07-24-2005, 05:01 AM
To start this with a bit of background... I have no background in outboards so this is possibly why it got so interesting so fast.
Started out with a 68 Merc 60, it's a 6.0 Hp outboard. It had a water pump problem that I thought I had fixed with a new impeller.
Well I had a friend over and I am pretty sure we didn't have enough beer cause we ended up tearing the motor apart. (Not real sure I would have had that much ambition with a buzz on.)
I could not tell you the amount of problems we had, putting the lower end on, taking it off, damn'it its not pumping, maybe it this, maybe its that.
The highlight of today? I took the motor out of the barrel of water we were using to test it and IMMEDIATELY flipped it upside down (this is where some sort of that outboard background would have come in handy) and proceeded to FILL the cylinders with water (physics lesson kids, water does not compress very well). When I flipped it over it was locked up TIGHT. (Insert panic and favorite cussing phrases here). So I took the spark plugs out and drained the water we dried it out and checked compression to make sure it was ok, and it was.
After the little water in the cylinders fun you would think nothing else would go wrong, well you sir are WRONG.
The motor would fire and run but run real badly. Well I had to have some beers and clear my head. Oh and we put the carpet on the seats of the boat. When I called another friend he said "Spray WD-40 in the cylinders and in the area of the points. It will drive the water off and maybe it will run better." Well it still ran like crap and then it would not even give me 3 sputters before it died. The problem turned out to be the kill switch on the motor had some broken wires and they were grounding out the motor and causing it not to run.
I disconnected the kill switch cause when you flip the choke on it kills it faster. I may try to rewire or order another switch.
The reason the water pump would not pump was that the key holding it onto the shaft diddn't engage the impeller enough and was occasionaly slipping and not running properly. I made a shim from a beer can and made the key stick out further and that engages the impeller enough to make it go.
The motor still misses a bit and needs some adjustment but hey its finally pumping water properly, so now I hope it stays running longer than a few minutes.
Any advice not including buy a new motor would be appreciated. Oh and say your prayers for me.
[signature]
Started out with a 68 Merc 60, it's a 6.0 Hp outboard. It had a water pump problem that I thought I had fixed with a new impeller.
Well I had a friend over and I am pretty sure we didn't have enough beer cause we ended up tearing the motor apart. (Not real sure I would have had that much ambition with a buzz on.)
I could not tell you the amount of problems we had, putting the lower end on, taking it off, damn'it its not pumping, maybe it this, maybe its that.
The highlight of today? I took the motor out of the barrel of water we were using to test it and IMMEDIATELY flipped it upside down (this is where some sort of that outboard background would have come in handy) and proceeded to FILL the cylinders with water (physics lesson kids, water does not compress very well). When I flipped it over it was locked up TIGHT. (Insert panic and favorite cussing phrases here). So I took the spark plugs out and drained the water we dried it out and checked compression to make sure it was ok, and it was.
After the little water in the cylinders fun you would think nothing else would go wrong, well you sir are WRONG.
The motor would fire and run but run real badly. Well I had to have some beers and clear my head. Oh and we put the carpet on the seats of the boat. When I called another friend he said "Spray WD-40 in the cylinders and in the area of the points. It will drive the water off and maybe it will run better." Well it still ran like crap and then it would not even give me 3 sputters before it died. The problem turned out to be the kill switch on the motor had some broken wires and they were grounding out the motor and causing it not to run.
I disconnected the kill switch cause when you flip the choke on it kills it faster. I may try to rewire or order another switch.
The reason the water pump would not pump was that the key holding it onto the shaft diddn't engage the impeller enough and was occasionaly slipping and not running properly. I made a shim from a beer can and made the key stick out further and that engages the impeller enough to make it go.
The motor still misses a bit and needs some adjustment but hey its finally pumping water properly, so now I hope it stays running longer than a few minutes.
Any advice not including buy a new motor would be appreciated. Oh and say your prayers for me.
[signature]