Boat moter broke!

[TONGA]

last night my buddy Ron and I were heading in and my boat engine just quit and we had to bring her home with the 3 horse trolling moter,,,man I hate when that happens,,ok well I kind of like it,,I am a sick that way,,just love to play with old junk
so there it is 5 years since I put the old 55 horse EvenSon together and it's her first breakdown :D it's been a good run considering I did not use one new part when I put her together and she logs more time on the water than any 20 boats on the cannal.
so lets see thats about 3 trips out every week from early april to december for 5 years thats not to bad for my $6 investment, I put a new water pump in,
I can trouble-shoot one of the little twin OMC's blind folded so don't bother racking your brain over it ,and I probably have the part I need in the garage
I just wanted to show you guys who are having engine problems that even someone like me who can take a bunch of junk and make a dependable engine out of it will still have a problem from time to time!

[ice fishin nut]

Thats cool, but what did ya catch?????? Playin hooky tonight and am heading to the boardwalk,,,,, come on down!!!!!

[outsider]

Man you just cant hardly kill those old motors .
I've got a 56 , 35 hrp. that just keeps going & going

To bad that they are such polluters :rolleyes:

[TONGA]

ok she is all better!! she had a bad rectifier,,,so back to the fishing!!!

[jpollman]

Outsider,

I know what you mean on the pollution thing. I'm running a 1961 Evinrude 40 HP Lark III. Just this Spring I switched over from running 24:1 to running good quality TCW-3 at 50:1. She runs great and doesn't smoke any more than any other two-stroke out there. She doesn't leave anywhere near the oil slick she used to. This is a GOOD thing !

Give it a try.

[Muddpuppy]

TONGA I'm wondering if you could possibly help me out with my motor troubles. I've had a 1982 Evinrude 25horse I've been running for about 6 years now and lately it seems like its a real dog. I've seen guys with 25's blow by me like I was rowing the darn thing. I had a brand new stater put in it last year only because but it still dont seem to run right. It only fires on one cylinder intermitintly from a cold start as well. I'd even be willing to hook up with you if needed if you think you'd be able to fix it or recommend something for me to do myself to possibly fix it. I was contemplating having it bored out and rebuilt over the next winter or maybe just buy a new motor instead, but if there is something that could maybe just be out of adjustment or needs replacing I'd rather keep the thing if I can get it running right and get some power back out of it. Thanks in advance for any help you might be.

[MadCatter]

Muddpuppy sounds like you might have a bad coil ... Those coils get cracked and eventually don't fire any more ... just a thought

[TONGA]

Muddpuppy I would be happy to have a look at it but I see you are in Hazel Park and I am in Fair Haven so you would have to bring it out and drop it off! that sounds a little out of the way so lets have you check a few things out first.
ok first do you have a set of muffs so can you run your engine in the driveway,or is the boat in the water?

Ok if you have 2 carbs I want you to check and see that it is getting fule from boath carbs when you give it the gas
you can do this by running it with the engine cover off and looking down the throat of the carbs when you rev it,,,you should see a spray of gas from the top of the carb throat, if one is working and one not it will be easy to spot,,,if you don't have twin carbs then I don't think it's a fule delivery problem because with a single carb it's more like a all or nothing thing.

ok now you need to run the engine with the moter cover off in low light, youknow night time,,have someone rev the engine while you look around the back and sides of the engine,
in the dark it will be easy to spot any voltage leaking from your ignition,,youknow you will see sparks! look at the sparkplugs, boots, wires,coils,and switch box,,if you see pretty sparks you have probably found the problem..

ok if you are still haveing a problem you need to find out witch cylinder is not firing and why,,so disconect the fule line you know the hose from the gas tank,start the engine and run it out of gas,youknow till it stalls from lack of fule
ok now pull the sparkplugs put them back in the wire boots and get a set of well insulated pliers (well insulated, ignition voltage can be unpleasant running up your arm) ok take the pliers and hold one of the spark plugs so the treads are grounded, now have someone turn the engine over while you look to see if you have spark,,do this to boath plugs
Ok if you have spark on only one you now need to find out why?
the easy thing to do is to pull the cover off the switch box,,if you have trouble finding the switch box just fallow the small orange wires from the coils back to the switch box,,it should be about the size of a pack of cigarets,,ok pull the cover off the switch box find the orange wire's for the coils now unhook them and put #1 where #2 goes and # 2 where #1 go's,,,,now repeat the spark test and you will find one of 2 things,,either the dead plug is now firing and the other is now not,,or it will be the same as it was the first time you tested for spark.,,,,,,,,if it is the same youknow the same plug still has no spark, then you have a bad coil
if you now have spark on the one that was not firing and the other now has no spark, you probably have a bad switch box
DON'T FORGET TO PUT THE ORANGE WIRES BACK WHERE THEY GO!

also while you are looking around your engine look up under the flywheel and look for a thick sap like stuff running down the engine block,,if you see this your stator is probably bad or is on it's way out,,they will work for a while in this condition but they won't last for ever,,the only reason I ask is because when you run your moter with a bad coil,bad switch box,or a bad rectifier it is hard on the stator,,so if it is leaking it may still work but you will want to change it before it leaves you on the lake somewhere
I know you said you just put one on but if you have been running it with a flaw in the ignition somewhere it is very hard on the stator
also the best way to take care of your stator is to make sure your battery conectins are clean and tight,,and never and I mean never run that engine without a good battery hooked up properly
if you have any trouble running any part of these tests shoot me a PM and I will shoot you my phone number,,that way I can walk you through the parts where you get stuck
good luck

[Muddpuppy]

You guys are great !!......hey thankyou for your ideas. The boat is in the water right now so that makes it a little tougher working on it but I'll give it a shot. It has only one carb but I'm pretty sure the coils are original which makes them 21 years old as well as the switch box. I'll try these things out and let you guys know what I come up with. Thankyou again very much for your help. Also I'd be willing to bring it to Fairhaven since I go right past there just about every day on my way to Marine City which is where I fish all the time. Thats where the boat is right now in a well. But anyways....thanks again fellas...... :D

[TONGA]

Muddpuppy ? whats the verdict? do you have the old Evenrude up to snuff? I hate to think of one of those fine old moters lugging around on one jug!!
If you can't get it worked out ,,maybee you could bring it by the house so I can have a look see?

[TONGA]

Muddpuppy ?

[Muddpuppy]

Sorry for the delay here.......I got your PM in reply to my PM.....:rolleyes:


am....pm.....whatever......well anyway I'll be in touch with you soon so we can chat about it. Thanks again TONGA you've been very helpful and more than kind. Talk to ya soon.