[woodyhf]

Hello all,I was wondering if anyone knew what this part might be: I found this inside the engine case of my Evinrude 20 hp after a fishing trip recently. It appears to be a solid part-- no holes for cotter pins or anything. Any ideas as to what it might be/what action I should take? Thanks in advance for your help!-Woody

[G DANE]

It looks to be a dowel pin, solid pins that guides cranckcase halfs, when they are put together. If this is the case, you should be able to find the hole it is missing in, on one of the sides of cranckcase, next to one of the bolts in seam. As your cranckcase is bolted together, its no problem ist missing, just keep it if motor ever has to come apart. Or put it in the hole and secure it with liquid gasket or similar.

[realtree280]

it may very well be the pin that holds the impeller on the shaft in the water pump

[chuckybaby]

Looks like part of the recoil starter mechanism to me. Is this a tiller steer ? electric start ?

[woodyhf]

It's a tiller steer with a pull start. I'll have to take another look to see if I can find where it goes.

[Joe Reeves]

I copied the picture, lightened it, then zoomed in on it. It is as G Dane states, a crankcase centering pin, used to align the crankcase halves properly before tigntening the retaining bolts.On that 20hp model (you didn't state the year), there is only one centering pin, located on the starboard (right) side of the block (crankcase) near the top portion of it, right alongside of the top main bearing bolt.Since the bolts are already tightened, the lack of a centering pin will do no harm. However, keep it on hand just in case you ever need to dismantle the powerhead, in which case the pin would be needed to re-align the crankcase halves.