Elgin 7.5 outboard

staruser

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I have an Elgin 7.5hp 61600710-2740 and could use some info on it. I've had it for about 7 years and it ran good when I first got it, but I don't remember any info on it anymore. I started it up yesterday with premium fuel & marine 2 stroke oil, 50:1 mix. It dies shortly after starting. Then it ran for about 3 minutes & died. It was really hot, too hot to touch & smoked. It still turns, but I haven't tried to start it since. Wondering if might be low on oil or water pump problem or fuel mix ratio. How to to check oil level &/or refill, checking if water pump is working correctly. Also what year is it.
 

RCO

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Those numbers aren't right for an Elgin. Should start with 571. or 574. Could be either a West Bend or McCulloch produced motor, which are totally different beasts from one another.
 

staruser

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Your right. I think that was the serial number. How about 574.60080. It's a bit hard to read being worn. I think the last two numbers are right, but not sure, could be HD. It says Sears and Roebuck.
 

RCO

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Is this a low profile white colored motor with a plastic cowl and F-N-R gear shifter on the front panel? Those are the McCulloch built ones. They are a very smooth running little motor, but the water pumps are very problematic. There are two impellers, one for cooling the powerhead, and the other one for the bailer (nipple on the side of the leg meant to hook a hose to bail out the boat). If it is a McC motor, I would almost guarantee the impellers are shot. There are a couple of sources for them online, but they are expensive. I believe 40:1 fuel mix is correct for those. The older West Bend Elgins are 16:1.
 

flyingscott

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Is this a low profile white colored motor with a plastic cowl and F-N-R gear shifter on the front panel? Those are the McCulloch built ones. They are a very smooth running little motor, but the water pumps are very problematic. There are two impellers, one for cooling the powerhead, and the other one for the bailer (nipple on the side of the leg meant to hook a hose to bail out the boat). If it is a McC motor, I would almost guarantee the impellers are shot. There are a couple of sources for them online, but they are expensive. I believe 40:1 fuel mix is correct for those. The older West Bend Elgins are 16:1.


I own several of the low profile 7.5/9 hp mccullochs. The waterpumps in them are good, the earlier ones are much more problematic.
 

staruser

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It does have the low profile white plastic cowl and the F-N-R gear shifter on the front panel. And there is a nipple on the side. I could any help possible, like how to check and fill with what type of oil.
 

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RCO

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The only oil is in the lower unit. It takes 90 wt gear oil. There is a fill/drain plug toward the bottom, and a vent plug higher up. Remove the vent plug and drain plug to drain it, fill from that plug until it pours out the vent hole. If the motor got hot enough to stall, make sure it still has compression, and pull the lower unit to check the impeller. It is pretty straight forward except for the shift linkage is kind of hard to access.
 

staruser

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I filled at the bottom until oil came out on top at the vent hole, correct? Nothing came out when I remove both screws. Didn't seem to take very much oil. Is there any where else oil is suppose to go? Since I don't know what year this motor is, what ratio of fuel/oil should I use, 40:1 or 16:1? I was using 50:1. That might be why the motor was stalling. I just read on another post for a 1961 is 24:1. It seems to have good compression still.
 

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brim_buster

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I had one of those gems. Great little motor. Mine was a 64.Let me know if you need a copy of the repair manual I will send it to you.
 

flyingscott

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You absolutely need to make sure the lower unit is full. The weedless lower you have does not hold a lot of lube and uses bushings.
 

staruser

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I put the motor into a 55 gallon drum half full of water and it seems that the water pump is shot. I checked on eBay and there was no impellers available. Does anyone know of a site that will have the impellers to sell?
 

staruser

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Is there a way to put the shiftrod back into the lower unit without taking the whole lower unit apart? I separated the lower unit from the upper unit to check out the impellers. The upper impeller was totally shot and was plugging the ports, but the lower impeller was fine except that one port was plugged with something that probably came from the water 10 years ago when I last used it. Is the upper impeller for the bailer and the lower for the cooling? or the other way around?
 
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flyingscott

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That is how to do it. Just line everything up and put it back together. The lower pump is the cooling pump and the upper is the bailer. Replace the lower pump with new and put the old impeller back in the bailer. Those motors tend to run hot so a new impeller is a must.If you leave the bailer impeller out you may get exhaust out of the bailer suction hole.
 
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staruser

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The shiftrod won't go in the lower unit with a shaft from the lower unit in the way. Is there a way to move that shaft out of the way, so I can lower the shiftrod in place. That shaft seems to be spring loaded, cause I can put a long screwdriver in there and push the rod back, but it just keeps coming back. I'm not worried about the "indent" rod, just the shaft that connects to the gears.
 

flyingscott

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You will have to pull the prop shaft forward It is easy to 2/3 screws and the cap comes out. You have the old style shift rod the newer ones are ramped so it can be pushed back in.
 
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