please help with my lund 2025

[muskzilla]

I bought a used 1998 lund 2025 mr walleye with a 125 merc offshore tiller 2+2 with a hi five stainless steel prop.the boat is awesome.
Had it out in some huge waves, it handles great.
The problems I am having are the motor doesn’t want to start in the morning, but once it finally fires it will start the rest of the day with no problems and once in a while it will stall out because it loses prime in the bulb.
I am going to first go to cabelas and pick up a new bulb.
Then i have to figure out what the problem is with the motor.
And I have a problem with a leak when I hit the bilge it almost always has some water inside.i don’t ever use the livewells so I would like to figure out how to make them dry wells.i know you have to cork all the outside entrys and put the plugs in the live wells.anything else.
So my problems are the motor wont start in the morning?
The boat is taking on water somewhere.
Any help would be appreciated.
And with all the problems I still love the boat.
And would like to rig it up with the Merton hydraulic steering
Muskzilla
Sean collins

[bountyhunters]

just changing the bulb wil take care of some of your motor problems.give a couple good pumps before you try and start first time .

[Grey Wolf]

Great runnign motor, but can be stingy to start, especially on the cold mornings.

1. Prime Bulb till it's hard
2. Push in Key a few time before starting
3. May hve to continue to push key a few times while starting
4. Once it has started, when it thinks it want to kill, work the key a few more times till it keeps runnign.

[ryan1]

I have the same motor and the guy i bought it from said it was a hard starter. He did not know that puching the key in was the choke! He laughed so hard after i took it for a test drive with him and showed it to him and it started right away. I do not want to insult your inteligence, but i have seen others that did not know it. A new bulb will help too.

[getcha some]

I owned a Merc 125 tiller for 4 years.

Make sure you trim the motor level before cranking. The carbs like it when they are sitting level.

Prime bulb until frim. Push key to choke for 3 seconds. Wait 2 seconds then repeat. Open throttle 1/8 of the way. thena and only after these steps have been completed, crank her over.

And check your NGK gapless plugs, no wait, just replace your 4 plugs.
Plugs are the #1 most important part of this engine. replace every 100-150 hours, regardless of visual inspection.

All of this will solve your problem. And next time, buy a fuel injected engine, regardless of brand.

[Kolby]

check the vent on the fuel tank to be sure it isn't plugged.

[fishslime]

1. Take the 125 to a dealer and have them put in a carb kit, then syncNlync it. The 125 will be a cold starter but it also need the carbs super clean and it adjusted correctly.

2. Fill boat with water to determine where leak is. Most likely, it is in one of the livewell hose fittings, etc.... If you can't find it, Lund came out this year with a livewell pressure test system for their dealers so they should be able to find it.

Good luck.

The 2025 is a lot of people's dream boat.......

[muskzilla]

thanks for the help guys,i will try some of your sugestions,and will let you all know how it went.
muskzilla
sean collins

[muskzilla]

the motor im having problems with wont turn over in the mornings,i do know that you push the key in to choke this motor.it just wont turn over right away.so its probably in the switch or the kill switch,or? when it does start it runs real well.i like the motor,it pushes the boat pretty good.does anyone know if i have it set up right with a hi five stainless steel prop it goes about 35 mph,i read about people on here saying the motor is under powered for this boat ,but i think it does pretty good.its the first boat ive owned that will pop you up on plane fully loaded with all our musky gear.the ips hull is sweet,handles the waves great.was out on lake st clair the other day the waves were huge had one crash all the way over the front we wernt running wide open just trolling .great boat i would reccomend them to to everyone.
muskzilla
sean collins

[theoldwizard]

If the bulb is losing prime, carefully go over all fuel hoses, both inside and outside of the cowl and make certain none are hard, cracked, brittle or potentially causing an air leak into the fuel lines (which is why your bulb is going soft).

The engine is probably a bit underpowered for that boat, but if you like it, who is to argue ! The 5 blade prop gets you on plane quick, especially with a heavy load (which is why water skiers like them). You are giving up some top speed. This is probably a good compromise, given that you are not at max hp.

I don't believe the kill switch will stop the starter from turning over the engine. Check the obvious. Clean, tight battery and starter connections. You might even want to disconnect them and clean them (use emery cloth on the ring terminals). The old trick to prevent corrosion on electrical connections is to apply grease (I would recommend silicon di-electric grease from any good auto parts store). On ring connectors or battery terminals apply after tightening. Di-electric grease can and should be applied "inside" other electrical connectors to keep out moisture.

[Jimmy]

Its a Merc. what do you expect?