1984 35HP Evin. Head Gasket?

[Palssonater]

Well I finally got my hands on some SeaFoam and did a Decarb in the driveway tonight. Lots of smokey exhaust that got rid of the bugs for about 40mins! Seems to be starting a little better, but still not great.

The motor takes a good prime to start firing, and seems to fire to a smooth run, but quickly seems to be missing and violently shakes the motor side to side before dying. However, a few more pulls, a few more shakes has the motor running smoothley. Would this be a sloppy woodruff key, flywheel or crank?

And to top it all off, there is now water slowly accumulating in the bottom of the engine compartment. Seems to be coming from the bottom of the head gasket. I pulled the fuel pump off and stuck a blue shop rag beside the suction hole and pulled the cord a couple of times. Moisture was evident within a couple pulls. Is this the water jacket? or the head gasket. I can't think it would be head gasket as I have 120psi even on both cylinders consistently. I did check my tell tail fitting and there was no leaking there.

If I have caught a small leak in time, and with the compression at an acceptable level, I should be ok for cylinders and pistons no?

Thoughts, questions or suggestions?

 

[BoatBuoy]

Re: 1984 35HP Evin. Head Gasket?

Sounds like you have good grasp of what's going on, except for the woodruff key part. I would expect to see poor running getting worse until backfires occur or it quits running altogether if the woodruff key is sheared. Water leak could be cylinder head cover gasket or cylinder head gasket itself. You'll have to pull it apart to know for sure if you can't isolate leak visually. While you're there, it would be an excellent time to change the thermostat.

 

[Palssonater]

Re: 1984 35HP Evin. Head Gasket?

Thanks. Yes I thought the keyway was meant to shear before there was any damage done to the shaft for flywheel. Just thought I would ask as I read in a previous post about someones crank having play in it at the key.

Does anyone know what all is included in the "OMC Powerhead Gasket Kit"? WOuld that be everything I need?