1996 force 40 hp

Joined
May 3, 2008
Messages
13
hi..i have a 1996 force 40 hp on a 16 ft pontoon boat and yesterday was my first day out on it. When i got it we put a new impeller on it and put some muffs on it and it fired right up. The guy i got it from said it had been sitting for 2 years because the water pump stop pumping in the water with him and it got hot so he cut it off and had to get pulled in.so i let the motor run for a while with the muffs on and it ran good..idled good...and whatnot..i dont know a whole lot about boat motors because i put, i think a 11p prop instead of a 10 p one..and it didnt want to run in its power band..of course..i burned a 6 gallon tank of gas in no time...i went in after about a hour cruise to pick up someone and we changed the plugs, to try to help it out..and there was like a little of milky stuff coming out to the bottom spark plug hole..we put the plug in and fired it up...it ran fine..so we took it out for some more testing..when the tank got less than 1/4 empty we went in...and then it started smoking ..pretty bad..and really didnt want to keep an idle..i havent had a chance to talk to any one at my local boat marina...but i figured that someone here would know something about what i might have messed up..and by the way i mixed the fuel about 45 to 1...if anyone could help i would appreciate it...thanks..
 

maxum247

Lieutenant
Joined
Sep 18, 2007
Messages
1,363
Re: 1996 force 40 hp

Good morning! and welcome!
Sounds like the head gasket, this is assumeing we're talking water milky. Check the bottom plug and see if it is clean and look for water droplets on the sparkplug, pull top sparkplug and compare the two. If it's the head gasket you'll see the difference pretty quick.


Good Luck! and have a great day!
 
Joined
May 3, 2008
Messages
13
Re: 1996 force 40 hp

Thanks...I really appreciate the help..The head gasket is what a buddy told me might be wrong..also he noticed that the holes on the back that normally would be squirting out water in a steady stream ...was only spitting water out...so he said we need to try and clean it out...any suggestions how?..i read a post that said use vinegar...anyways thanks for the help....have a good day...
 

maxum247

Lieutenant
Joined
Sep 18, 2007
Messages
1,363
Re: 1996 force 40 hp

You might want to go as far as replacing the impeller, not to hard to do! Let us hear how it comes out!
My 125 Force is kind of iffy on the water spitting, get a pair of muffs hook her to the hose you'll get a better feel for how shes pumping, thought mine wasn't pumping right it just didn't put out the kind of water from the releif holes that other outboards do, most of it came out the exhaust snout at the bottom. It was pumping fine.
I've heard vinegar is a good cleaner for different things.
I'm going to add a fitting to the side of my engine cowling so I can see a steady stream like you see on other outboards, long as I see it producing a steady stream then I know she's good.

If you want to clean her out take the thermostat housing off pull the thermostat hook her to the muffs stand back and fire up, that'll cleand her out.

Have a good one!
 
Joined
May 3, 2008
Messages
13
Re: 1996 force 40 hp

I really appreciate the help man...for real...but yeah..we put a new impeller in her...i let it run with the muffs for a while..check the head with my hand...it never got too hot to touch...i had really good water pressure too though..but i want to add a tell tale to mine too...its only a 2cy..it has a, what looks like a plug, on top of the head that prolly can be used to put a fitting in and route it out the cover..thats what i hope at least...but im going to prolly get a head gasket and take the heads or head to my machine shop and get them checked for warpage...but anyways....i appreciate the help...take it easy..
 

hgmatt

Seaman
Joined
Jul 26, 2007
Messages
69
Re: 1996 force 40 hp

You got the right plug for a tell tale. I suggest searching Tell Tale on this forum, and looking for a thread called Can I add a Tell Tale? I believe its by MarkV42, great post and instruction.
 
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