This is what is wrong with my 1986 Evinrude 40hp motor...what would you do?

[digger658]

Bought the boat and motor about 6 weeks ago. When I was looking at it we started it on muffs and ran good. Took it to the river once and the high temp alarm went, shut it off and restarted and ran good with no alarm.

Decided to have mechanic replace water pump and do a once over and here is what he found.......

1)Compression on #1 was 160 and 155 on #2.

2)Fuel line assy bad

3)Tilt lock broke

4)Tilt cyl. not fastened

5)Motor has been hot

6)Major water leak under power head

7)#2 carb not runing under load

8)Top motor mount bolts to small

He said it would take MAYBE $1000 to get those things fixed and I was like . So, the big question what would you do? I'm not to worried about 1,2,3 and 4 but 5,6,7 and 8 scare me.

 

[1946Zephyr]

Re: This is what is wrong with my 1986 Evinrude 40hp motor...what would you do?

Well, now that you're here, we can help you save a bunch of that money. Fortunately, your compression readings are reasonably close to each other and pretty darned good, so this motor would be worth saving.

The fuel lines are cheap to replace and may take you 20 minutes with your eyes closed.

Tilt lock is a small item and should be easy enough to replace.

Fasten the tilt cylinder.

If the motor has been hot, that's really nothing to be alarmed about, now that you seen that your compression is good. You lucked out.
I would replace the impeller and thermostat though so it won't get hot again.

The leak under the powerhead can be fixed, once you find the source. Probably just a base gasket. That may be why your motor got hot. The water supply was not good enough, due to that leak.

Your carb may just need rebuilding. No biggie. It's nothing uncommon.

Replace your motor mount bolts with the correct ones.

From what I see, you just have a bunch of nickle and dime repairs needed to be dealt with. A person with an ounce of mechanical aptitude can do that. Most shops want to charge $96 an hour, that's why you got a high quote.

 

[DargelJohn]

Re: This is what is wrong with my 1986 Evinrude 40hp motor...what would you do?

Bought the boat and motor about 6 weeks ago. When I was looking at it we started it on muffs and ran good. Took it to the river once and the high temp alarm went, shut it off and restarted and ran good with no alarm.

Decided to have mechanic replace water pump and do a once over and here is what he found.......

1)Compression on #1 was 160 and 155 on #2.

2)Fuel line assy bad

3)Tilt lock broke

4)Tilt cyl. not fastened

5)Motor has been hot

6)Major water leak under power head

7)#2 carb not runing under load

8)Top motor mount bolts to small

He said it would take MAYBE $1000 to get those things fixed and I was like . So, the big question what would you do? I'm not to worried about 1,2,3 and 4 but 5,6,7 and 8 scare me.

First thing, get a manual for this motor.

#1 Try doing the decarb procedure as shown the "Secret Files".
#2 Replace the assembly, and lines going to the carbs.
#3 Do you need the tilt lock to trailer the boat. If not, forget about it.
#4 So, This is hydraulic cylinder for Trim/Tilt? That needs to be fixed.
#5 Apparently you have good compression so no harm.
#6 The leak under the powerhead is probably the base gasket. That is a composite gasket (paper with aluminum sandwiched). I would try just retorquing the bolts and nuts that hold on the powerhead. Also retorque the cylinder head bolts.
#7 Rebuild both carburetors.
#8 These are bolts that hold the motor to the boat transom? If you feel they are too small, then replace them with larger, stainless steel bolts with nylock nuts.

With a good manual and a few tools, you can do most of this work yourself. Sounds like a fun project.

 

[digger658]

Re: This is what is wrong with my 1986 Evinrude 40hp motor...what would you do?

Took the bottom shroud off to find leak under the powerhead and retighten bolts. Well, there is no leak. What was leaking was between the lower unit and mid-section. Tightened the LU bolts and no more leak using muffs.

Question on muffs. Are they good to use if you are checking the water pump? I have a very good pee stream and "some" water is coming out of the prop. There is a lot of water coming out of the midsection around the lower rubber mounts.

 

[Silvertip]

Re: This is what is wrong with my 1986 Evinrude 40hp motor...what would you do?

You check the water pump with a water pressure gauge or the touchy-feely method on the tell tale stream. If you run the motor on muffs, household water pressure is "forcing" water through the system so you have no idea how good the water pump is.

 

[digger658]

Re: This is what is wrong with my 1986 Evinrude 40hp motor...what would you do?

You check the water pump with a water pressure gauge or the touchy-feely method on the tell tale stream. If you run the motor on muffs, household water pressure is "forcing" water through the system so you have no idea how good the water pump is.

What is the"touchy-feely method"? I turned the water pressure down to almost nothing and if it's forcing water wouldn't it come out of the tell-tale when the motor is shut down?

 

[mrcj001]

Re: This is what is wrong with my 1986 Evinrude 40hp motor...what would you do?

touchy-feely .....how long you can keep yer finger on the engine head while its running. You should be able to hold for 2-3 seconds...better yet, get a cheep thermal temp sensor from a auto part store...engine should run around 135-165*......180+ to hot