Mercury optimax compressor help

[Dirt69]

Hey guys so last weekend I happened to be the victim of a compressor crank bearing failure or the victim of it starting to happen, so I’m in the market for a new compressor.. a local mechanic has a 2001 opti 200 with a blown cylinder (due to a bad air injector) the motor has around 230hrs and the compressor has already been changed, would a compressor off a 2001 optimax fit a 2003? Our local mercury dealer has a new compressor in stock! What are the odds! Would it be okay to buy the used compressor and run it? Or buy the brand new black updated one? I will also add that I’m up in Canada so a brand new compressor is a lot of money.. but so is a new 200 4 stroke.. my 2003 optimax has 505hrs and runs like a top! What would you guys do? Also should I have my injectors cleaned? I took the reed side of the compressor apart and I found no sign of metal shavings was fairly clean other then some rust.. I plan to take the pulley side of and investigate more to see if there are metal shavings. If I caught the compressor soon enough that it did not start to degrade do I have to clean my injectors,air injectors and fuel rails or can I slap a new compressor on and go?

[Savage]

I would check and clean EVERYTHING.

[JOE54]

need ser numbers on both engines to be exact on parts

[Dirt69]

I do plan on sending fuel and air injectors away this winter for a cleaning I have seen on here and other forums that guys clean the fuel rails them self so I think I will clean it myself and fuel lines

[JOE54]

recommend no usage until all components are cleaned thoroughly , used would be fine run it a week and do this all over again you decide

[Dirt69]

recommend no usage until all components are cleaned thoroughly , used would be fine run it a week and do this all over again you decide

The second I noticed something wrong with the compressor I parked the boat

[Dirt69]

Trying to post photos from my phone on here of the compressor taken apart but my photos are to large? From what I can see no damage really sticks out to me.. small scuffs in the jug.. crank has no major or any signs of the bearing wearing into it.. I’m starting to wonder if one of the 2 o rings on pulley side were starting to rot and leak oil from there? Very small amount of play on connecting rod as well

[Savage]

From your CURRENT description it seems like the compressor was not bad to begin with.

[JOE54]

agree ^^^^^

[Ronman]

What was the symptom of the compressor to make you think compressor was bad? These things are a real pain and make everyone paranoid including me. The used one if its black with the bolt on endcap I think that is newer design. You just need to lengthen hose with a 6 inch longer piece and mount it to compressor at threaded bolt hole. I rebuilt 2 (Original and newer design that was not even 3 years old) and both have issues including slight scuffs in bore. I am running second rebuild now (Required new rod bearings and reed plate was toast on a 3 year old compressor) and it sure is noisy when on muffs and condensing more water in airline then I like to see.

P.S. FYI, The newer Style Compressor I rebuilt had chalk sealant around the endcap to further assist the 2 O Rings.

[Dirt69]

What was the symptom of the compressor to make you think compressor was bad? These things are a real pain and make everyone paranoid including me. The used one if its black with the bolt on endcap I think that is newer design. You just need to lengthen hose with a 6 inch longer piece and mount it to compressor at threaded bolt hole. I rebuilt 2 (Original and newer design that was not even 3 years old) and both have issues including slight scuffs in bore. I am running second rebuild now (Required new rod bearings and reed plate was toast on a 3 year old compressor) and it sure is noisy when on muffs and condensing more water in airline then I like to see.

P.S. FYI, The newer Style Compressor I rebuilt had chalk sealant around the endcap to further assist the 2 O Rings.

im not 100% sure compressor had blown.. I believe it was actually the 2 o rings on the end cap of the compressor I believe are worn out and was letting oil slip by and out.. my crank bearing does have some small play, cylinder had some scuffing, I’m going to change compressor with updated one.. due to having 500hrs on motor and making long runs in derby’s.. since I have my compressor stripped and off I went ahead and took all my injectors out and are sending them away for servicing and cleaning

[EuropeanAM]

Make absolutely sure that ALL of the hoses, the rails, the regulators, and the tracker valve are torn down, cleaned to remove ANY debris, and then properly reassembled BEFORE attempting to install the injectors.

Also, make sure the facility that's handling them can drive your high-impedance injectors to WOT parameters using a TWO STROKE cycle (that's DOUBLE what most 4-stroke machines run).

Anything less is only marginally better than placing your injectors in a dishwasher...

[Dirt69]

Make absolutely sure that ALL of the hoses, the rails, the regulators, and the tracker valve are torn down, cleaned to remove ANY debris, and then properly reassembled BEFORE attempting to install the injectors.

Also, make sure the facility that's handling them can drive your high-impedance injectors to WOT parameters using a TWO STROKE cycle (that's DOUBLE what most 4-stroke machines run).

Anything less is only marginally better than placing your injectors in a dishwasher...

hey don! Thanks for the information!! A true mercury legend! So I stripped my compressor apart and found nothing wrong other then some small scratching in the jug.. piston and rings/oil ring all looked perfect, crank bearing had no damage or signs of scuffing the crank pin? Or whatever the connecting rod is attached to on the pulley had 0 signs of failure... is it possibly
that the 2 o rings on the top cap could have started to fail causing the oil to puke out? I found no signs of metal shavings on top side of piston/reeds..I’m starting to think it wasn’t a Compressor failure but just the O-rings failing.. i did notice the last day I used it the last 2 crank ups before coming to the ramp had a lot of smoke on start up.. idled fine, got up on step fine.. I do not have the special tool to take the air regulator or fuel regulator out? Is there any tips on doing this without special tools? Thanks don

[Dirt69]

IMG_2951.jpg IMG_2942.jpg IMG_2943.jpg

[Dirt69]

IMG_2913.jpg

This is what I pulled the cowling on when I thought my compressor was going out.. when I pulled the belt off and turned the pulley by hand there was little play before the piston would move.. originally I thought my crank bearing was going because from when I bought the boat at 436hr the bearing had 0 play.. then when I noticed this oil and checked there was a small amount of play in it..

[JOE54]

install new compressor do oil pump prime , lake test boat you may see a smidge of smoke initially make few runs then check for fuel in air side of system / fuel psi bleed down test will show if diaphragms are leaking in rails , your smoke at startup very well could have come from the gouges in the bore of that old comp the leaking possibly came from excess crankcase pressure pushing oil past the orings on end cap,,,,, just my humble opinion pending approval of the legend ,,,, you can inspect the tracker dia without tool but not the regs

[EuropeanAM]

^^^^ Just make sure you replace the two RETURN OIL LINE FILTERS (if these filters become restricted, the crank pin seal or endcap o-rings will begin to leak).

Those should always be replaced when installing a new compressor on 3L models.

[Dirt69]

install new compressor do oil pump prime , lake test boat you may see a smidge of smoke initially make few runs then check for fuel in air side of system / fuel psi bleed down test will show if diaphragms are leaking in rails , your smoke at startup very well could have come from the gouges in the bore of that old comp the leaking possibly came from excess crankcase pressure pushing oil past the orings on end cap,,,,, just my humble opinion pending approval of the legend ,,,, you can inspect the tracker dia without tool but not the regs

I will have to get our local merc dealer to do the oil prime, I also was going to ask them to check everything over to make sure my fuel/air numbers are good, And which one or ones are the tracker dia? I appreciate the information!! Thanks!

[Dirt69]

^^^^ Just make sure you replace the two RETURN OIL LINE FILTERS (if these filters become restricted, the crank pin seal or endcap o-rings will begin to leak).

Those should always be replaced when installing a new compressor on 3L models.

Would anything else cause these 2 O-rings on the end cap to leak? Other than restricted in line oil filters? I do plan on changing the in line oil filters while installing the new compressor maybe I will cut open old oil filters and look for signs of anything that could cause restriction

[Savage]

I would be looking at something other than double 0-rings on a machined surface, as a cause for the oil leak.