Well, decided it was time for a "spring" tune up of my outboard motor (Johnson seahorse QD-20 10 hp). Pulled it out, got the lower unit in water, primed it, pulled, and pulled, and pulled, primed some more, pulled. Nothing. Took the cover off the motor, and looked at the carb. The carb has a glass bowl on the bottom to see the gas, it was filled with a clear, thick, gooey liquid. DRAT!!! I knew the carb needed to get rebuilt, so this just sped up that process. Ordered a rebuild kit and a new gasket for the gas can. The only way I can get all the "gunk" out of the can is to pull the primer housing off, I'm thinking that's going to ruin the gasket that's there now. I found out that the magneto/points also have a tendancy to go belly up on this motor so I've ordered another set. Oh how FUN!! Oh well, the joy of inheriting a boat motor that was made in 1959!!
Relax, it isn't as bad as you may think. I hope you are not lining the pockets of the local Johnson/Evinrude dealer. Did you know that for most of these older name brand motors that the repair parts needed to keep them healthy running are available at your local Napa auto parts dealer at much lower prices. Good thing to know! Additionally these old motors are so much simpler and easy to maintain than the new ones today, and near bullet proof. Fix it! Hold onto it! and Enjoy!
yeah, I called the local Napa place, they didn't have a clue, even when I gave them the Napa part numbers "I can't find it, we only deal with automotive" was the response. So I found a place on line and ordered the parts, about the same price as Napa would have them, if they could have found them LOL. I don't mind tinkering on things. Just glad I didn't find out about the problem at the lake.
Like as not, the gas tank is fouled, too. Not too sure what will dissolve the gel, but there has to be something. Even if you stabilized the fuel, chances are pretty good condensation happened. (Back in the early days I had an outboard, winterizing was drain the tank and blow out the lines, then flush with alcohol to dry it all out. Later on, I got some of that fogging fluid and squirted that in until the engine stalled out. Much easier.)
Sorry Napa didn't work out. If it were me I would consider a letter to their corperate headquarters. Here in Florida they are excellent in finding old obscure parts for Name Brand Outboard motors.
Ya, one of the gaskets was so I could remove the "hardware" (if you will) from the tank so I can really clean it out. I think the main culprit of the water was the fact that my FIL left the tank sitting outside for about a month last fall. Ugh, the tank is coming home with me from now on. (my boat is stored at the in-laws due to space availability.) I took the carb apart tonight, it wasn't all that bad. A little "gunk" on the filter, but other than that pretty clean on the interior. Although, the float has seen better days, good thing I have a new one on the way. Most interesting was a finding when I pulled the plugs. The top plug looked like it should, a little "dirty". The bottom plug on the other hand, looked like it was brand new! Looks like it's been running on one cylinder, YIKES. My FIL is going to see if he has access to a tool to pull the fly wheel off. I've got new coils coming in already. Looks like this summer should be a good year for boating
You can rent a wheel puller at Taylor for short money. IIRC, it's a tapered shaft, so a quick bump should knock it loose. Don't drop the Woodruff key.
Just a quick update. I got the fly wheel off, not hard once I got the right tool. Here's a pic of the armature plate with coils, etc. The coil on the left is the upper, working coil. The coil on the right is the lower, non-working coil. All new ignition parts are on the way, some will be here today, the rest on Monday. Here's the bottom of the non-working coil See that nice, black hole in the middle? Yeah, it ain't supposed to be there LOL. Got all the old grease cleaned up, regreased the moving parts and I'm just waiting on the new parts to arrive. I think I'm gonna take a trip to NAPA and see if they have any spark plug wire. It has to be solid core. As long as everything else is getting replaced, I might as well do the wire. All new ignition, rebuilt carb. I'll drain the lube out of the lower unit and refill, this motor should be good to go for several more years when I'm done, and all for about $60.00 worth of parts.
You might soak and flush the lower unit with kero a couple times. IIRC, that is 90 weight, might take some shaking to loosen it all up and drain. I think I WOULD NOT recommend stirring it with power, but I know guys that have done that, low rpms for a couple minutes. Drain and refill, run it for a few hours, drain and refill again. You didn't drop the key did you? I know about that, I do, I do --. A wee spot of grease will hold it for you on reassembly. Torquing the flywheel nut is important. Yeah, gratuitous reminder, I know, but nothing quite beats the rattle when the flywheel comes loose underway. Don't ask --
The key stayed on the shaft, and I left it there, didn't want to risk loosing it. I've got enough small parts laying around right now. I've seen plenty of warnings about torquing the flywheel nut, I'll make sure I do it properly. I just hope I can get this all done before next Thursday. I'm having "minor" surgery on my right index finger and I don't want to have to come back to this in 3 weeks and not remember where I put what LOL. Depending on what comes out of the lower unit I'll decide if I wanna flush it with kero. I don't know if my dad ever drained it out so there's no telling what's in there. I did top off the fluid last year, but it didn't take much to do that.
I got to thinking a bit, and I'm not so sure you need to buy spark plug wire. Digging very hard in memory, the coils just might come with the wires and plug caps attached. Next fun thing is dialing in the timing, point gap is critical to get the timing right. One plate sets the timing cylinder, the other has to be adjusted radially to get the second cylinder in time, and it all based on measurements, not something you can do dynamically by rotating the distributor like on a car. Again, from memory, so don't take it too seriously, but taking the flywheel off and on and moving the second cylinder firing point a smidge of a degree or two might just do something dramatic for performance. If you get it right, or "close enuf" the first time, you might just go with it. Tweaking is a PIA on those engines. Also, IIRC, both cylinders fire on every revolution, power and exhaust strokes. I strongly suspect you knew this, but just in case the question comes up, it's normal with two strokes that don't need a cam shaft or distributor. (In fact, I think you are way ahead of me in motorheadville.) I hate two strokes. More on that another time ---
I found this page: 5.5 HP 1954-1964 Evinrude Johnson Ignition System Tune-Up Which explains everything, hopefully, so I can get this baby tuned up. I've read the page a few times, some of it is not clear, but hopefully it will become clear when I'm actually doing it. I learn by hands on, not reading, so we'll see.
Yep, that does it for you. My training aid was a '73 55 hp that taught me all I ever want to know about 2 stroke twins. I think everything about it was the same other than scale.
*SIGH* Why does it feel like a never ending battle LOL. I went to drain the fluid from the lower unit, since I don't know when it was done last. I pulled the upper plug, and some "caramel" colored liquid came out. Ugh oh, that's too white. As I removed the bottom plug, my suspicions were confirmed. About a cup to cup & a half of water came out before the oil did. Ok, So it took the lower unit off (that was fun). Removed the prop and the gear assembly and i believe I found the leak. The rubber seal that goes around the prop shaft was rigid and was full of water. Ok, gonna call NAPA in the morning to see how fast they can get the part, along with the other o-rings and seals for the lower unit. Well ,all I can say, after I get done, I'm gonna have a motor that should last for quite a while. Oh, and the impeller for the water is in excellent condition and does not need to be replaced.
All of my ignition components should be in today, and the lower unit seals in by Friday. Since the coils came in last Friday I installed them and put the armature plate back on. After greasing up the and reassembly, the throttle moves MUCH easier now. Unfortunatly, I'm having surgery on my right hand on Thursday so I don't know when I'll get around to putting everything back together. I'll prolly do the ignition system tonight and test, at least that will be done. Well, having the unit this far apart has allowed me to at least get everything cleaned up. Lots of years of grime built up on the outside of the lower unit.