I've got a major dilemma on my hands and hope that you can take a few seconds to give me some advice as this is my first boat and am unsure on how to proceed.
My outboard is a 50 hp merc 1984 4 cylinder. It's on my 16 side console which I had hoped would be good for musky/perch/near shore bass/pike fishing for a few more years and in the next year or two add a bigger boat for out on the Great Lakes. It was running crappy so I took it to a shop about 10 km from my house and the guy opened it up and found scuffing in 2 cylinders to the point that there is material building up under the piston rings. Additionally there are ignition problems (no spark to # 2 cyl) and the carbs need rebuilding.
The guy can zip it all back together , do the carbs and ignition for about 900-1000 which is going to be difficult but not impossible to justify. The scuffing is another another matter, and I am trying to figure out a) would it be stupid to ignore the cylinder/piston damage and try to get a few more hours out of it i.e musky season b) buy another motor somewhere for the 1-2k that it's going to cost c) Is there a way to buy replacement heads or whatever to get the price lower on the scuffing issue ($1000 +)? what are the options here besides punch cylinder and add oversize piston...new head and reuse pistons? d) given the age of the motor is there a point of no return where its throwing good money after bad? the shop asked me to go in and discuss options but he seemed concerned about asking my wishes before "spending a lot of money". The boat was only $3700 of which I would assume the boat is 1/2 the value and the other half is the motor...any advice would be appreciated.
Bill
My outboard is a 50 hp merc 1984 4 cylinder. It's on my 16 side console which I had hoped would be good for musky/perch/near shore bass/pike fishing for a few more years and in the next year or two add a bigger boat for out on the Great Lakes. It was running crappy so I took it to a shop about 10 km from my house and the guy opened it up and found scuffing in 2 cylinders to the point that there is material building up under the piston rings. Additionally there are ignition problems (no spark to # 2 cyl) and the carbs need rebuilding.
The guy can zip it all back together , do the carbs and ignition for about 900-1000 which is going to be difficult but not impossible to justify. The scuffing is another another matter, and I am trying to figure out a) would it be stupid to ignore the cylinder/piston damage and try to get a few more hours out of it i.e musky season b) buy another motor somewhere for the 1-2k that it's going to cost c) Is there a way to buy replacement heads or whatever to get the price lower on the scuffing issue ($1000 +)? what are the options here besides punch cylinder and add oversize piston...new head and reuse pistons? d) given the age of the motor is there a point of no return where its throwing good money after bad? the shop asked me to go in and discuss options but he seemed concerned about asking my wishes before "spending a lot of money". The boat was only $3700 of which I would assume the boat is 1/2 the value and the other half is the motor...any advice would be appreciated.
Bill
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