hunster

I bought 2 merc reman long blocks last year. Merc says even though the motors are hot tested , they specifacally stated to prime the oil pump prior to starting the engine for the first time. You never know how long they were sitting on the shelf. It did take a good while for the oil to start flowing through and I turned it over by hand til I saw oil coming from each and every one!

lowfunds

i got a merc big block re-man once and the place i was working for did not have a oil primer and i was only at the place for a week so i did not have all my tools there yet and i set it all up and guess what. you got it zero oil pressure upon start up. i shut it down and pulled the distributor and they had a small block oil pump driveshaft right from whoever rebuilds there engines. you better not run that thing without the external flappers on the exhaust tips. i know there are square flappers on the chrome tips in the platform but there is flappers on the tips inside of the muffler/platform that is screwed to the transom.