Mechanic told me that motor is to old for fixing is he right?

[sasanm]

guys, I have a 71 60hp johnson that is having problems when it is cold. Once it is warmed up it runs fine (or atleast I think so) but it hard to get to warm. Fires up but dies. I took it to a local indy mechanic and he looked at at and said it is missing and it is arcing under the fly wheel. He said because some of the parts are obsolete I should just get a newer motor instead of putting money into the one I got. I am not sure if I agree with his opioion so I am asking for your thoughts. Also wondering where I should start trouble shooting since I have not worked on boat motors before. I am pretty handy so I think I would be able to figure it out if pointed in the right direction.

 

[Chinewalker]

Re: Mechanic told me that motor is to old for fixing is he right?

If you're willing to do the work yourself and take the time to track down necessary parts (local outboard graveyards, eBay, SeaWay Marine, etc.) it is certainly worth keeping your motor. Start by getting the OEM manual for your motor.

 

[G DANE]

Re: Mechanic told me that motor is to old for fixing is he right?

The distributor base and cap, as well as piont sets are obsolete, but next to everything else from the ignition parts list are still listed. Maybe you are lucky Joe Reeves still has some parts ?? I would go for it. Bet some Dealers still has old stock. Do a little phone work
.

 

[jonesg]

Re: Mechanic told me that motor is to old for fixing is he right?

I bought all new ignition parts for my 1959 10hp no problem.
Fix it yourself, typing antique outboard parts into google yelded 96,400 results

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&...rfai=Clf95u-H-S4CdLZ-yMeqlscUHAAAAqgQFT9Dlf1g

 

[F_R]

Re: Mechanic told me that motor is to old for fixing is he right?

That 60hp motor is not exactly the best one to learn on. Those igniton systems were touchy and troublesome from day one. They are where I got most of my grey hairs. Go for it if you are brave and have deep pockets

 

[sasanm]

Re: Mechanic told me that motor is to old for fixing is he right?

thanks for the feed back guys. It looks like I will get a manual and start from there. If it starts getting to be to much then we will see. couple of questions.
1. who is joe reeves?
2. since I am seeing some arcs or sparks under the fly wheel does this indicate anything?
3. Also after doing some searchs on the forums it looks like I need to learn about setting the timing. Does anybody know where I can get some good reading on this since I am clueless on this;.

 

[jonesg]

Re: Mechanic told me that motor is to old for fixing is he right?

Pop the flywheel off and tell us what you see.
Might just be something loose, no need for doom and gloom.

 

[SparkieBoat]

Re: Mechanic told me that motor is to old for fixing is he right?

I know that there are a lot of old motor lovers here...but I personally will not mess with anything older than a 79 because of the shifter assist and junk like that, I would throw anything with points and distributor directly into the dump. but thats just my personal opinion after working on quite a few outboard motors. i see 80s model 70 HP motors for sale for around $500-1200 sometimes they even come with a boat and trailer. I would just hate to see you dump a pile of time and money into that motor and still have to get towed back to the dock..got to hate it when that happens.

 

[R.Johnson]

Re: Mechanic told me that motor is to old for fixing is he right?

As FR pointed out. That engine could cost several hundred to get running just to let you know you wasted your money. Throw in the hydro-eletric gearcase, and that is really not a beginner's engine.

 

[sasanm]

Re: Mechanic told me that motor is to old for fixing is he right?

guys thanks for the advice. after doing alot of research it looks like my motor is not a easy one, alot of ignition problems. But with that being said before I dump any money into or put it up for sale as a mechanic's special I will take off the fly wheel and see what is underneath. Maybe it is a simple fix like cleaning the points and gaping them. Looks like I have my project this weekend. I will post some pics with what I find.

 

[johnnynegaunee]

Re: Mechanic told me that motor is to old for fixing is he right?

Check your local library for a manual on old outboards, You don't need to pay for it if you only need it for a week or 2. My 2 cents. Info is almost always free if you look/ask.

 

[F_R]

Re: Mechanic told me that motor is to old for fixing is he right?

If you can see arcing under the flywheel, that is encouraging. At least you know it has spark, just not getting to where it needs to go.

Visable spark around the distributor cap is probably arcing out around the plug wire towers. You are supposed to pull the boots back and put a bit of grease in them to prevent that.

 

[Rubixone]

Re: Mechanic told me that motor is to old for fixing is he right?

I say go for it if nothing else it's a good learning experiance. I have a 1960 and a 61 both are fun to work on. But any thing that spells recreation spells chaching. And it could be more costly than expected but pulling the fly wheel and doing new points and stuff is easy. He'll I just replaced my whole ignition plate and every thing with out having any previouse know how.

 

[bob johnson]

Re: Mechanic told me that motor is to old for fixing is he right?

why go for it????????????????????????

are you an up and coming wanna be outboard mechanic???

do you LOVE working on outboards?

or do you want a motor to go on a boat you have????

which are you...if you are the former....then have at that motor...if you are the latter move onto to another motor...heck you might find a cherry sitting in a garage with monster compression, vicious spark and all it needs is a carb cleaning, if that!!!

good luck

bob

 

[Willyclay]

Re: Mechanic told me that motor is to old for fixing is he right?

Check your local library for a manual on old outboards, You don't need to pay for it if you only need it for a week or 2. My 2 cents. Info is almost always free if you look/ask.

Try the link below:

http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?t=393281

 

[R.Johnson]

Re: Mechanic told me that motor is to old for fixing is he right?

Someone said replace the point's. This engine is not like your old fishing motor. Check the price of point's, rotor, distibutor cap. You've now went past the couple hundred I mentioned. Throw in a pulse pak, and see where you are.

 

[SparkieBoat]

Re: Mechanic told me that motor is to old for fixing is he right?

yes this is not a see if you can fix it challenge...its about boating, fishing, skiing, and so on, I work on my motor cause I have to and I want to pick motors that are the easiest and cheapest to maintain and provide some level of dependability...If I wanted to spend piles of cash I would have a brand new motor on each of my boats, actually I would have nicer boats also...but I do not want to spend my entire wealth on boats. or all my time fixing them. so I purchase 80s and 90s model motors for low cost and get reasonable service with minimal work and money spent. I saw a 2004 15 HP motor for $700 and a 1975 15 horse for $250 that "ran last year" guess which one I am going to buy.

 

[R.Johnson]

Re: Mechanic told me that motor is to old for fixing is he right?

Distributor cap, not available-$100+ when it was . Ign. rotor, not available-$100+ when it was. Point's, 2 set's at $65 each. Anti-reverse spring $18. Pulse pak $377. See where your going, and you have'nt passed the ignition system. Ebay, hopefully the dist. cap, or rotor won't have a crack, or carbon trail at half price.

 

[sasanm]

Re: Mechanic told me that motor is to old for fixing is he right?

Guys, Thanks for the feedback. I am looking into this sparking under the flywheel. Since the motor runs and shifts fine and I am seeing a spark under the flywheel I will look there first. Hoplly maybe it is just a bad insulated wire or something like that. I have a puller so pulling the fly wheel wont cost anything so I might as well take a look. Thanks for the suggestion about the grease I will look at that as well. Once I get the fly wheel off I will post some pics

 

[F_R]

Re: Mechanic told me that motor is to old for fixing is he right?

Since you are going to go for it, I'll tell you a little secret: Don't even think of trying to run the surface gap plugs that are supposed to go in it. If that is what's in there, throw them as far as you can and install Champion L77JC4 or QL77JC4. I learned the hard away, now you just learned the easy way.