1997 honda 90 horse no go (update)

[sparkyaber]

This is a problem my father is having with his motor. All of the things listed are second hand to me through the phone. So please bear with me.

Motor was running fine and then stopped (after a bunch of alarms). Still turns over, and has spark.

He said he checked compression, and got 70 psi on all but one (cylinder #2), and got absolutely zero? Is that possible? Also, he said that there was water running from the bottom carb when he tried to start it. No water in the crankcase. We are thinking head gasket? Warped Head? Any thoughts? Other things we should be looking for?

Thanks

[marine_man]

I'd start with verifying the compression reading on the second cylinder... then probably pull the head and check for anything obvious.

marine_man

[boatfixer]

Ditto

[sparkyaber]

That is what we had on the agenda, obvious like burned piston? would a bad head gasket reduce the compression to zero?

[marine_man]

Stuck Valve, Hole in the Piston, broken Rod...

I don't think a leaky head gasket would be enough to take the compression to 0, and I don't suspect the issues I listed above on this motor, so I suspect the test could be at fault.

marine_man

[sparkyaber]

Update:

My dad pulled the head off and it was a blown head gasket, and now a warped head. The problem started because two of the bolts that run through the head into the block were switched around and a short one was put where a long one was supposed to be and of course was only hand tight when he pulled the head off. Now this happened once before about 3 years ago and had it rebuilt by a very large local marina, would he have any recourse going back to them to get them to fix it for free or discounted? He paid 3000 dollars, and it was only a matter of time for that short bolt to work its way loose. In fact, they had to omit a washer just so the threads would start. Of course that is where the gasket failed, clear as day. I don't expect that he would have any chance to go after them, and neither does he, just thought I would post an update.

One other question, should the cam shaft spin fairly easily? Or should it take some elbow grease with a socket to get it to spin around and open and close the valves?