beakerguy6
Cadet
- Joined
- Jul 23, 2008
- Messages
- 6
I recently purchased a 1988 Suzuki DT85 to use for parts on my 1989 DT85. I had 2 broken bolts and an easy out in the 89 head. I was going to put the head from the 88 on the 89 only to find that my fully functional 89 had a broken head bolt that was epoxied back in place on the head. So I switch over to fixing the 88.
The 88 motor is much cleaner inside and out and was supposedly rebuild by a local marine shop 2 years ago. I got it cheap because the owner couldn't get it to turn at all. The bottom spark plug had some surface rust on it, but I was able to free the motor by dumping Marvel Mystery Oil into the spark plug holes and working it back and forth. Compression was a bit low before I tried to run it. To my surprise the motor started and idled on muffs! Compression test was 119 118 and 119 (89 had 120 for all 3 cylinders so I thought this was a good sign). I had to repair most of the bolt holes on the exhaust cover as the PO stripped and cross threaded them. After fixing these bolt holes, replacing the engine holder gasket and exhaust gaskets, the motor pulled water again like a champ. (although it does have water coming from in between the lower unit and the leg of the motor). Pulls water much better when I have the boat in the water, which I have done my recent testing with.
The first time I took this recently freed up 88 on the river, it started, idled much better than my previous motor. The only problem was it would not get the boat to plane out and seemed to miss over 1/2 throttle. I installed new plugs and swapped the throttle position sensor from my motor with no luck. I took it to a Suzuki dealership while on a camping trip and they said all three plugs were getting spark, but it was not advancing timing. I can no longer get the motor to idle to even test the power/timing issue. I have swapped over the bank of carbs from my 89 and it seems to start easier, but still will not idle. I have swapped all 3 timing coils from my 89 and still no idle.
The one thing the dealership had mentioned is a labyrinth seal could be leaking and to try spraying oil into the carbs to see if it helps. I tried this while the motor was running with the warm-up lever up and it did not change the rpms. I will try loading the motor with 2 cycle oil through the spark plug holes and then seeing if it will idle for a short while.
Is there anything else I could swap from the "good" motor or test on the 88 model to get me a functional boat again? I would love to part both of them and buy another motor, but I don't like giving up after coming so far. I have learned so much about these motors in the last month, it would be great to have one of them working and the knowledge to troubleshoot and fix it in the future.
I apologize for the short novel, but I wanted to give you all the information and troubleshooting steps I have done over the last 4 weeks.
Brad
The 88 motor is much cleaner inside and out and was supposedly rebuild by a local marine shop 2 years ago. I got it cheap because the owner couldn't get it to turn at all. The bottom spark plug had some surface rust on it, but I was able to free the motor by dumping Marvel Mystery Oil into the spark plug holes and working it back and forth. Compression was a bit low before I tried to run it. To my surprise the motor started and idled on muffs! Compression test was 119 118 and 119 (89 had 120 for all 3 cylinders so I thought this was a good sign). I had to repair most of the bolt holes on the exhaust cover as the PO stripped and cross threaded them. After fixing these bolt holes, replacing the engine holder gasket and exhaust gaskets, the motor pulled water again like a champ. (although it does have water coming from in between the lower unit and the leg of the motor). Pulls water much better when I have the boat in the water, which I have done my recent testing with.
The first time I took this recently freed up 88 on the river, it started, idled much better than my previous motor. The only problem was it would not get the boat to plane out and seemed to miss over 1/2 throttle. I installed new plugs and swapped the throttle position sensor from my motor with no luck. I took it to a Suzuki dealership while on a camping trip and they said all three plugs were getting spark, but it was not advancing timing. I can no longer get the motor to idle to even test the power/timing issue. I have swapped over the bank of carbs from my 89 and it seems to start easier, but still will not idle. I have swapped all 3 timing coils from my 89 and still no idle.
The one thing the dealership had mentioned is a labyrinth seal could be leaking and to try spraying oil into the carbs to see if it helps. I tried this while the motor was running with the warm-up lever up and it did not change the rpms. I will try loading the motor with 2 cycle oil through the spark plug holes and then seeing if it will idle for a short while.
Is there anything else I could swap from the "good" motor or test on the 88 model to get me a functional boat again? I would love to part both of them and buy another motor, but I don't like giving up after coming so far. I have learned so much about these motors in the last month, it would be great to have one of them working and the knowledge to troubleshoot and fix it in the future.
I apologize for the short novel, but I wanted to give you all the information and troubleshooting steps I have done over the last 4 weeks.
Brad