Yamaha 15 very stiff rotating flywheel

[infinitysail]

I have a Yamaha 15 enduro that I run in saltwater. I stored it for a few months on its handle side, and when I returned, I was unable to pull the cord. I put a wrench on the flywheel and once I got it to rotate a couple turns, I was able to pull start it. It made a horrible squealing noise from somewhere near the flywheel, but this subsided after 20 seconds or so. The motor then ran great for the next 6 months, as I was running it every day. I then let it sit for a couple weeks, and found it difficult to pull again. Again, once started and the squealing stops, it works great if I keep running it every day.

I thought it might be the flywheel rusting to the magnets, but this isn't the case. I tried rotating it with the plugs out when it is stiff, and it doesn't help. Most recently, I fogged it, but it still became stiff after sitting.

Any likely candidates for this resistance? Perhaps the oil seal at the top?

Thanks

 

[99yam40]

drop the lower unit off to see if that makes a difference.
If not, then you know it is in the power head.
Bearings or Cylinder walls/rings rusting would be my next guess

 

[infinitysail]

My friend had encounteredmthe exact problem before and he was right. It was the oil seal housing on the bottom of the power head. My theory is that when I stored the engine on its side, there was some water in the drive shaft housing that corroded the housing. Lucky that I could get it off. Now to clean up the mess.