Outboard Opinions?

[fish eater]

Hey fellas, got a couple questions here. I'm sure this topic has probably been beaten to death, but what can you outboard gurus tell me about older Evinrude outboards? I'm looking at a mid to late 80's Evinrude VRO motor. Are these worthwhile at all? I've had a few experiences with older Merc's, and I don't know. Maybe it's just me, but they seem to break alot. I know I probably shouldn't be to picky, and by no means am I an expert or an outboard mechanic at all. I'm just hoping to get some opinions that's all. Thanks in advance fellas.:)

[Paul Thompson]

I don't no poo on outboards, or inboards either, but I had an old 65 Evenrude V4, very temperamental, the timing was critical and would get warm and cut out, I went with new technology and a new motor because my life was at stake when ever I was left stranded on the Great Lakes. It was worth every penny knowing a new motor was behind me. Yes it cost me, but they have loans for that too. :lol: The boat wasn't worth a new motor, but I wanted to be safe, and I know the next guy that owned it was safe too. Always try to upgrade.

[double trouble]

1972 -75 h.p. johnson
1976- 115 h.p. evinrude
1985 - 85 h.p. johnson
1995 90h.p. johnson

1972 9.9 johnson- smoked a cylinder running it dry.
1965 5.0 johnson starts first pull
1985 6.0 johnson minor tune up. was too young to fi

parts motors 1978 115 and got ripped off on a 1975 75 that wouldn't stay runninggure it out. stranded me twice.

all and every one has been practically bulletproof. i run Johnson full synthetic oil in my 1995 and would do that in every other motor except a real old one that smoked a lot. then I ran low ash sierra oil.

The coils and powerpacks have been really the only issues besides 1 leaky lower unit seal.

[fish eater]

Thanks for the replies fellas, but it ended up being a dead end. I went and looked it over real good. It ran, but didn't sound right. I put my compression tester on it and the top and bottom cylinder had a compression between 100 and 110. However, the middle cylinder compression was 60.:SHOCKED: That scared me off. I said thanks for your time, but no thanks.


So, on to the new one. I found a '86 70 hp Johnson today in Harrison Twp that the guy claims is tip-top. I'll look at that one here in the next day or 2 and see how it goes.:chillin: