If the horsepower of your Mercury outboard lower unit is 75 and below, SAE 80W90 Gear Lube is recommended.
The 1973 model, 7.5 hp Mercury outboard, requires 6.8 oz. of gear oil.
For the 80 hp Mercury, you may use any brand of gear oil that has been blended for use as an outboard motor gear lube. There are many brands available other than oem, and are specially formulated for outboard use.
22.5 fluid ounces (or 666 ml's) per our 1994 Mercury 125 outboard manual.
The 5 hp Mercury outboard requires no special type gear oil. General recommendation is for a GL-5 class lubricant, i.e. hypoid 90w. Most any of the oem, or aftermarket gear lubes, manufactured for outboard use, will work just fine.
outboard motor will start and idle, but dies out under load
motor shuts off when put in gear sometimes
I had used a high performance gear lube quick silver marine lubricant it is not expensive and works very well
No as all the inline 6 cylinder motors are a 2:1 ration and all the small inline 4 cylinder are 2:3:1 ratio
Changing the plugs and the lower gear oil yearly is best. There are two flat head screw heads on the lower unit, an upper one for filling and a lower one for draining. Be sure to use marine grade lower unit oil not just regular gear oil.
I use 80 weight gear oil.
I am assuming you must be having more problems than just putting the lever back into neutral right. Dont worry my Mercury 9.8 is all screwed up to.