Motor Problem, Please Help!!

[Guest]

Bout 2 years ago I was out on Bald Eagle lake doing some fishing. The winds were up and the water was pretty choppy. Well what happened was I was going against the waves and then all of a sudden I heard the engine overrev, I think the motor came out of the water for second or se then I lost speed. The engine still works but when I engage the throttle, the boat BARELY goes. I was luck to make it back to shore!
Any ideas as to what might have happened?

Oh, the boat is a OLD fiberglass boat and the motor is a 30 hp motor with electric start.

Sincerely,
Too Poor To Afford a new boat / motor

[Surface Tension]

Take the prop off. The shear pin goes through a hole in the prop shaft. So when you hit something the shear pin breaks instead of your lower unit. If theres no shear pin and the prop shaft splined then take the prop in and have a new hub pressed in.

[Guest]

Thanks for the tips guys!
Looks like I have a project for the week-end even though I know nothing about boats or their motors. =/

[This message has been edited by webwarrior (edited 06-04-2004).]

[Guest]

Exudedude
I called and they told me the latests they'd go back is 20 years on a boat motor so I'll have to try to fix it myself somehow IF its not the prop pin.

[Deitz Dittrich]

What?.. thats crazy.. there has to be someone in the metro that will work on a motor that is older than 20 years.. and its really not the moter.. its the prop... Like Surface Tension says.. its either that sheer pin or you spun the hub... if its a sheer pin(hope thats it) its a cheep fix... if its a spun hub, its possible you may need to buy a new prop... which still isn't the end of the world....

[Guest]

Exudedude
The only place I know of that fixes boat motors is Nelson Marine. other then that I don't know anywhere else and the guy wasnt' too helpful neither.

I sure hope its just the sheer pin and not anything else! But then the boats been sitting for 2 years so I hope it even starts up.

::Wonders where the keys are::

[Fisher Dave]

The prop doesnt weigh much .. thats all you have to take in.. if anything at all.. as ST said.. pull the prop off, If theres a hole in the shaft and parts of a pin start falling out.. put a new pin in, put the prop back on, and your good to go. If there is no pin, take the prop in.. If there is nothing wrong with it, they will tell you.

I think the cut-off for shear pins was 1976. It will take you about 3 minutes to pull the prop.

Robbinsdale marine worked on older motors the last I knew, otherwise Twin City Outboard will work on anything.

[This message has been edited by Fisher Dave (edited 06-04-2004).]

[Guest]

Oh, thanks fisher dave!!
I'll try that tonight. Hopefully everything works out and I'm on the lake tomorrow if its a cheap fix!

Thanks alot, much appreciated!!

[fishinphyl]

Boy did this question bring back a lot of memories. When we were kids we had a motor with pins. Of course being kids we thought we could drive it anywhere at high speeds. One day we sheared a pin on Big Cormorant by the YMCA camp. Our cottage was on the West side of the lake and we had no paddles. We had to swim the boat all the way home! After that we just kept a box of pins in the boat all the time. Of course we still felt we could drive anywhere at high speeds!

[Surface Tension]

You sheared props shear pin $1 part. Or you spun the hub. The hub is pressed into the middle of the prop and used instead of a shear pin. You'll have to bring it into a prop shop to get it fixed if thats what you have.

[Guest]

Hum, do I have to take the motor in? Or can I take the whole boat in? The motor is too heavy for me to carry by myself.

[Guest]

Also, where is this pin and how do I find, identify it?

Thanks for the help!
Boatless in Oakdale.

[Deitz Dittrich]

Sheer pin is in the prop area... However from what it sounds like, I would just bring the whole boat in and have someone look at it... Unless you have a friend that is knows boat eng...

[Guest]

took the prop off and the pin is fine. Could it be a snapped shaft?? OR something more expensive?

[Knotwood]

Wondering if motor runs like it's supposed to. May run but not have both cylinders firing. See how the spark plugs look. Feel temperature
of engine on both cylinders, or plug after it's been running a few minutes, should be fairly hot. Maybe take timing light and see if steady flash coming from both wires.

[Guest]

Well I was able to take the prop off. The pine is fine. Everything looks fine. Put the prop back on, took the boat on the water and the boat won't idle. IT will spind but won't idle UNLESS I have someone stay at the engine and pull the choke manually. Then when someone does hold that, the boat will go BUT it will only got 2-4 mph. If I try to go any faster, the boat loses power and the engine will just spim like its in neutral. Man, If I could afford a boat, I wouldn't be asking for help but unfortunately, I can;t afford one so that is why I am asking for help!!!

Boatless

[Valv]

Water or dirt in carbs.

Take carbs down and clean them up very well.

------------------
Val Vignati

www.kvesurplus.com
[email protected]

[Guest]

How and where do I access the carbs? Being that this boat hasn;t been on the water for 2 years, I'm guessing its dirt.
That might solve the IDLE problem but what about the part where the boat doesn't do past 2-4 mph?

[Surface Tension]

After you hit the log 2 years ago would the engine rev up? Was there any clunking sounds as you made your way back to shore?
Is there a dent on the lower unit around the gear case?

Now it sounds like after sitting for 2 years the carb has gummed up.

[Guest]

Surface,
I didn't hit a log. What happened was I was running on choppy water and I think the prop came out of the water and the engine overrevved. You know how the engine sounds when its in Neutral and you step on the gas and it doesn't go anywhere? Well thats my problem.

The boat is a 14ft, 1970 DUO with a 33hp johnson motor.
How do I clean the carbs? What do I need to buy to clean it?

As for the boat not going past 2-4mph, is there a fix?

[united jigsticker]

Alrighty.

I ASSUME you got FRESH gas, so I will skip that....

Get a couple cans of carb cleaner.

Pull the carbs off the block of the motor. Pull the bowls off the carbs, drop the floats and pull out the needles. Spray carb cleaner in every nook, cranny, hole, orfice, choke and throttle plates, etc. Remove the idle screws, spray carb cleaner through the idle jets and the hole it came from. Then allow everything to soak in the carb cleaner for a while.

Dry everything up, and reassemble it. Turn in your idle jets all the way and then out exactly 1.5 turns with a screwdriver.

Install new spark plugs.

This should take care of yuor idle problem. If not, turn out your idle screws in a proportionate richening at 1/8 turn a piece. Make sure you keep then in synch, and do this until the motor idles properly. (ensure to warm the motor up completly before adjusting idle screws. Cold motor idle is to be control with the choke/primer)

The splines on the shaft in your lower unit may be warn badly, causing the "slip" and over revving when any torque is applied to the prop under load. This would be common for a motor of this age, especially for such a heavy boat, such as the one you described. If after the motor carbs are cleaned out you still have the problem, I would suggest not attmepting to operate the out board anymore until you can get the lower unit looked at.

There are places that will service older marines like that. Just get out the yellow pages...

------------------
Good fishing,
UJ
[email protected]

[Guest]

Thanks united!! i will take a look at it tonight!

[Ruttin' Buck]

I wish I didn't live on the other side of the cities, I'd take you up on the offer. I have a laptop at home with Win98 missing crucial VXD files. Been doing some really fun (sarcasm) work to remedy the situation in DOS...ug.

[Guest]

Buck,
I can take the boat to you and work on your laptop and you work on my boat.. hehe

vxd files huh? The only thing you can do now is either extract the vxd files from the cab folder or else, upgrade it to windows 2k or xp.

[This message has been edited by webwarrior (edited 06-07-2004).]

[Surface Tension]

Whats not making any sense is your engine will rev and you can only go 2-4 mph. It should be all or none. I would address this problem first. You didn't say if there was any clunking or grinding coming from the lower unit.
Pull the plugs out of the engine and leave the cover off. Put it in gear and turn the prop by hand. Does the flywheel spin? If so have a buddy hold the flywheel from spinning and turn the prop again. If you can turn the prop and the flywheel doesn't spin then look to see if the prop shaft is turning. I wonder if your prop is slipping on its hub. Also are you using a prop nut and it it snugged up against the prop?

[Ruttin' Buck]

I have had the same exact thing happen. I will bet dollars to doughnuts that ST was right from his first post.

First, get the engine to run normal. You said it ran fine in your first posts so my guess is that the choke thing is an entirely different issue.

Next, look at the prop. I know you said it looks normal but some props have the bushing that ST mentioned. Furthermore, some props have a layer of vulcanized rubber between the bushing and prop. When this rubber gets old it dries out and gets brittle.

When this happens, and you 'spin the bushing' like ST mentioned the prop is shot. Basically, the rubber will provide enough friction to push the boat at say 2-4 MPH but when you increase the rpms and ultimately the load on the prop it will spin.

I had the same exact thing happen right down to my motor coming out of the water when it happened. That's because you were likely traveling at full speed and when the prop spun the boat slowed so quickly that the drag on the lower unit pushed your motor up. I thought I hit something when it happened and that I sheared a pin...but it was the prop.

You'll be able to tell if this is the case by having your engine in gear and manually turning on your prop. Grab a few fins and give it a good fast push in either direction. If it spins (and your flywheel doesn't) the prop's shot. Another tell tale sign is that you'll hear a rubbery sound if it does turn on you.

Pull the prop and I'm guessing it will be a brass bushing with an aluminum prop. It's likely the brass hub will have a shoulder on it and you won't even be able to see the rubber. If you can get to Twin City outboard they'll likely have something for you.