TOPIC: 1962 Mercury 500

Just ran my 1962 Mercury 500 4 cylinder 50 hp runs great but doesn't seem to be shooting any water out. I cannot remember if water comes out with exhaust or has another hole for the water stream. Any thoughts would be great.

at fast idle and above the exhaust should have some spray. the tell tale is on the right side rear under the bottom cowl. 1/8in hole. they clog up but still are cooling try a wire in the hole or compressed air. when in doubt feel the exhaust cover should be able to touch without burning your hand. hope this helps.

Thank you for the info I found and cleared the hole and the tel tail is streaming water now. I have a 50 to 1 oil mix is that too rich for the mercury?

Do you mean too lean. 50:1 is 50 parts gas to 1 part oli.

24:1 is 24 parts gas to 1 part oil (much richer)

Fuel-to-Oil Mixture Ratio for Older Mercury Outboards
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Mercury Bulletin Number 80-6:

"A. USE OF FORMULA 50-D OIL IN OLDER MERCURY OUTBOARDS

Formula 50-D oil can be recommended (at a 50:1 mixture) for use in earlier Mercury outboards regardless of year of manufacture.

Formula 50-D also can be used in other brand outboards (at a 50:1 mixture), provided that the manufacturer recommends use of a 50:1 oil mixture."

The above was copied verbatim from a Merc Service Bulletins Microfiche.

Since this bulletin was issued over 30 years ago, I'd expect that Mercury's latest oil formulations (and any good TCW3 oil for that matter) would be far superior to the Formula 50-D oil.

A caveat to the above would be that this recommendation was made for production motors. If you are racing or operating a "racing" motor, you of course should run a much richer oil mix.

HTH............ed

Race double the oil.