Mariner 3.5hp Four Stroke

Bought my Marine 3.5 HP long-shaft new to replace a dead Yamaha 4.5. The purchase was painless with next day delivery. Big advantage over the Yammie - about 10 kg lighter!

Unpacked it, filled with oil (but, why doesn't the book point out that a small, graduated jug and/or a funnel is essential for this job; but, in fairness, this comment applies to all 4-stroke outboards I've come across), filled with fuel - again a funnel or jug is really useful here, filling from a can, even with a spout, is quite difficult.

Moment of truth: it started reasonably, but only "reasonably", easily after a few pulls. It is really important to have the forked end of the kill cord properly seated; as the stop/kill switch is flexibly mounted, it is not easy to locate the fork end properly.

Ran it again the next day for about half an hour. It started on the 3rd or 4th pull, having been run dry previously. But, this time the kill-cord was properly in! I ran it for 10 minutes in gear, and it seemed to put a fair amount of tension on the mooring warps, even at low throttle settings.

Overall; I reckon I've got a reasonable little engine for "get you home" purposes.

PS - Tip from my seller: modern standard petrol/gasoline tends to gum up carburettors, float chambers, etc., (even if the the fuel has been run dry), over a period of time. It's rarely an issue with road vehicles because they are used regularly; but it is an issue, especially on auxiliary outboards where they may remain unused for weeks at a time. I was recommended to use super unleaded to reduce this effect.

Hi Brought this out board from Sea Nunn Marine, right from the off I had problems starting it, finally discovered that it would only run with the fuel cap removed or very loose.

Then discovered that when opening the vent it squashed the rubber bell inside and closed off the air supply to the tank, found a casting mark where I believe a hole should have been drilled to allow air into the tank.

Drilled a hole and motor runs OK.

However I have many times, tried to start this engine and it fails to run, leaving me with no confidence in it, when it runs it is OK, Operators manual is useless with very poor descriptions and pictures of the vital parts. My fault I was warned about small 4 stroke O/B's but went and brought one.

Never again,

Oh my god! what piece of ** i've bougth is what i thougth after reading the opinions.

Buyed on second hand, model 2010, now July 2014, first time of use, Stall, poor idle, couldn't use it.

After reading a lot, thanks everybody, just clean the carburetor with fisher nylon and carburetor cleaning spray, then used for two hours, starts first pull, good idle.

Good:

-No vibrations on handle, easy to carry for one person, easy adjustments of trim.

- Used with 230 inflatable boat, floor inflatable too, and speed is low, just go at the same speed at idle than at 60% if you can, go for a hard and fast floor.

- It cost me 300€ so very happy :)

- This one is fabricated by Tohatsu,(nissan) and selled to Mercury and Mariner (both same group) so is easy to find replacement and manuals as you can get them at 3 dealers. And Ebay.

Bad - cons:

-Maybe the fuel deposit has irregular plastic finish in the bottom (black piece that go inside the hose), had to remove all the tiny plastic fibres. Maybe this can cause that new motors just outfit the box, fail.

- Doesn't have a fuel filter and air filter is just a simple grill. I'll put a better air filter and a fuel filter considering the tiny pipes inside de carburetor.

- You got to turn two clockwise the white screw off fuel deposit cap if you got an ouside USA model, (unscrew totally for USA different cap model). I readed the manual after the first day and maybe didn't open correctly, maybe another people had this problem, maybe was just blocked carburetor.

- At idle, just at lowest idle that i used many minutes before i realized, THE WATER PUMP DOESN'T WORK FINE.

At the bottom got a hose that throw out water used to cool the motor, if you are at idle, just throw vapor, (very worried when i realized thinking that cooler lines get mired and motor head overheated.) Need to up revolutions to see water ejected and breathe.

- Doesn't have a fuel filter and air filter is just a simple grill. I'll put a better air filter and a fuel filter considering the tiny pipes inside de carburetor.

I'll post videos soon.

Ibiza, spain.

We fought the motor for months. Looked like a carb

problem We cleaned the carb 6 times. Nothing worked and the

reviews were horrible. We thought we had another anchor.

Then we discovered there was an intermitent problem wilth the igniter.

Changed it.

It now runs like a singer sewing machine. GREAT

Bought new from Marine Tech, South Walsham on Thursday, ran it for 15 minutes Friday and all good. Took grandchildren out Saturday and ran perfectly .. for half an hour, then stopped, restarted and stopped within two minutes many times. Much time at side of river, badly damaged rub rail on boat. Angry wife, very worried children

Tried again the next day, new fuel, thinking it must be the air vent as surely a new Mariner which had pre-sale checks must be OK. It wasn't. Stopped after half an hour. Towed back.

Full refund this morning from Marine Tech, didn't even say sorry.

I bought this Mercury 3.5 hp 4 stroke outboard from West Marine in early July.On the first run it stalled after 5 minutes and would then only run in 3 minute intervals b4 stalling again. The so-called Mercury "premium dealer" then charged me $120 to supposedly fix the problem which they said was a loose sparkplug. Mercury at first used their "limited warranty" language to say it was'nt covered but then agreed to pay half.Unfortunately the following 2 uses had the same results--sputtering,hard starting and stalling. I then decided to run the gas out of the engine to prep for winter storage.I had the engine in a 5 gal pail with a hose running in it when the engine just made a pop sound ,stalled and would not start again.The telltale was running the whole time.The new repair shop just told me the powerhead is cooked,not covered by the wonderful warranty and will cost $800 to fix.West Marine also claims no responsibility.Who would have thought that a $ 1000 outboard is basically a throw-away.I should have believed all the bad postings on this piece of junk.

I bought that Nissan 3.5hp four stroke [ same like tohatsu/mariner ] in May 2006 , after 4 weekends [ about 20 hours of use ] part of the engine cowl/cover broke off,I was waiting 4 weeks for the new part. After 40 hours of use [ about 8 weekends ] upper part of engine cover broke off and at the same time I noticed that the engine oil was leaking [cracked engine block !!!] After 2 months of negotiation with Nissan-Tohatsu dealer and many phone calls to Nissan/Mariner/Tohatsu Marine head office in Texas, they [dealer] replaced that engine block and engine cowl/cover, I sold that piece of @%$@*& immediately after that. DO NOT buy this motor !!!!

Bought mine from bass pro shop, took it out the 1st few times for the break-in period, after break-in period, would run great at 1/2 to 3/4 throttle, at full throttle it would bog out and shut off. Took it back to tracker marine 3 times for the same problem, after the 3rd time, they took a new one out of the box, put in in the run tank and it did the same thing, got a refund, they don't sell them in my bass pro anymore, anyone else have similar problems?

Excellent super motor,the BMW of outboard motors. The Mariner 3.5hp four stroke motor is superb, its a quietengine, very economical, much quieter than the honda I had recently

My Mariner 3.5hp Four Stroke started up right away the first couple of times then wouldn't start. Took the engine back to where I bought it. They messed around with it for an hour to tell me that they didn't know why it wasn't staying started. They did me right, took a brand new one out of a carton and gave it to me. I drove it all around the pond the rest of the day and it ran fine.