[joeyp]

Hey, I could use some help. After finally deciding the smoke and low idle problem on our motor was a leak in the exhaust system, my husband tried to get the old gasket off and couldn't figure out how to disconnect the linkage for the throttle and the shifter. He has performed a temporary fix with some gasket sealer that came in a tube. We will have to fix this over the winter, though. Any help we can get would be greatly appreciated. The year on the motor is a 75Thanks, joeyp

[tuhuna]

joeyp, If you are removing the lower unit a coupler will reveal itself when you seperate the lower unit. The coupler connects the shift rod to the lower shift rod so that you can remove the l.u.. hope this is what your looking for. Tuhuna!

[kalloway]

I sounds like the leak has to be in between the block and lower unit and he has to pull the bottom cowling off to unbolt it. There's no gasket to leak in the lower unit. It is a pain to do and things like throttle leakage need to be kept aligned. Mark both sides as they are taken apart. You'll need a manual and/or large area to keep parts in sequence. If you put the wrong thing back on first and then find some screws that can't be gotten to later, my story, you start over. This is a good winter project. It'll take at least 4 - 8 to 16 hours based on having the manual and how many times you start over. Once it's torn down, every gasket/grommet that can be replaced should be. I had to tear down my '78 9.9 because a grommet between the waterpump tube and block had melted and would stop flow when it got hot. A $.25 part that cost me hours of grief and several head gaskets from overheating. After several years I finally found it after studying a parts manual.

[joeyp]

Thanks for your help. It sounds like we have quite a project ahead of us. First we will have to get our hands on a repair manual and then find some space. Hopefully, the temporary fix will hold for our two week vacation.