Pull Cord Question on Yachtwin '65 Evinrude

[heals66]

I have a dependable dandy of an outboard '65 Evinrude 4HP Yachtwin but am having some difficulty. Last year, it unfortunately slipped off my boat and fell into the drink. Since then, when I try to give the engine a pull, the cord moves only about 4" out before it just stops. Now, I took it apart as the pull cord unit can be unscrewed from the top of the motor and when free of the motor the pull cord pulls and recoils all the way without effort. When I put it back on the engine the cord works but something is preventing the motor from actually turning as again I'm only able to pull about 4" out.

Does anybody have any suggestions? I thought it may be the prop which I disassembled (found lots of old flyline and removed it but to no avail)...

Thank you

 

[Fuzzytbay]

Re: Pull Cord Question on Yachtwin '65 Evinrude

IF the recoil assembly works off the motor, but not on, then you can rule it out, so we next look at what the recoil moves. The flywheel.... can you spin the flywheel around by hand in a complete revolution? My thoughts are no, most likely you didn't get the water all out, and either the rings rusted to the cylinder walls, or the roller cage rusted on the crank, or the shaft seal rusted.
If you dropped the motor in the lake, did you get 100% of the moisture out of it?