Bolts came out of upper bearing housing! Am I getting Screwed?

[LimeyGuinea]

Hello all! I have a 1988 Johnson VRO (dont hate!) 225hp V6 outboard (powerhead replaced 5 years ago, lower unit replaced last season) on my 24 ft. walk around. I have some knowledge of the mechanics of this motor and have my service manual but am in no way an expert! I have emailed my problem to several mechanics, and no one seems to have a clue... I found some answers from someone on here which was helpful, but have some more info... Please take a minute to read and respond if you have ideas! Any help is appreciated...

Recently while out, the motor started sounding horrible and seemed as if the timing was off. I took the cover off to find some bolts and the bracket pictured below laying on the block. The bolts came out of the upper bearing housing. I had a reputable mechanic pick up the boat, and paid $2,000 to have him replace the bolts, stator, timing base, armature, upper bearings and flywheel magnetos. Got the boat back, went out for a half hour, and the same thing happened again leaving me stranded on the water.

After some nice happy calls to the pre-paid mechanic, (scarcasm!!) he said he used red, high heat loctite, locknuts, etc, bay tested the boat and everything was fine... seems like he is trying to say i did something wrong... Got an email from him today saying he removed the lower unit and now there is endplay in the crank...

My Questions:

Has this ever happened to anyone else?
What exactly does endplay in the crankshaft mean?
Am i being screwed over here?
does this mean my season and motor is done?


Thanks for the input!

 

[LimeyGuinea]

Re: Bolts came out of upper bearing housing! Am I getting Screwed?

 

[tx1961whaler]

Re: Bolts came out of upper bearing housing! Am I getting Screwed?

How many hours per year do you put on the motor?
I'm thing that maybe the parts falling off are a symptom of something much deeper.....

 

[KVH]

Re: Bolts came out of upper bearing housing! Am I getting Screwed?

If he put new bolts in, and they came right back out after 30 minutes, I'd think he did something wrong, maybe even used bolts that were too long and bottomed out in the bolt holes. I also think an experienced mechanic would've suspected something major before doing all of the other work--which was major. Easy to second guess, but that's my guess. Sorry you're going through that. Unless your mechanic is offering a discount, and you trust him now, I'd go somewhere else. But if you can, look at the bolts he used and see if there's a clue there. I also wonder if he got the timing screw adjusted incorrectly on re-installation.

By the way, when I reinstalled my bolts I used blue loctite, torqued to spec, and was able to fit lockwashers with the bolts. It was just a bit tricky cutting the bolts to just the right length. Good luck.

 

[clanton]

Re: Bolts came out of upper bearing housing! Am I getting Screwed?

If the screws backed out of the threads, the threads in the block and on the screws were not cleaned. If the bolts were sheared off, something wrong with the crankshaft. I use grade 8 screws and red loc-tite, takes 24 hours for the red to cure. Look at the small Hose in photo #2, this hose part of recirlation system, and must be clean and working order, helps lubricate the upper bearing.
If the threads in block striped use heli-coil, the long ones. Inspect upper lower crank bearing and crank bearing surface.

 

[Faztbullet]

Re: Bolts came out of upper bearing housing! Am I getting Screwed?

This is a fairly common problem on these engines and as Clanton the thread was likely not cleaned and preped. Thee is a update from OMC just before they went kaput on updating these bolts with the hardened Ficht bolts. Also check the the lower end cap has not come loose as crank will have end play and flywheel will rub stator. When the powerhead as replaced did they replace it with another 2.7 or a 3.0? I got a fresh 2.7 200/225 longblock completely rebuilt for sale cheeeeep.