Sears Eska 3.5 HP - How to run dry to tune up?

[deancpgh]

Hey guys. New to this forum though I've been in some others (non-boating), so know pretty much how this works.

This site has already been a huge help already in the threads which I've read on this little 3.5hp 2 stroke 1972 Sears I picked up for 35 bucks. And runs pretty well so far. Model of the sears is 217-58560. I've ordered a manual - if for no other reason than I'm brand new to boat engines so thought a little reading may be okay. Though I've been around engines all my life.... just not outboards.

Anyway. Going to take the kids out on some of the small lakes this year with a square back canoe (yet to find) and this engine. I've read a couple of threads on carbs here and even looked over the parts diagrams on sears.

Got 2 questions on these little Eska's. First, I see a water tube on the parts diagram and I see it comes out down behind the prop so... I assume that means that the prop is supposed to push water up the tube where it goes up to cool the exhaust. Am I correct here? If so... can I run this thing on dry land for a while by just putting a tube off the garden hose on to that little tube and pumping a little water into it??? This could be crazy talk and I not even know so, but I see lots of posts about sticking the prop down in a bucket... and I did that, but couldn't run it very hard and didn't see water coming out anywhere.

Anyway.. 2nd question. The carb seems pretty good. Doesn't overrun the float, but I did get some gas coming out somewhere when I accidentally left the gas on and leaned it the "wrong way" against the workbench. Meaning that I leaned it over the way it will never lean on the water. Otherwise, it doesn't leak any fuel at all. I don't know the workings of this carb (yet) to know if this is normal or whether I should rebuild it??? See that the gasket/carb kits run about $35 on e-bay. That's not terrible, but it's just as much as I paid for the engine itself. Thanks again!

Dean

 

[mrcrabs]

Re: Sears Eska 3.5 HP - How to run dry to tune up?

yes your hose idea wil work just fine. and yes its normal for gas to come out the atmospheric relief hole on top the carb, Also I would sure stay away from ebay carb kits unless you like to get poked good and hard, not only parts price but shipping charge, also beware of the CD and photo copied manuals, there well known to be illegal copys and ebay doesn't care unless someone complains.
Just take your model number and call the fine people at www.certifiedpartscorp.com for genuine parts and manuals. look under vintage for the phone number.

 

[MahtyMaht]

Re: Sears Eska 3.5 HP - How to run dry to tune up?

To question 1 - DO NOT run that motor without a water supply to the leg vents, it has a pump impeller, and without a supply of water you will burn that baby down. I like a plastic trash can full of water to run mine in. The water comming out the rear of the leg will be a mist - If you put your hand back there while it's running, and it gets wet pretty quick, you're OK.

 

[deancpgh]

Re: Sears Eska 3.5 HP - How to run dry to tune up?

To question 1 - DO NOT run that motor without a water supply to the leg vents, it has a pump impeller, and without a supply of water you will burn that baby down. I like a plastic trash can full of water to run mine in. The water comming out the rear of the leg will be a mist - If you put your hand back there while it's running, and it gets wet pretty quick, you're OK.

Are you sure? I've been through all the parts diagrams and don't see an impeller. The water tube that I see on the outboard and in the diagrams opens right behind the prop, so that's why I thought that it was the prop that did the pushing.

 

[deancpgh]

Re: Sears Eska 3.5 HP - How to run dry to tune up?

yes your hose idea wil work just fine. and yes its normal for gas to come out the atmospheric relief hole on top the carb, Also I would sure stay away from ebay carb kits unless you like to get poked good and hard, not only parts price but shipping charge, also beware of the CD and photo copied manuals, there well known to be illegal copys and ebay doesn't care unless someone complains.
Just take your model number and call the fine people at www.certifiedpartscorp.com for genuine parts and manuals. look under vintage for the phone number.

Thank you! I'd read about certified parts in some of the other posts, but didn't see outboards listed there when I checked. Sounds like if I need a part, I should look it up in the parts diagram and then just search at certified by the part number... What I'd like to do is at least take the carb apart to clean it, but I know better than to take it apart without at least a gasket and seal set. Sears didn't have a part number for just a gasket set, but they did have a part number for a carb rebuild kit which is what led me to where I am on that. Sounds like my options are those rebuild kits or ordering each gasket and seal individually.

 

[mrcrabs]

Re: Sears Eska 3.5 HP - How to run dry to tune up?

Mahty he's got a water pickup tube on his model of Eska, I think the impellers start at 4hp and up way back when,

Dean your right, get the part number from sears but you will have to call certified, you will either talk to Dianne or Vern, mention iboats tell them the guys over here recommended them,

they do not have a parts lookup online but you can get a parts manual from them so the next time you call you will see just what they see although theres not to much to your little 3.5 but for seals and stuff it would be handy and they sell better if you have some sort of manual to offer wwith the outboard.

http://www.certifiedpartscorp.com/vintage/

if you pull that carb apart with out a new bowl seal she will leak, and I hope you don't have the old viton tiped needle....bad juju

 

[deancpgh]

Re: Sears Eska 3.5 HP - How to run dry to tune up?

Mahty he's got a water pickup tube on his model of Eska, I think the impellers start at 4hp and up way back when,

Dean your right, get the part number from sears but you will have to call certified, you will either talk to Dianne or Vern, mention iboats tell them the guys over here recommended them,

they do not have a parts lookup online but you can get a parts manual from them so the next time you call you will see just what they see although theres not to much to your little 3.5 but for seals and stuff it would be handy and they sell better if you have some sort of manual to offer wwith the outboard.

http://www.certifiedpartscorp.com/vintage/

if you pull that carb apart with out a new bowl seal she will leak, and I hope you don't have the old viton tiped needle....bad juju

Thanks again! Think I'll get the part numbers for the seals and have them put together a little kit. I'd like to get it cleaned out. It ran really good on the first startup, but I haven't got it to idle just yet. This has the throttle lever behind the gas tank and I'm thinking that if I slide the throttle all the way left, that grounds the ignition for shut-off (which does seem to happen), and just off the stop is where idle should be, correct? Guess it will help when the manual gets here. As far as the tube uptake, I wasn't sure that anything was actually making it up the tube b/c it seems like having it in a garbage can just creates turbulence (water just swishing around and not up the tube) and was not feeling any steam out the exhaust. That's why I started to thing that running a tube to feed it a little water may work better than what's going on right now. Will give that a try. I could see how an impeller would be different b/c it would actually have to be sitting in water for it to suck it up.

 

[deancpgh]

Re: Sears Eska 3.5 HP - How to run dry to tune up?

Well, I finally got a boat for this motor, just a little coleman scanoe. So I got back to working on it, too.
Thanks again for all the help. I hope that someday I learn what I'm doing so I can contribute to the forum, too, and not just a "nice job" comment here or there.

Anyway... When I opened up the gear oil holes, nothing came out but a little bit of water. I put in oil and after running it in the trash can full of water, I opened it to find the new oil kind of milky. Since then, it's been sitting out there for several hours without dripping a drop of oil, but I guess that I still need to replace the seals, right? Certified parts, right?

I tried to take the prop off, but it's stuck. Is it best to get a 2 prong gear puller? (I got a 3 prong) And just pull it off a loosened acorn nut on the prop shaft?

So got to get those seals and the bowl drain is leaking, so I need that gasket plus the main bowl gasket for dropping the bowl. Any other pointers

As for the engine itself, it ran well today. It seems to like to run a bit on the lean side with the idle mixture a little on the rich side. It stumbles on acceleration, but if I run it richer then it won't come anywhere close to idling.

 

[mrcrabs]

Re: Sears Eska 3.5 HP - How to run dry to tune up?

Anyway... When I opened up the gear oil holes, nothing came out but a little bit of water. I put in oil and after running it in the trash can full of water, I opened it to find the new oil kind of milky. Since then, it's been sitting out there for several hours without dripping a drop of oil, but I guess that I still need to replace the seals, right? Certified parts, right?

use the sears parts number if you can, have your model number on hand, do it all, drop names...lol

Any other pointers

make sure the float needle clip is turned in the right direction,

needle's and veton seats & bowl gaskets, welch plugs etc etc are cheaper if you buy from say, tulsasmallegine or some one how sells Stens products cheap,

 

[deancpgh]

Re: Sears Eska 3.5 HP - How to run dry to tune up?

make sure the float needle clip is truned in the right direction,
needle's and veton seats & bowl gaskets, welch plugs etc etc are cheaper if you buy from say, tulsasmallegine or some one how sells Stens products cheap,

Thanks for the leads. I was going to leave the float intact actually. IF it's not broke, right. However, I wonder why gas did start coming out the overflow the one time when I shut off the gas tank vent. As soon as I opened it, it stopped.

 

[MahtyMaht]

Re: Sears Eska 3.5 HP - How to run dry to tune up?

Yeppers, I hacked that one - no pump there. I hope it's not the viton tipped needle too, because I don't think I ever saw a parts guy anywhere that had seen one, so they just throw down the aluminum needle and a viton seat, which will not work at all. I would think that if the vent is not drooling fuel into our nation's waterways, it's probably OK. I ended up having to splice a rubber tipped weedeater needle to an aluminum needle to solve my neighbor's drooling vent problem.

 

[deancpgh]

Re: Sears Eska 3.5 HP - How to run dry to tune up?

Thanks, guys. I'm going to tear open the carb before ordering the parts. I'm still undecided on the lower gears. It's yet to seep one drop of gear oil out of it. I'm wondering if it had once been drained for "winterizing" as the manual advises, and then not refilled. Since there was a little water in there already when I filled it, perhaps that is why the gear oil is milky and it may be okay if I just changed it again...

 

[mrcrabs]

Re: Sears Eska 3.5 HP - How to run dry to tune up?

you can watch them all year and see no seepage, then a few runs at the lake she could have a couple table spoons or more in there....well its alot different with water intrusion...all parts spinning and water pressure and what not.

and like Mahty said, if you have the Viton needle, your best bet is find another needle thats close to the shape, razor it off and transplant it, or get a more modern carb

 

[deancpgh]

Re: Sears Eska 3.5 HP - How to run dry to tune up?

you can watch them all year and see no seepage, then a few runs at the lake she could have a couple table spoons or more in there....well its alot different with water intrusion...all parts spinning and water pressure and what not.

and like Mahty said, if you have the Viton needle, your best bet is find another needle thats close to the shape, razor it off and transplant it, or get a more modern carb

Yeah, I've read the posts about the float needle. Think I'll pull the bowl off, replace the seals, blow it out, and put it right back together... And leave the float be because it's not leaking. I see your point on the gear oil. Thinking now that I will do the seals now before spring. Read the service manual and it's not too bad for the fixed gear version like I got. Couple of machine screws to get the lower unit off, then open the gearcase and take a roll pin out of each of the shafts. Heck, maybe I'll even do that first before trying to get the prop off. Should be easy to push the shaft through the prop if it's removed from the lower unit.

 

[mrcrabs]

Re: Sears Eska 3.5 HP - How to run dry to tune up?

Thats a good plan, I always start with the lower unit and work my way up.

 

[deancpgh]

Re: Sears Eska 3.5 HP - How to run dry to tune up?

Okay fellas. Thanks for all the help so far. I'm learnin'. I got the lower unit all apart... with some problems. I'm wondering if this thing spent some time in the water full-time as everything steel below the water line was really rusty. The prop shaft, the drive shaft and a few of the screws can be saved, the rest of the screws, including the filler & vents have to be replaced. A couple I can replace with stuff from the hardware store, but others will have to be ordered. Couple of questions. How would you guys recommend getting the grease seals out? the one on the prop is right on the surface, but the one on the top (drive shaft) is a couple inches down in the housing. I don't have a grease seal puller, and was planning on buying one, but that top seal has me worried. BTW, it was more rock than rubber now, so have no doubt that changing the seals is the right thing to do.

Otherwise, i'll get everything back together by hook or crook. Like I said in an earlier post, I wasn't planning on replacing the float needle as it wasn't leaking, but I've never seen a float needle that wasn't clipped to the float (see picture). Is this normal???

 

[garyq]

Re: Sears Eska 3.5 HP - How to run dry to tune up?

I have a 1968 viking 3.5 and mine does not do that , but i have a Tillotson carb

 

[deancpgh]

Re: Sears Eska 3.5 HP - How to run dry to tune up?

I have a 1968 viking 3.5 and mine does not do that , but i have a Tillotson carb

Maybe It's my machine, but I can't see the picture your posting. I'm assuming that you were referring to the float needle thing. I plan on leaving that as-is for now as it isn't leaking. The float tops out a little above level, so I may just bend the tab a small bit to level.

What I really need help on is pulling the seals on the lower unit - the one on the top is a couple inches down in the housing. What I'm thinking at the moment is to make a special seal puller out of an old screwdriver.

 

[mrcrabs]

Re: Sears Eska 3.5 HP - How to run dry to tune up?

What I'm thinking at the moment is to make a special seal puller out of an old screwdriver.

nesessity is the father of invention

 

[deancpgh]

Re: Sears Eska 3.5 HP - How to run dry to tune up?

nesessity is the father of invention

It sure is... but I don't know my specialty tools well enough. Looks like what I need is a slide hammer and a set of inside jaws. That's what I'll get. I'm very concerned about scratching the inside of the tubes. If I do that, then instant leak.