How to read a Mercury Marine Serial Number.

[sdanville]

I would like to know what year my outboard is.
It seems the outboard makers want to keep it a secret.
I supose so they can sell new 2 year old motors off the showroom ?

My number for my Mercury 40 HP 4 Cyl 2 stroke is.

OG182508

in addition I dont know if the 1st digit is a letter or number.

I took it apart last night and have the impeller on my desk, the impeller is off center 2mm so the paddles are scrunched on one side and not so much on the other. Its not the impeller thats off its the case that holds the impeller. Hard for me to imagine it is supose to be that way and hard to imagine it is mutant.

Thanks Steve

[andy capp]

Most of the impellers I have seen are always off set in the case, they are supposed to be that way

When you order parts, 99% of the guys do not care about the year, they want the serial #.

[sdanville]

Thats good to know. A relief they are off set.
Now is there a code in the serial number that tells the year ?

[Michigander1]

Try this out www.iboats.com (http://www.iboats.com) forums,Mich

[Nascar31Fan]

Looks like a 1995

http://www.marinshopen.se/Hj%C3%A4lpmedel/Modellguide/Mercury/3565Hk/tabid/107/Default.aspx

2nd link is home page of the site. Very informative.
http://www.marinshopen.se/Hjälpmedel/Modellguide/tabid/74/Default.aspx

[Damark Marine]

I ran you serial # & it appears to be made 9/09/94. It has never had a warrenty claim ,nor has it ever been registered as being sold yet. I do not know of a way to tell the year on a merc like you can with the johnson/evinrude #. I copied this from my dealer page for your pleasure. To answer your question it is a zero,but a o will work it converts it to a 0 when entered.

regards Jeff




ENG: 0G182508 1041227RF MERCURY 40 MLLH/ALT



NOT REGISTERED

Warranty Period:NONEProduct Protection Period:NONE Manufacture Date:09/09/1994

DateTypeDealer InformationMisc. Information09/16/1994 INVOICED ORD : 8944291-010

[TONGA]

Yes the impeller has to be offset or it would not pump water. You know it works on the squish principal

[sdanville]

Ok then thanks for all the info ...on my 1994 ish Mercury 40 HP I was amazed how tricky it is to replace an impeller. If this is an annual maintenance item it seems it should be easier. Getting the impeller to slide over the sheer pin took 3 beers and 3 cigarettes.

Then putting the lower in back on - having the water tube, shaft drive, shift shaft, bolts all line up was not fast either. I stopped at the 3 beers or I start losing parts.

My old impeller looked fine , but I think I read too much and get paranoid about maintenance. I am not chainging it for a few years. Ive owned the boat 3 years and only run about 10 days a year.