What can anyone tell me about these motors I have always used a Rude and dont know anything about Force or Merc motors. Are they good, bad, just ok. Please help

From the looks of the replies on this post nobody uses a Force motor. hahahahaha

IDK much about Force motors but my friend says that they are pretty bad. Hes a mechanic and hes helped me with many boat problems.

There are some decent force engines after merc took over, unfortunately, that ain't one of them. 5 cylinder motor was a poor design from the beginning.

Pat is very correct. This motor was only made for about three years. If you have one running today then it is a miracle. The Force motors are ok.

hpb did you get a boat?

not all forces were prop rated on hp

so what year did merc buy them out?

Mine is a 1992, and I know it's a Mercury Force...I thought Chrysler made them at one point, but I'm not sure how long...

Mercury bought the company from U.S. Marine and moved it to Fond du lac in 1992 and stopped production in 1999. I think I would pass on this motor.

sounds like a good idea to me also

I have a Force 125 and its pretty easy to work on but thats just it, I'm always having to work on it. In my opinion, Force motors are a big pain in the butt. Not bad WHEN they're running, which is not for long before something else needs to be done. Good luck

I have a '98 Force 120 4c, it's been a rock solid motor for me for the past year. What I've been told is that when Merc bought them they slowly converted most of the parts to their own parts, the thing that remainded the same was the block and heads. Mine is entirely a merc lower, and most of the accessories are merc as well.

HM is a little week, mainly because they rate the HP at the powerhead instead of the prop shaft, so a 120 puts out about the same thrust as a 90 or so I am told.

I will say that my 120 on my Bayliner is a little underpowered, I wish I had the $$$ to swap out a 120 merc to find out if it's true, but when I get ready to re-power I'll just go strait to a 150, but I am going to run this engine until it costs me more to repair it than repower....

One thing that concerned me was that people claimed force motors weren't any good, the history of this is that force was used on a lot of entry level boats and first time buyers so they were rare cared for and got a bad rap because of user incompetance..

One mechanic made a comment after telling me the above, that if it's running good today and you take good care of it it'll last as long as any other motor out there. That comment has stuck with me, and I religiously go overboard on maintenance:

25hr oil changes w/ plug cleans, plugs replaced every 50 hours impeller every 6 months etc... probably 3 to 4 times more frequently than other people do but I want the motor to last me because I finally found a boat I love being on the water in.

I JUST BOUGHT A USED BOAT WITH A FORCE 150. IS SEEMS OK JUST IS IDELING VERY POORLY BUT PROBABLY NEEDS THE PLUGS CHANGED.

I have one of those still running miracles on the back of my boat. I would rather have a different motor but this one is paid for, has never stranded me, and once got a 230 pound guy up on slalom with 6 adults in the boat.

My 120 ran rough when I first got it too. I replaced plugs and it got a little better. I then ran 6 cans of Sea Foam in a full tank (55 gallons) of fuel, and this got things better. Finally I changed the plugs a second time and now it runs beautiful..

Knowing this I'd run the seafoam through before changing plugs. Gets the carbon out of the cylinder.

please delete this post i went with a different motor. NEVER MIND