Help Restoring a 110 Hp Evinrude

[Shakedownscott]

I recently purchased a boat motor and trailer with the plan of fixing it up over the winter. The outboard is a 110 Hp Evinrude V4 VRO. I am having a hard time figuring out exactly what this motor is because the sticker on the transom clamp is missing. I am hoping that someone can help me identify it so I can get a manual for it.



I found what may be a serial number R82745890 on one of the freeze plugs in the block? Not sure if this is helpful. The guy that sold it to me said it was a '93 but I don't see a 110 Hp offered in '93 at least from the research I did. So far from looking at online parts manuals I think it may be from the '86-'89 erra.

When I looked at the boat I heard the engine run but it did not want to idle smootly. So far I checked spark and compression. The spark is good on all cylinders but has low compression on two cylinders. The two top cylinders have 95 annd 100 psi while the bottom two have 65 and 75 psi. I squirted some oil in the bottom cylinders and got them to 75 and 100 psi.

Is there any reason that would cause both lower cylinders to be low? I dont' want to rebuld the engine (if I get that far) to have this happen again.

The outboard is still using the VRO system which from what I have read ont his site looks like a bad idea. Not sure if this caused the problem but there is a lot of oil under the coweling, wondering if it has been leaking Vs oiling the motor.

Right now I am thinking to pull the head off of the worse side and look for scoring etc. Anything else I shoul check before removing the head?

Thanks for any advice.

 

[emdsapmgr]

Re: Help Restoring a 110 Hp Evinrude

It has to be at least a 1988 or newer. That is when they came out with the single power pack on the top of the port cylinder. It is a 110 type, though a 1990 and newer 115 looks about the same. Your engine appears to have a tilt/trim switch in the starboard lower cowling. That would make it at least an 89 or newer. Having low compression on two lower cyls is probably not a good scenario. Normal compression would be with no more than a 10% variance between all 4. If both low cyls were on one head, you might think the head gasket was defective. Probably not the case on your engine. Adding oil to the cyls to bring up compression yields temporary inaccurate compression readings-the excess oil quickly disapates and compression returns to the normal (lower) readings. I agree with pulling the heads. Probably best to pull both heads off and have a look at both lower pistons. I'd also pull the bottom carb apart and remove both high speed jets for visual inspection. Possible that they may have some type of restriction them which may have had something to do with the low readings. If the VRO were faulty, you'd probably be looking a 4 bad compression readings, not just 2.

 

[Shakedownscott]

Re: Help Restoring a 110 Hp Evinrude

It has the tilt/trim switch in the cowling, so must be '89 or later. With regards to geting an OE manual does it make a big difference between a '89 110 Hp and a early 90's 115 Hp?

I would really like to have a good manual before tearing too much apart.

Thanks for the advice

 

[emdsapmgr]

Re: Help Restoring a 110 Hp Evinrude

I don't think you are going to find any significant differences in manuals between those years. You will be ordering parts from the factory parts lists. Check out the factory parts website: epc.brp.com Look to purchase an original factory manual-any others are a waste of good $. Check out: outboardbooks.com or call Ken Cook Co. in Milwaukee.

 

[Shakedownscott]

Re: Help Restoring a 110 Hp Evinrude

By looking further at some of the parts manuals, I was able to limit this to either a '89 110Hp or '90 115Hp. For now I thinking it's the '89 110 Hp. I ordered the factory manual for it, should get it in a few days.

I ran into some stuck head bolts trying to get the head off. Right now I have two that are really stuck, I feel they are at the point of breaking free or just snapping off. One tuned about an 1/8 turn then got stuck and can't be turned either way, this one worries me the most. It looks like there is a lot of oxidized aluminum on the threads of the bolts I got out.

I have access to propane and oxy/acetylene torches as well as impact drivers and impact wrenches. Not sure what the best method of trying to free up these frozen bolts is. Also thinking I could cut off the head of the bolt and try to grab the stud after removing the head and soaking it with penetrant.

I am sure this happens a lot so I am hoping someone with experince can give me some tips on what to try.

Thanks!

 

[Shakedownscott]

Re: Help Restoring a 110 Hp Evinrude

So far I haven't been having too much luck wit the head bolts. I ended up breaking one off in the block:facepalm:. I tried to take off both heads and now have 4 bolts that I am pretty sure will break off. There is one that is totally rounded off too.

I think I am going to heat the block with a propane torch to loosen it up before trying to get the next one off. Will this warp the head or block? Or does it just not matter at this point.

For the one with the rounded head I am going to try and grind it off, then deal with it later along with the broken bolt. I have been soaking the bolts with PB blaster hoping for a little luck. :joyous:

 

[emdsapmgr]

Re: Help Restoring a 110 Hp Evinrude

You will probably wind up drilling them out. At least they are larger bolts-usually easier than the smaller ones. I'd get a special "bottom tap", re-chase the bolt threads you drill out, even do them all before re-assembly.

 

[Shakedownscott]

Re: Help Restoring a 110 Hp Evinrude

Thanks emdsapmgr, that makes me feel better about breaking off the bolt. I really don't have confidence I won't just snap a bunch of the remaining bolts off.

I should have my manaul today. At this point I am planning on having to remove the powerhead to be able to drill out the bolts at the bottom.

 

[gm280]

Re: Help Restoring a 110 Hp Evinrude

I don't know if this is where to ask such a question but it seems a lot of folks have similar problems with bolts breaking off from dis-similar metal corrosion problems. I too have broken off bolts trying to remove older bolts with lots of corrosion. When reinstalling all these steel bolts into aluminum blocks should all bolts threading into aluminum blocks and such use anti-seize on them to reassembly? I have read so many rebuilds and not one time have I heard that mentioned...just wondering and not trying to invade a post...

 

[Shakedownscott]

Re: Help Restoring a 110 Hp Evinrude

Finally got some free time this weekend to work on this outboard. I ended up snapping the head off two of the head bolts but got the rest out without too much trouble. Getting the head off the two broken bolts turned onto quite a project in itself.

In the bore with the lowest compression I found the top ring missing off the piston. Must have broken off and got shoved out the exhaust port. Any ideas on what would cause the ring to break??




In the other bottom bore I found a melted and scored piston. The top two pistons have some scoring on the bottom of them. The cyllinder with the highest compression actually has the worst scoring. Not too bad though can just catch your nail on one of them. I guess at this point I have to take the rest of the motor apart to get the pistons out and measure the bores.

Looks like all four cylinders had some overheating damage. When I saw the motor running it had a good stream out of the tell tale, so I am still trying to figure out why this melted down.

 

[emdsapmgr]

Re: Help Restoring a 110 Hp Evinrude

Cracked rings are not uncommon on these crossflows. Once the cylinder overheats or runs lean, the heat causes the top ring to crack, then it catches a lip on an exhaust/intake port and the ring pcs get jammed between the head and piston crown causing the pits. Yes, heat is the problem here. The rubber water diverters (called deflectors in the factory parts list) seem to be correctly positioned, so that is good. A couple of things to look for: 1. thermostats stuck closed and the warning horn did not go off (overheat.) You did not mention which cyls were bad, but from reading your thread, it may be the two bottom cyls, which are fed from the same carb: 2. The cylinders ran lean, causing your heating problem. Pull your carbs apart and check the high speed jets that feed the damaged cyls. A visual inspection may reveal debris in the jet(s), which will cause the cyl to run lean (lack of fuel and oil) and result in piston/ liner scuffing and the damage you see. 3. If you don't find anything with the above items, you may want to remove the head covers and check inside them for any debris, such as sand or weeds, which will reduce coolant flow. You'll need at least a couple of pistons. If the grooves in the cylinder liners will catch your finger, simple honing may not clean the cyl liner walls up, so you would probably have to overbore both of them and go with oversize pistons.

 

[Shakedownscott]

Re: Help Restoring a 110 Hp Evinrude

Just to sumarize what I have observed for damage, here is what I have found so far.

Top left cylinder compression was 95 psi, there is some scoring on the cyliner wall and the piston skirt
Bottom left cylinder compression was 65 psi, this has a missing top ring and scoring of the piston skirt. Cylidner walls look good.

Top righ cylinder compression was 100 psi, there is some scoring on the cyliner wall and the piston skirt
Bottom Right cylinder compression was 75 psi, the piston top is melted and pretty bad scoring on piston skirt. Cylinder wall looks good.

I think it is odd that the cylinders with bad pistons there is only minimal scoring of the bores. The top cylinders with good compression have more scores in the cylinder walls. I am hoping to be able to hone these out but may need to be oversized. Definitly going to need at least 4 new pistons.

Thanks for the suggestions on possible causes, will check T-stats and rebuild carbs. Since all 4 bores are showing some heat damage I am leaning towards something that would affect the entire cooling system or the VRO pump.

One thing I noticed is that the OE book specifies a specific type of hose clamp for the VRO hoses. On this engine most of them are zip ties or have no clamp at all. There is also a fair amount of oil sprayed on the carbs and front of the engine, not sure if this is common? Also the wire harness was disconnected from the VRO pump. The manual says this system works off of the vacuum/pressure pulses of the engine, so I am assuming that this is similar to older style fuel pumps. Is this wire harness just for a warning sytem? What would happen if it was disconnected.

Thanks for the help!

 

[Shakedownscott]

Re: Help Restoring a 110 Hp Evinrude

Did some more investigating and here are some pics of the VRO sysytem. This connector was disconnected is this just for the alarm system?

Also found no clamps on the oil line from oil reservoir to coweling and coweling to the site glass thing. Above site glass there are two zip ties. After the VRO pump the lines to the carbs mostly have no clamps. Also the VRO pump was not even bolted to the motor, just was flopping around. Would any of these conditions lead to the damage I am seeing in the bores?

 

[emdsapmgr]

Re: Help Restoring a 110 Hp Evinrude

The factory used zip ties on all their hoses for a few years. I'm not a fan of them as they tend to "loosen" up over time. Actually, it may just be the hoses taking a "set" under the zip tie and loosening up. I'd replace all of them with the Bombardier "snap clamps". I see you have at least one of them in your pictures. They are much better (are re-useable) and won't abrade the hose like the stainless screw clamps. If the oil or fuel system is missing any clamps, the risk is that you can suck air into the fuel or oil system at that joint. This can cause the engine to run lean (introduce air into the system) on either oil or fuel-and can lead to the problems you are encountering. You might check the oil line sight glass-it is there to insure that it is always full of dark colored oil. If it has an air bubble in it, that may be also be a problem due to an air leak. There are two warning horns that will go off if you have problems with the VRO system: one is for low oil in the tank, the second is for a problem with the VRO pump itself. They require that the VRO pump be connected to the main engine harness. If the control box was a sounding a horn due to a VRO system failure and was disconnected by the prior owner, it could be an indication that the pump was faulty and not providing lube as required.

 

[Shakedownscott]

Re: Help Restoring a 110 Hp Evinrude

Thanks for all of the info emdsapmgr it is very helpful. Thinking now that this may be what caused the meltdown. I am still going to go thru the carbs, check the T-stats and put a new impeller in it. Also thinking about using pre-mix and doing away with the VRO pump.