I love these old outboards.

Took out my 12'er the other day with my '62 Evinrude Fisherman (5.5 horse). Coming back in the motor started to lose power. By the time I made it back to the launch full throttle was giving me slightly more than idle speed. Hmmmmm??

Got the boat home and checked for spark, and compression. Spark was present, and compression was 72 on both cylinders. Not great but even on both. I checked the coils (look like new ones), point gap, removed and cleaned the fuel filter with compressed air. I taped a few spots on the wires where the jackets were rubbing on things with silicone electrical tape (greatest stuff in the world). I even took the needles out of the carb and went through the carb setup procedure.

After all of this the motor started right up and reved fine in the bucket. So today I took it out. The boat started fine but still would barely go faster than idle speed when in gear. Discouraged I went to the marina next to where I launch. There was an old timer there who I happen to know is a magician with these old OMC's. I asked him if he had any carb kits in stock thinking my problem was fuel related. He walked up to my boat and within 10 seconds diagnosed my problem as a bad head gasket. He just pulled the rope once and knew.

So $11 dollars and 1.5 hours later I had the boat back in the water. That "Old Timer" saved this rookie a carb overhaul and who knows what else before I would have figured out what took him 10 seconds (no exaggeration 10 seconds). A big thank you to Bill at Meyers Marina.

Re: I love these old outboards.

My question is, where did you get a head gasket for 11 bucks!?

Sometimes the best tool is an experienced arm on the recoil.

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awesome! that's about as cool a trick as Fonzi hitting the juke box and none of the head bolts broke either. Did he happen to say how he knew it was the head gasket just by the feel?

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You get a feel for it by the feeling/sound between strokes

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Please post directions to the marina. LOL. Great story, many times I've has similar experiences here on this forum. Rick.

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This guy looks like a bum but he is actually the millionaire owner of the old run down looking marina. He pretty much just gave me the gasket. Told me he gave me the old price from 4 years ago. Probably more like 20 years ago.

He explained to me that when you pull the recoil rope you should feel firm resistance every quarter turn or so from the compression stroke of each cylinder. On mine you could feel a decent compression from one cylinder and a weak compression from the other. Took him 10 seconds to get there.

He brought me in his shop and let me pull the rope on a motor he had on a stand so I could see what it should feel like. It was much much easier to feel the compression stroke on the larger outboard in the shop.

When I took the rig out to test the motor after the repair it ran faster than it ever did in the two years I have been running this motor. Ten head bolts remove clean gasket material, reassembled. Just that simple.

Re: I love these old outboards.

Just curious--what are your compression readings now?

Re: I love these old outboards.

yorab said:

Just curious--what are your compression readings now?

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Great question,
I hooked up the pressure tester to the upper cylinder and got around 65 psi. The thing is that if I screw in the tester to far the cylinder hits the tester. This means I am not testing with the tester very tightly sealed. When I tested before I rigged up some spacers to allow the tester to seat against something before it was deep enough to hit the top of the piston. I just don't feel like bothering with rigging it up with the spacers again.I'm guessing I'm getting 70-80 psi but all I really know is that the top cyl is getting at least 65.

Re: I love these old outboards.

The 5.5's have a history of blowing headgaskets, especially if they were overheated. There is no metal "fire ring" on the gaskets and very often the space between the two cylinders gets burned through.

An experienced tech can feel the engine when pulling the rope. Real good techs can hear a weak cylinder just by listening to the sound of the starting motor as it cranks a larger size motor.

Re: I love these old outboards.

Judging by the paint on your powerhead, your motor looks like it's never been overheated. It actually looks like a nice motor. Take good care of it and it will run for years. I happen to own four 5.5's myself and love the little buggers.

Re: I love these old outboards.

1946Zephyr said:

Judging by the paint on your powerhead, your motor looks like it's never been overheated. It actually looks like a nice motor. Take good care of it and it will run for years. I happen to own four 5.5's myself and love the little buggers.

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Thanks zeph,

I may have contributed to the head gasket failure by running through thick weeds and clogging the intake. I always make sure that there is water flowing through the outlet but I just can't stay out of the weedy areas when hunting down Bass.

Now it seems like I may have a bad fuel pump?? the boat would lose power after some time and stall out. After being sut down for a bit it would run fine for a few minutes and then lose power and stall out again. I figured out that I could keep it running with the primer bulb but even then it will not run at full power.

I took the front cover off of the fuel pump and the diaphragm seems to be intact. Went back to the marina and asked the "old timer" Bill what he thought. He said to "get that damn ethanol out of there before you even consider diagnosing bad parts".

He proceeded to tell me 15 minuted worth of stories ranging from swollen parts he had to replace for a customer due to ethanol that returned to normal when he went to show the customer why he had to replace them. Ended up with stories about how he wrote letters to bureaucrats here in NY because ethanol free gas wasn't available for purchase in NY for a while. He sells ethanol free at his marina and was furious when he couldn't get it, but his brother in Florida could.

Anyhow, My inexperience makes me want to replace the fuel pump, and rebuild the carb but my sense of pride tells me I should "LEARN" how to diagnose the problem and fix only what is broken.

I think I'll start with something I saw on youtube. I will disconnect the fuel line after the pump and start the motor letting it run off of the gas in the carb. If the pump is good it will push gas out of the line and I'll know to look at something else. Anyone think this is a good plan??

Re: I love these old outboards.

Well this has gone beyond the scope of this thread but since I like to ramble (appearantly) I will tell you all where I am at with my running and stalling problems.

First I took off the fuel line after the pump and the pump pushed gas out just fine. Seemed like a pretty slow stream until i thought about how ridiculously slowly the 5.5 goes through gas. I once ran for close to 5 minutes (it seemed at least) before I realized that the tank was unplugged.

Next I pulled the carb, BINGO!! The rubber piece that goes inside of the float was disintegrating. There was rubbery debris in the bowl. Other than that the carb looked clean as a whistle. Local marina had every part to rebuild the carb with the exception of the one piece of rubber that was disintegrating. I honestly think that all I need is the rubber piece that is falling apart, and the packing seals for the needles. I also want to replace the float with a non cork one just in case.

I love these old outboards!! So easy to do the standard maintenance. (and pretty cheap).

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Im not sure what rubber piece you are referring to? The main jet nozzle gasket?

The packing washers you can get at NAPA in bags of 10, I could get the part number if you are interested.

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...also, Ethanol is a problem on our old Outboards due to the fact that alot of the material used is not ethanol proof. If you update the fuel lines, carb kit, etc... there really is no problems with it.

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HighTrim said:

Im not sure what rubber piece you are referring to? The main jet nozzle gasket?

The packing washers you can get at NAPA in bags of 10, I could get the part number if you are interested.

Click to expand...

I'm referring to part # 71 on page 8, float chamber to carburetor boss gasket http://www.marineengine.com/parts/vintage-evinrude-johnson/278377/catalog.html?http://www.marineengine.com/parts/vintage-evinrude-johnson/278377/27837700001.htm

Part number for a new one is: 0344037 - GASKET

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For that gasket go to your local Bearing and Oil Seal Supplier, and get a few 201B Buna o rings. They fit perfectly, I buy them in bags of 100, but I do alot of carbs. It will also be in the carb kit if you get one.

For the packing washers, you can go to NAPA and get part number 18-7106, it will be a bag of 10

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Here's what I'm working with. In my opinion a pretty clean looking carb with a rotted rubber seal likely due to ethanol. Note that I have done absolutely zero cleanup to this carb and even though it looks clean as a whistle I know enough to clean it really good while I have it apart anyways. That dissolved rubber is in there somewhere or I wouldn't have had to pull the carb in the first place.

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Actually doesnt look too bad.

Totally dismantle it, including the nozzle. Soak, then blast with aerosol carb cleaner, wash with hot soapy water, then blast dry with compressed air, ensuring all passages are clear and clean, then rebuild. Get rid of that float.

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I didn't see a non cork float listed for this carb. If i can't get one I'm going to reuse the old float. I'm not worried about the possibilty of pulling the carb again later to swap the float. It's possible my problem is not the carb or pump. But considering how pumping the primer keeps the motor running I really doubt its a spark or compression issue.

On second thought, for $3 I will probably just use a new cork float.

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Hi scipper. I would get a new float too. You can get them on ebay, amazon, marineengine.com, etc..., but they're more like $10 :/ Here's a handy link for rebuilding the carb.

http://www.outboard-boat-motor-repa...hnson 5.5 HP 1954-1964 Carburetor Tune-UP.htm