgrade the electronics, it gets expensive. I'd consider them a little weak for a V, great for a 18 ft bowrider.
 
That's good info Spare, down here all of the MERCs without cylinder heads are known as teh force engines. Learn something new everyday. I do know that down here in Fl they have no resale value though due to all of teh corrosion problems people have had with the bolt on cover over the cylinders. You can pick em up CHEAP down here with corroded covers that have been JB welded before.
 
That would be backwards.. Chrysler force motors had a removeable cylinder head as I stated above. Early mercury inlines did not but had the water jacket cover that probably would be prone to pinhole in a saltwater enviornment. Some of the best engines mercury made in my opinion were made this way. As for the OP question I think you could do worse than the 125Hp 2+2 motor but it all depends on price. If you like mercs you should be able to pick up a nice 2.0 liter 150hp merc V-6 in the 2-2500 range. The 2.0's are not to bad on gas, are loop charged and heck they even have removeable cylinder heads. FWIW Force was gone pretty much by 1999, I don't think there is any such animal as a model year 2002 Force outboard.

Brian
 
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Bruce said:
One of the only advantages to this motor is the fact that its a force motor.

I don't know what y'all have seen, but being a svc mgr at a mercury dealership i've not seen a stronger motor in a commercial environment then a force, granted the serviceability is lacking, and it is a 1 time use motor IMO. The last force i worked on a the service center before i resigned was a 125 on a dock barge with well over 4500 logged hours of hard intense abuse.

On that note, under powering your boat will always and i mean ALWAYS leave you with a world of regret.

Power the boat with what the sticker allows, and enjoy the speed of getting in ahead of a squall, the higher cruising speed with better MPGs and the fact your motor is simply going to last longer because its not working as hard as a smaller motor would to push that boat.
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Well said...I dont understand the hatred for FORCE. I have owned two and both have been great. The 120 96' on my 18 just wont die..its thirsty and underpowered for what it is but it just RUNS...cranks first time everytime and after sitting all winter. I know she will go at some point and Im ready to repower with something worth working on but its been good to me.
 
Force was dropped by mercury as a way to clean up thier motor line for emissions. All the Force's were cross flow motors, great idling, but were pretty dirty(as far as emisions go) and they drank fuel. The original Force engines were a development of the Chysler engines. Mercury marketed them on their cheaper boats to create a "value" line. They had problems with lower units and ignitions(they are still the hottest spark on any outboard). Merc replaced the trouble spots with merc designed lower units and ignitions. By the time they got it firgured out. Emisions were tighting up and it was easier to drop the line rather than redesign them. Tehy were simple motors, but by teh time they made them reliable, you might as well bought a Merc and enjoyed better performance. Oddly enough, I worked on a piar of 90 Force's today(on a 22 Angler). Youknow what Force stood for? F'ing Old Repainted Chrysler Engine :you:
 
thanks

I have only had one force experience & it was not good. I let this one slide anyway, I'm trying to hold out for that yammie 150 I know is out there. You know, the one i can afford!

Doug
 
Thanks for the history lesson, Spareparts. I didn't know all that about those Force engines. I remember seeing them on Bayliners. I never liked those boats for some reason - I think because a lot of the people that had them didn't really know how to drive a boat.
 
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