Home › Forum › Ask A Member › HELP– Do I have the Holly Grail–New Old stock 1986 Johnson 15 HP › Re: HELP– Do I have the Holly Grail–New Old stock 1986 Johnson 15 HP
This is an interestingconcept. I have a friend who cleans out storage lockers and found something similar. He found a 1991 Merc 8 hp (I think) still in the shipping box, still banded shut. He went to a Merc repair shop and asked their opinion. They told him as it had been sitting so long he should leave it with them where they could pull it apart, change all seals and change out the water pump impeller. The cost estimate was more than a used engine of that era. They tried talking him into it with horror stories of how the impeller was definitely bad after sitting for so long and ‘chances were all the engine’s seals would be bad as well.
He threw it back in the truck, brought it home where we stuck it in a tank, started it up to see if it would run. Long story short, it ran, it pumped and everything was fine for this season. We do plan on changing out the impeller over the winter just because we can, but other than that all seems as it should.
Moral of this story; some will tell you it’s a NEW engine, some will tell you it needs work before you can trust it. The truth? Flip a coin!