Ben

It's simple to disconnect, all you really have to do is unplug the 4/5 pin wire connector going to it and the two pin connector going to the oil tank so the no oil alarm sounds. You can take the remaining oil out of the tank or just let it burn it out if there's not much left. Burning it out will double mix the engine until it's used up because you really should premix as soon as you disconnect it. The problem you will probably be faced with is the fuel pump side may fail before much longer. You can buy a fuel only pump that looks just like it and bolts into the same bracket when it does fail, it's cost about $160.

Depends on what Lowrance wants to repair it, that's still a nice unit. If it's not much more than $100 I would have it repaired if mine. I have three X-75's and they are still my favorite units, even though I've bought several newer (supposedly better and higher pixel) units to upgrade them, I keep going back to the X-75's

I GIVE UP!!!, Ya'll win. I'm the dummy and just forgot everything I ever knew about batteries so don't never sit a battery on a concrete floor, it will kill them dead, make total junk out of them. God, how lucky I've been it's never gotten the untold numbers I've left on the floor over the years. It's seems to be a proven fact the charger, battery condition, stratification, sulphation or any of those things could possibly have anything to do with the battery going bad sitting on concrete. Like a said, wood is cheap. OH! and yes, I very much have a tendency to be a (call me what you like) when I get frustrated, but ya'll can relax, from now on I'll leave the batteries to the experts.

It's a good motor provided it's not used up. Should have a compression check/leakdown test and run at idle in a tank or lake to listen for excess piston skirt tick. If the VRO is still connected, it should be replaced or disconnected and premix the gas. The VRO is approx $300 plus the labor to replace but at that age, it's on borrowed time if it hasn't been replaced in the last couple of years (since 1999). It's easy to tell if it has the update VRO, you will see an extra (purple) coming out of the connector and going to the terminal block. They are a little gas thirsty. As with any used motor I buy, I would replace the water pump/impeller and drain and catch a couple of ounces out of the gear case to check for excess metal and water.

On small motors, they are more a guard for the prop than anythng. On larger, high performance boats where the motor is jacked way up, they are critical to boat stabillity.

LBH, One suggestion, if ya'll would add the link to US Battery to this site, they do a great job at answering a lot of the basic battery questions that get asked if they take the time to go through and read it. They have an excellent chart on battery run time per size battery versus amp draw also. It uses their battery numbers but works for any battery for equal Ah capacity. Mr. Wehmeyer, quess I was typing while you were posting and didn't see it. Glad you found the site and joined in. Hope you will become a regular visitor and keep things straight with batteries and charging them. There's alway's mixed opinions on how one should be maintained and how/when it should be charged, and what's the best type charger to use. I get myself between a rock and a hardspot a lot of times because I have a tendency to be more than a little specific on my point of view. I've just messed with them for more than a few years, know a lot about them but by no means an engineer, your point of view would have a lot more credit.

Just so you can get it from the horses mouth (not that Mr Wehmeyer is a horse) I talked to Mr Fred Wehmeyer, the engineer at US Battery and ask him if he would mind posting on this site. Hopefully he will get time and I gave him the right address.

This is one time I will just have to say, "To Each his Own". but tell me this, if that case conducted, what keeps the negative and positive post insulated and the battery from shorting between them, and it would have to be conduct to pass current to concrete floor. There are a lot of people that believe they will drain into a concrete floor. I was told the same thing most of my life until I started making a living messing with them, but it just what I said, An old wives tail. Remember, I said a clean, dry battery and that a battery should be washed with baking soda from time to time. Yea, you see them sitting on wood pallets, that's for the ease of moving them around. How many places you see with them on metal racks, bolted or sitting on concrete floors, but guess that metal is not conductive. The only batteries that need to be stored on wood is the big industrail batteries built into a metal case. Because of lack of proper maintenance they can start conducting to the case. A wood board or scrap of plywood is cheap, and if you think it has to be on one to charge it or store it, put it on one, I don't waste the time and haven't for many years. Oh, thought I would add this link from US battery on care and maintenance of their batteries, strange they don't mention they must be on wood. http://www.usbattery.com/pages/usbspecs.htm

Yes, it damages the battery to overcharge them. No, other than leaving a white area on the floor if it boils some of the liquid out. It should be washed from time to time with a little bakeing soda and water (with caps on) but I've never seen a plastic battery case that would conduct electricty if it was clean and dry. That old wives tale about leaving a battery on concrete floor will disharge it is just that.

If the boat has steering on it, it should fit just about any motor, unless your talking about very old or a small motor, sometimes the 9.9s, 15's etc, will hook up different. Remote means it's gas and shift is controlled away from the motor and has to have steering system hooked to it, it's not a tiller steering motor. Controls is just telling you it has the control box (controls gear shift, gas and usually has key switch in it) and cables with it. Sometimes if people just swap out motors for the same make, they don't change the control box so when they sell the old motor, it does not have the controls. The controls and cables can run several hundred dollars if your boat does not have the ones to fit the motor, Every make Merc, OMC/BRP, Yamaha etc is different and don't interchange, and many times there are old versions and new versions and they don't interchange without possible conversion kits. Long means it fits a 20" transom Short would fit a 15" transom Xlong a 25" XXLong is 30" (usually used for pushers on sail boats etc.) Electric means it's an electric start and should have a charging system, I say should have because not all 25hp and less motors have a charging system. That is if you want to consider 6 - 9 amps a charging system.

Not much on them black motors but most Merc's have a high speed and low speed winding in the stator. sounds like the high speed side of the stator might be bad. I wouldn't jump up and do buy one without test it though.

NO, not if you take care of your batteries. A good, properly maintained lead acid battery will give you about half again the run time. The last time I looked, the Optima had 160 min reserve, the Trojan SCS 225 has 225 minutes, that's another hour more than the Optima. If you don't use a good Smart or Entelli charger that drops into a float mode (not one of those $30 automatic shut of things) or On board charger and keep the batteries on it when not in use, then you might want to look at the Optima, or a Gel cell. They won't sulphate like the lead acid batteries will. The Optima is suppose to last 1 - 2 years longer than a lead acid but I haven't seen that either. In the equipment I work on, properly maintained golf cart batteries outlast the AGMs by a bunch. If you look down in the cells and they don't look like their flaking coming all apart and the side are not bulging like it's trying to turn into a soccer ball, what was posted above will usually bring a battery back to a very usable battery. Five gallons of acid is only about $10. I use distilled water on the final rinse after using the soda. I do this all the time but don't post it because to the trouble and I found most people wouldn't do it anyway. I had a pair of Trojans that were were two years old only used once and never charged that came in a boat I bought, (blew the motor and let it set for two years and sold it) I ran those batteries three years after flushing and cleaning them.

leave it pluged in until you get ready to use the boat again.

I think you've got the wrong idea about an onboard charger. They are just an 115 VAC battery charger mounted in the boat and permenately connected to the batteries so when you come in from fishing all you have to do is plug it in. There are chargers and systems that will let the motors charging system charge your other battery but unless you have a larger motor with a 35 amp charging system, or do a lot of running it's not going to do much charging of the acc battery.

First you need to look at what you're going to be towing it with. Glass boats are heavy and not just anything will haul it up and down the road. Tin cans are much easier on the towing vehicle, and cheaper to operate, but will beat your guts out on choppy water. If you have to go very far on chop, it will be about five minutes before you can make accurate cast, takes that long for you eyeballs to stop bouncing.

If it's not a state owned lake, it's up to the lake owner. I you get a good map or Topo map, you can see where the lakes are in your area. From there it's a matter of finding out which ones are for public use and what their motor requirements are. Depends also where you live in Texas, south Texas is going to be limited on any kind of lake you can fish.

The steering hookup on just about all outboards is the same at the motor. The steering system on the boat is made to fit the outboard so you can change it to anykind steering you want (except tiller steering, 30 - 40 hp it about the max for that). You can put just about any motor on just about any boat and the steering will hook up. If I was going to spend the money for a new steering system, I would go ahead and pay the few bucks more and change to hydraulic steering, You will love it.

First you need to find out what lakes will let you run an outboard, most small lakes will not let you have one in the water. Next you need to decide if the ones that will let you are worth spending the money for an outboard. Some of your best fishing sometimes comes from smaller lakes that don't allow outboards because they are usually not fished as heavily. 1000 acres is a bit much for an electric TM. You have to plan on the area of the lake you want to fish and pretty much stick to that area. With a 46 lb TM, you want to find you a Trojan SCS 225 battery, that's the baddest of the deep cycle batteries. Even with that, you probably will not be able to run on max for much more an hour or so (doubt you will get 1.5 hours). At 50% thrust and itermittnet use you should be able to go several hours unless if your stopping and fishing. Just easing around it would last most of the day, just don't take off all the way to the other side of the lake until you get a feel for how much run time you get from your battery, paddling back is not fun.

Like I said earlier, don't know until you get a hydrometer and check them. If they are sealed batteries, check the voltage as you use them and see how fast they drop. Most fully charged deep cycle batteries will read approx 12.8 volts 24 hours after charging and should not be run down to below 12.0 volts. I take very good care of my batteries but I still replace mine every three years, that's in everything, cars too. I just feel you're running on borrowed time after that. If not properly charged, kept charged while stored/not in use and full of water, one or two seasons are about the most your going to get from lead acid batteries. If you don't keep a charger/maintainer on them, I would recommend getting Gel Cell or AGM batteries. Those can sit for weeks in a partial discharged state and not bother them.

Check the round stick on top, that's the date code. Don't want to get one older than 02/06, they should have the 03/06 this late in the month.

Never fully discharge a lead acid battery. Never let a lead acid battery sit for any length of time without charging it. It's best if you get a good charger, On board of a good Smart charger that drops into the float mode once charged and leave it connected when the boat is not in use. If you have one of those auto cut off chargers, get you a maintainer (Wal-Mart sells them for about $17) and leave it connected after charging the battery when the boat is not in use. BatteryMINDer makes an excellent maintainer with the Pulse mode conditioner for about $45. A lead acid battery "WILL NOT" develope a memory, but they will develope sulphation if left discharged for more than a few hours. The more the plates sulphate, the greater the lose of capacity until it's useless. Claims are, after a few months a pulse mode conditioner will eliminate the sulphation.

I've got a whole role of the stick-on sand paper type and that in Cabela's and most every where else I've found is too thin. Mine is about 1/4" thick and has hex shape button sticking up. If anyone finds any of that, sure would like to know about it.

If you run them hard and long, and have the room for group 30 or 31 batteries (about 13 1/4") long, about the best and baddest battery on the market is the Trojan SCS 225, their next model would be the SCS200. They are not sold just anywhere so they may be hard to locate in your area. If your more of the average angler, the big yellow Wally world batteries are hard to beat for the price. Properly maintained and charged they will give you two - three years of good service. I run them in both Stratos's and the Fisher, and the Trojans in my Javelin but I always swap batteries out every three years so I've never tried to see how long they will last. If your batteries have removable caps, (the only kind to buy to my notion) go to Napa and get you a good Hydrometer, the kind with the float bulb in it (about $8) and check the specific gravity. After charging, use the hydrometer in each cell. All cells should be within 10% and if still floating in the white or red, it's time for new batteries. Should be at least 1.260 and on most new deep cycle batteries about 1.280. At less than 1.260 the battery is charging up to full volage but willhave a reduced amp hour capacity or all most no capacity at all below 1.20. 1.20 is considered a fully discharged battery. Check them again before charging after using them and see if they are still all about the same level of discharge, still should be within about 10%

You want the motor down and level. You fill it from the bottom plug so nothing is going to come out until it reaches the top plug, where it's suppose to be filled to. Read my post again, I didn't say put the top vent plug in before, I said after you have filled it and it's coming out the top hole, put the plug in to keep if from coming out the bottom as fast. this makes it easir to get the fill tube out and plug in without so much coming out while trying to make the change.

Motor is down vertical. Make life simple for yourself and go to Wal-Mart and get one of there $10 pumps back where the OB oil is. Pump it in from the bottom until it comes out the plug hole in the top. Put the plug back in the top, (this helps keep it from coming out of the bottom so fast) remove the fill hose from the bottom and put the plug back in it. Make sure you have enough lube, some of the bigger V-6 cases take almost three pints. Also, if you want to save a few bucks, go by the parts store and get 85 - 90 GL5 synthetic. I've been running Valvoline Synthethic for about as long as they've been making it and ran their fosil base GL5 before that, even in motors running over 300 hp and turning over 7,000 rpm and never had a LU failure.