Mercruiser Reviews

Need to replace the propellar in the stern drive. I own a 228 mer. stern drive . Do I need to replace the houseing as well

The first thing that I needed this book for was to replace a broken belt. The belt is in a difficult place to get at in the engine. This book does not even address HOW or The STEPS to replace this belt. I was dissapointed; however, the rest of the information in the book looks helful should I need to use it in the future.

Tis book has a good base however I strongly recomend that the authors need to actually read this book over, and correct the multitude of mistakes that have been made in this publication.

See previous review, he covered it all and I agree. I wish the Clymer book was still in print, I've had good results with them before.

The picture on the cover is very enticing. However, once you open the book you will wish you had never bought it. There are three reasons why I did not like this book: first, the directions of simple maintenance are very complex, second, the user friendly approach is not utilized, and last, the illustrations are poor. After reading this review, I hope I have changed your mind about purchasing this book.

Let us start with the complex instructions. This book covers not one type of engine but four and each engine has at least two variations. The book tries but fails to differentiate the various models. Most instructions seem to ramble on, then pause to tell you "oh by the way you should check this other chapter before you start this repair."

Next is the user unfriendly format. The book assumes the user is a ASE certified mechanic (don't really know how you become one). It will instruct you to remove the part or parts without telling you how it is accomplished. Or if you are a ASE certified mechanic, any hard task are simply labeled as "take to your local mercruiser dealer".

Last is the illustrations. Several of the illustrations are very dark or blurry. Seldom could you make out where a screw or part is that a text is referring to. Most of the pictures/diagrams seemed to have been copied from previous manuals. The illustrations are also hardly on the same page as the instructions. I found myself constantly looking back and forth through the pages to find the proper illustration.

I rated this a one star book because of the reasons above (plus a zero star was not listed). Do yourself a favor and look for another repair and maintenance manual.