I have a 40 horse evenrude on a 16 foot aluminum v hull. It needs repair. Best I can tell it needs a new water pump and the lower unit rebuit/cleaned. Can anyone recommend a channel or two for a boat motor repair/rebuild guy?

 

Couple year old picture.

 

I don't know about videos, but I would bookmark Leeroys Ramblings.  Tons of great info for all OMC's

Best investment I made for my 25hp Evinrude was a copy of the Shop Manual. It's like a Chilton's for boat motors.

I have a manual similar to a Haynes manual for it.

What year and brand is the boat?

 

If it is an OMC, then that would be a Johnson/Evinrude? What year is that motor?

 

I have a 1987 OMC Johnson/Evinrude 35hp still runs like a top. And I just picked up an old 25hp same thing. Not sure if it will run. Been sitting for 12 years.

 

Not sure about your area, but I have dealt with a number of dealers and mechanics over the years and down here in Florida some of the dealers will tell you they do not work on motors over 10 years old because a lot of times the customers abandon them when they find out how much its going to cost. 

 

One Evinrude dealer I spoke to told me they had some 800 old motors. 800! At the time they were a large Evinrude dealer. Have not been back since Evinrude went belly up. They are the ones who told me they won't work on motors over 10 years old.

 

Its not easy finding people who can service our 40 year old motors. So good luck with it! Make sure they have gray to white hair!

U tube has a bunch of repair videos

16 minutes ago, FloridaFishinFool said:

What year and brand is the boat?

 

If it is an OMC, then that would be a Johnson/Evinrude? What year is that motor?

 

I have a 1987 OMC Johnson/Evinrude 35hp still runs like a top. And I just picked up an old 25hp same thing. Not sure if it will run. Been sitting for 12 years.

 

Not sure about your area, but I have dealt with a number of dealers and mechanics over the years and down here in Florida some of the dealers will tell you they do not work on motors over 10 years old because a lot of times the customers abandon them when they find out how much its going to cost. 

 

One Evinrude dealer I spoke to told me they had some 800 old motors. 800! At the time they were a large Evinrude dealer. Have not been back since Evinrude went belly up. They are the ones who told me they won't work on motors over 10 years old.

 

Its not easy finding people who can service our 40 year old motors. So good luck with it! Make sure they have gray to white hair!

I don't remember what the brand of the boat is, It's been a couple of years since I looked at it. I don't remember how old it all is, but I think it's from the late 80s, like 87.

 

The boat has had a wooden deck added, but the aluminum is actually in very nice shape.

 

I know the previous owner and it was used about 15 years back and just left to sit. I ran fine. Now the motor is locked up, but it feels like the cylinder is moving, but is locked somewhere else, so the water pump is the most likely culprit. Motor is in good shape, just needs a carb rebuild and fresh fuel lines is my guess, other than the lower unit.

 

I'll be doing all the work myself, I'm pretty handy. If I get it running, I might fish with it some, but more likely I'll sell it as I'd much rather have a bass boat.

 

The controls are all free, though they aren't in great shape.

10 minutes ago, detroit1 said:

U tube has a bunch of repair videos

I know... my question is for a suggestion is to try to find one that knows his stuff since I don't know what I'm looking for in a good boat motor mechanic.

9 hours ago, Bazoo said:

I don't remember what the brand of the boat is, It's been a couple of years since I looked at it. I don't remember how old it all is, but I think it's from the late 80s, like 87.

 

The boat has had a wooden deck added, but the aluminum is actually in very nice shape.

 

I know the previous owner and it was used about 15 years back and just left to sit. I ran fine. Now the motor is locked up, but it feels like the cylinder is moving, but is locked somewhere else, so the water pump is the most likely culprit. Motor is in good shape, just needs a carb rebuild and fresh fuel lines is my guess, other than the lower unit.

 

I'll be doing all the work myself, I'm pretty handy. If I get it running, I might fish with it some, but more likely I'll sell it as I'd much rather have a bass boat.

 

The controls are all free, though they aren't in great shape.

I know... my question is for a suggestion is to try to find one that knows his stuff since I don't know what I'm looking for in a good boat motor mechanic.

I’ve run across several pretty good ones on there, pretty much all of them have some knowledge. 

On youtube try (outboard dad) and (Brandon's garage) both have great videos that are easy to follow and step by step. They both work on the old OMC -Johnson/ Evinrude. If you leave comments on their video, they are good to answer questions. Another one is (Dangar marine). Stu works on all marine engines. That small of an outboard should be real easy to work on. Good luck!

My advice is to remove the lower unit and turn the flywheel.  There are youtubes for that.  Narrow it down.

13 minutes ago, Alex from GA said:

My advice is to remove the lower unit and turn the flywheel.  There are youtubes for that.  Narrow it down.

There is enough play that I can see the flywheel turns a bit. I removed the sparkplug and with a flashlight, you can see the piston moving.

That's not what I mean.  If you'll remove the lower unit and you can turn the flywheel around several times to make sure the power head turns freely.  Remove the spark plugs first.

5 hours ago, Alex from GA said:

That's not what I mean.  If you'll remove the lower unit and you can turn the flywheel around several times to make sure the power head turns freely.  Remove the spark plugs first.

Got ya. Yes, I plan to do that. Thank you.

Those old lower units are notorious for leaking and the main drive shaft bearing rusting, freezing up and destroying the drive shaft. 

The first thing I would do is remove the lower you and see if the motor will start.  It's not going to hurt anything about the motor just run it 30 seconds or so with the lower unit on it.  Since there's not water cooling it, don't go any longer than that.  If it will run, do a compression test on it to make sure it's good and worth spending any money on.  If the motor checks out good, then worry about the lower unit.

They are very easy to take off and take apart.  The first thing you want to look at is drive shaft where it inters the lower unit and see if there about 1/2" wide grove around it.  It's supposed to be flat and smooth the whole length.  If there's a groove, it's destroyed by the upper bearing, a very common problem. 

The next thing is to disassemble the lower unit and make sure the gears are still good in it. 

The next thing is finding parts, the seal and bearing in the top of it for the drive shaft need to be replace.  You will need a new rubber string type seal to go between the case halves.  The output shaft seal and o-rings generally come preinstalled in that brass assemble they are in, not sure if you can find them separately unless you are very familiar with how to find seal and o-rings by their size, and then replacing them will be a challenge. 

If the drive shaft is grooved, even a little bit, it can't be used and the cost of having machine repair it is high.  I seriously doubt you will find a good one, but even a blind squirrel finds an acorn I'm told.  

Buying a good used one is highly unlikely because they were too prone to leak and self destruct. I actually have a couple laying around but don't have a clue where.  Actually, I think I have one of those same motors in a shed.

Keith,  Can you use a speedi sleeve or two to repair the shaft?  I repaired a Mercury shaft where the seal rode that lasted until I blew the engine. 

No, it's not the seal. You can use them on seals because they have a little forgiveness.  This is a caged needle bearing and the shaft has to be the exact size to fit.  If the seal leaks, it lets water get on the needle bearing, washing the gear oil off, causing it to run dry and rust and seize the bearings.  This turns it into a harden steel bushing running on the drive shaft and eats it up. 

Over the years, I bought several of those motors for at scrap price because they thought they were locked up when the problem was the bearing had seized to the drive shaft.  Since these things don't have a clutch, when the drive shaft doesn't turn, the crankshaft doesn't turn.  That's why I suggested removing the LU first and check the power head good before messing with the LU.  One can easily spend as much on the LU as the whole motor is actually worth so he definitely wouldn't want to be fixing it and finding his power head was junk also and even buying used one is an expensive crap shoot.

Before getting asked, I looked at those motors I have.  Two were 25's and one was a 40 and the LU on it suffered the same fate as what I just describer.  That's why it never got repaired.

 

IF! after removing the LU and it's still locking up.  It has probably rusted the sleeves above the top of the pistons and what you are hitting is that rusted part of the sleeve.  Add to that, if it has sat long enough for that, then there's a good enough condensation has been in it to rust the crankshaft journals and bearings also.  This is a very common occurrence when people disconnect their fuel line and let the engine run to run the gas out.   Doing this does not leave that protective layer of oil that's in the gas in engine to help keep if from rusting.  Want to see how much condensation can get in one, on a cool morning and the sun has shinned on the motor and hour or so, take the cover off and you will think someone has washed it down with a water hose.

I appreciate all the advice here.
 

Let's say the motor ran good, what's it worth about? I know without pictures, it's hard to say. But I don't know if it's worth $200 or $2000 since I've never dabbled with outboards. It's a 40hp Evenrude in poor cosmetic condition. So is it worth anything for parts? And if I get it running good, what might it be worth?

New motors once ran good.  That doesn't mean anything after one has been sitting for a few years and is frozen up now.  Without knowing what condition, the inside of the motor and the condition of the LU, it's basically worth what a scrap yard will pay for mixed metal pile of aluminum.  

An honest shop would laugh at you if you asked them to repair it, or want you to pay in advance for the time they felt it would take to trouble shoot it because they know they are going to get stuck with it when they show you the bill.  

The ONLY option you have that would make since is that you know enough about them to fix it yourself and even then, if the block, crank, rods or parts in the LU are bad, it's probably not worth the cost of any of these parts to repair it.  If you have an ebay account, you might be able to sell any good piece's if those major components are bad.   It only takes one bad major component to make that old of a motor basically scrap metal.

 

Now, if you are wondering if you got it running like a new motor, what would it be worth, not a whole lot because outboards are not like classic cars, they are not gaining value as the they age.  I haven't been messing with them for a while, but those old motors I would think if you can get $10 to $20 per horse power you are doing pretty good.

 

I should also mention, if it has ever been run it salt water, at that age, scrap metal is about it's only value.  

Thanks, Keith. Part of this endeavor is just to learn something I haven't learned. I do a little mechanic work, so figuring out what's wrong with it should be easy enough, then to see if I can get the necessary parts.

It's and easy motor to work on.  The most likely place you can screw up is when putting it back together.  The big end of the rods are broken off after they are made.  When bolting them back together the two halves have match perfectly or the bearing can catch on the mismatch and destroy the rod and crankshaft.  The factory used a special clamp to hold them when tightening them, and even though I also have the tool, I have assembled a whole bunch of them without it, just be care and pay attention.  IF you ever torque one down that's not in perfect alignment, you will probably never get to align with out that special tool. 

If the bearings are not blue from being hot, and no pits in them or the crank, they can be reused without any concern. The gasket, seals and rings (I always hone one and replace the rings if I take them out) are all you really need to tear it down and reassemble it.  I usually replace the bottom main bearing because it's a ball bearing and if it happens to go bad, it can ruin the crank and block.   IF, you have one bored there is some extra work that has to be done with the ports, but I doubt you will go there.

A couple of things, after pulling the lower unit off, and it's still not wanting to spin.  Pull the head off and see what the cylinders look like, see it they are rusted.  Most likely they are if it was not wanting to spin after taking the LU off.  

If the sleeves are rusted plan on pulling the pistons, rods and crank out to inspect them for rust.  Any rust pits on the bearing surfaces pretty much makes that part junk.

Thanks waytooslow.