Cracking open a 98 Evinrude 25HP for inspection

[bakerjw]

I have a 1998 25 HP Johnson outboard.
I'm one of those that has let an outboard slip through a winterizing a couple of times. I know I know... Bad boat owner.

After a recent thread about poor winterizing habits, I am a bit paranoid about the internal condition of the motor. Specifically the crankshaft. I know that it's down on power a bit which could be due to gunk in the carburetor, but I'd like to know if I could be dealing with any other issues down the road and head them off at the pass. For the price of a few gaskets I'd like to get a look at the cylinders and rod journals.

I can pull the head and inspect the cylinders easily enough but what about the main and rod journals. After pulling off the carburetors, how much of a chore is it to pull some rod and main bearing caps? If those look ok, i.e. no pitting or obvious corroded areas, is there anything else that needs to be checked out?

Thanks

 

[Jim311]

Re: Cracking open a 98 Evinrude 25HP for inspection

That seems like a whole lot of work just to inspect the condition of things. I'd do a compression test and a carb rebuild first. It's not like there's much to winterize on a 2 stroke motor anyway.

 

[boobie]

Re: Cracking open a 98 Evinrude 25HP for inspection

Do as said above and then take it out and see how it runs.

 

[Scurvy Knave]

Re: Cracking open a 98 Evinrude 25HP for inspection

I would argue that you are looking to borrow problems. If it runs fine and doesn't have any obvious issues, then let sleeping dogs lie.

 

[milliesdad]

Re: Cracking open a 98 Evinrude 25HP for inspection

As he old mechanic who git ne started turning wrenches to me on more than one occasion,"If it ain't broke, don't fix it".