Sandy Victim, submerged outboard

[wilberking]

I probably should left my Johnson 9.5 Hp outboard on the boat. But I didn't and put it in my garage, on the floor. So it sat under almost 4' of Jersey Shore bay water for who knows how long. What should I do as far as reviving it? I haven't tried starting it yet.

 

[kbait]

Re: Sandy Victim, submerged outboard

You want to start it and get it up to temp ASAP to dry it all out. I'd pull the carb drain plug and hook up fresh fuel and pump it through until only fresh fuel comes out the carb drain. Reinstall drain plug, pump the bulb and try to fire it up. If it doesn't fire, check for proper spark (should jump 1/4" on tester). If spark is good, dismantle and clean carb and try again. You want to get it fired up before rusting occurs..
Good luck!

 

[Big Jay]

Re: Sandy Victim, submerged outboard

I would get some oil into the cylinders asap too, then rotate the flywheel clockwise by hand a few turns with the plugs still out to spread it around. Might help slow the rusting til you can get it started....

 

[boobie]

Re: Sandy Victim, submerged outboard

The big thing is getting some oil in the cyl's and rotating it over and then go from there.

 

[rolmops]

Re: Sandy Victim, submerged outboard

I would go a bit of a different way.
Hose the thing of with fresh water,inside and out.Because together with the salt water there must have been sand and who knows what other crap.Once you have cleaned of all the salt and dirt.specially under the flywheel and around all the other electronics,you should take a few cans of DW40 which is a very good water displacement material and spray it all over the engine.Then wipe it of. Now take a liberal amount of "marvel mystery oil" and dump it in the cylinders,then with the plugs on loosely turn the engine over a few times and let it sit for a few minutes. Now try to start it and pray that the salt did not eat your electronic connections,but you should count on replacing the points because they have probably corroded a bit
These are very tough little engines,so you stand a good chance that all is well.

 

[Big Jay]

Re: Sandy Victim, submerged outboard

Good call rolmops... I've been land-locked my whole life and have no salt water exp., never would have thought of accelerated corrosion.

I am curious though, why rotate the flywheel with the plugs in? Is there a benefit to this, maybe the compression helps push the oil into all areas ?

 

[F_R]

Re: Sandy Victim, submerged outboard

Hate to be the pessimist here, but if it has been out of the water since Sandy left, there is no hope for it. The bearings will all be etched by now, if not totally rusted and siezed up. The rule of thumb is it must be started or disassembled and cleaned within 24 hours of recovery from salt water.

 

[xjma]

Re: Sandy Victim, submerged outboard

Lots of good suggestions, hopefully it is salvageable! First thing I would do is pull the plugs and turn the motor over so any water in the cylinders gets purged out before you try to compress that water in the cylinder and have issues with the connecting rods.

 

[James R]

Re: Sandy Victim, submerged outboard

Inclined to agree with F-R. In any event after so long a wait it will need to be stripped to clean and polish bearings and bearing surfaces. You may be lucky but I doubt it after so long.

 

[TN-25]

Re: Sandy Victim, submerged outboard

As an FYI after the fact, it is said to be better to actually keep a motor submerged in water until you can quickly perform all the steps necessary to recover from a dunking. In your case a dunking in clean, fresh water is preferred to the salt water bath from the surge that hammered the coast.

The Johnson 9.5 Owner's Manual says that if your motor was totally submerged (while not running), after retrieval from the water you need to rinse it thouroughly with fresh water, remove plugs & crank 25 times with plug holes facing down (to drain any water in the cylinders), the restore motor to vertical position, remove high speed jet & drain carb, then attempt to start the motor. If it won't spark, remove the flywheel and dry out the ignition. They emphasise that you need to get the motor started within 3 hours after exposure to air.

Good luck...

 

[wilberking]

Re: Sandy Victim, submerged outboard

Hi TN-25,

Thanks all for the advice ..... canyou offer some details on how I "remove high speed jet & drain carb" ?

Regards,
Wilberking

 

[TN-25]

Re: Sandy Victim, submerged outboard

Wilber, sorry to take so long to respond. I haven?t been on the forum.

What I can tell you is that you will need to remove the carb after detaching the choke & low speed needle controls. On the bottom of the carb bowl is what appears to be an angled trough with a screw in the end. Remove that screw, exposing the high-speed needle behind it inside the trough. With a special fixed jet screwdriver unscrew the high-speed needle to drain the carb.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. Maybe. See the attachments that follow.

 

[wilberking]

Re: Sandy Victim, submerged outboard

Hi TN-25,

Thanks so much for taking the time to respond and posting pictures. I'll follow-up on these suggestions. I'm hopeful that the results will be positive. I'll think I should get myself a reprint of the service manaual.

Regards

 

[1946Zephyr]

Re: Sandy Victim, submerged outboard

The longer we sit here and talk about it, the more damage will be done. Get crackin' Chop chop.

 

[TN-25]

Re: Sandy Victim, submerged outboard

Seriously, it is better to keep the motor in a barrel of fresh water than to let it air out if you can't get to the recovery process right away. I have seen a motor that went into the drink get tied to a dock and left underwater until the time they could perform all that was necessary to get it running in short order.