10 HP Honda Questions / Green Light/Weep Hole

[dbear1959]

Hi all,
Just purchased a 1982-1983 10HP Honda 4 Stroke. I don't have the owners manual yet so I hope someone can help me. I have been told 3 different things about the green light in front of the engine. 1.) It is a charging light that shows when the battery or lights are being charged. 2.) It is an oil gage/light. 3.) It is a temperature gage (green engine is running cool/red hot).

The other question I have is should there be a constant stream from the weep/pee hole or is limited water just dripping ok? It is not a constant stream, but the guy I bought it from had it in last year and had impeller, plugs, fuel pump, fuel filter etc replaced. If it should have a constant stream & impeller was replaced last year whats up? I have an older 72 Johnson (15HP) that does not have a weep hold & it just blows some mist from the exhaust I'm thinking maybe this Honda works on the same principal?

In general how are these Honda engines? With the motor I bought a 14 foot starcraft boat as well as a nice trailer, Trying to decide if the Honda is a good engine for this boat (seems alot quieter than the Johnson), or if I should throw the Johnson 15HP on and dump the Honda. Thanks in advance for any help.

Dan

 

[Mas]

Re: 10 HP Honda Questions / Green Light/Weep Hole

I've got the same motor. The green light is to show that oil is pumping and should be on above idle speed, though it is hard to see during the day. You can download an owner's manual from Honda for free:

http://www.honda-marine.com/owners/owners.aspx

Check it out,

MAS

 

[Mas]

Re: 10 HP Honda Questions / Green Light/Weep Hole

Oh ya, you MUST have a constant stream. Do not run the motor if you do not. You'll need to rebuild the water pump. It should be done every couple of years, or if you have problems, at least disassembled if you've problems.

MAS

 

[dbear1959]

Re: 10 HP Honda Questions / Green Light/Weep Hole

Mas

Got the owners manual downloaded Thanks. How big of a project is the water pump rebuild. I'm fairly mechanical but not a mechanic if that makes sense. How much should I expect to pay If I take it to my mechanic for repair?

Also would there be a webiste for instructions and schematics for this? Thanks Again!
Dan

 

[gss036]

Re: 10 HP Honda Questions / Green Light/Weep Hole

Remove the cowling, then pull the hose loose from the pee-hole attachment and then run as high pressure water as possible through the hose. Check the thermostat, they have a tendancy of plugging up. Then see what happens. It is a pretty straight forward job, but if what you say is true, the impeller should still be good.

 

[dbear1959]

Re: 10 HP Honda Questions / Green Light/Weep Hole

Thanks to all! I'm will try pulling the hose and blowing everything out & I'll go from there. Thanks again.

 

[Mas]

Re: 10 HP Honda Questions / Green Light/Weep Hole

Mas

Got the owners manual downloaded Thanks. How big of a project is the water pump rebuild. I'm fairly mechanical but not a mechanic if that makes sense. How much should I expect to pay If I take it to my mechanic for repair?

Let's put it this way, you can totally botch the job several times and learn from your mistakes and parts would probably still be less than sending the motor to a shop.

And, since this is a maintenance item every couple of years, you'll save by gaining the knowledge which can be transfered to other motors. I have not replaced my waterpump on my Honda (gonna this season), but I cannot believe that it'll be any different than my Evinrude...which is/was really easy with an OEM manual!

I say give it a go! You'll know right away if you did it correctly by checking the telltale, monitoring temp. as well as LU lube clarity. If the lube is milky, something is wrong! If it's golden...you're good!

MAS

 

[dbear1959]

Re: 10 HP Honda Questions / Green Light/Weep Hole

This is a great forum. Thanks Mas! Cleaned out all the tubes/intake and now have a constant stream from the "pee hole". Now I've got an issue at idle. Engine keeps stalling unless it is choked. Have tried the adjustment screw at the carb - with no luck. Don't want to mees with the air screw. Seeems like maybe it's not getting fuel but I am also running in an outside in a tank in Michigan in 25degree weather with a gas line that is under 1/4 inch of ice in some places in the bottom of the boat??

Don't even say it I know I'm crazy but I just bought the boat and it hasn't thawed yet. (I am bringing the engine in at night to make sure nothing freezes). So.... carb rebuild, cleaning, adjustment, or wait till it gets warmer & try again???

Thanks Again.
Dan

 

[gss036]

Re: 10 HP Honda Questions / Green Light/Weep Hole

Sounds like a plan to me. Go for it. Water pump is a simple job if you can disconnect the shifter the way it was designed. Place in reverse, about 1/2 down the leg you can where the shift rod comes down. There are two nuts, one regular size the other about 1/2-5/8 inch in length. This seperates the shift rod so mark you turns so you put it back the same way. The rest is pretty straight forward. Remove the 4 bolts, be careful as they will snap off if stuck in place, so maybe since you are going to wait until sprng, start spraying them with Blaster PB or the likes.
There is drain screw under the carb to drain the fuel, I would advise doing that and then spray carb cleaner back into the hole and try to get some to stay in the carb bowl or press the ball bearing in on the fuel connecter (under the shift /control handle) and spray carb cleaner in there also. The orfices on the Honda carbs are really small and it doen't take much to clog them up.

 

[dbear1959]

Re: 10 HP Honda Questions / Green Light/Weep Hole

I'll give the carb cleaner a try. I was wondering the owners manual says that you should not have a fuel line run of more that 6 feet. Does this really matter? Previous owner has a tank mounted in front of boat (14 foot) run. Didn't know if lenght of run could effect engine idle/stall? Thanks.
Dan

 

[Mas]

Re: 10 HP Honda Questions / Green Light/Weep Hole

Try your tank in several places on the boat and see if it makes a difference in idle/high speed. Obviously, I'll make your fuel pump work harder (fail earlier?)...but I'm not sure if I'll make a difference.

MAS

 

[Jake Windemere]

Re: 10 HP Honda Questions / Green Light/Weep Hole

I used to run a 21 gallon tank in the front of my 16 foot jon boat with the fuel line running under the floor. It worked just fine and was a great counter balance to the operator and outboard.

Problems with fuel supply usually result from using lousy aftermarket hoses, tanks, etc. as well as letting fuel stand too long.

I had an aftermarket tank fuel line (normal length) that worked okay when new but not too much later the motor had all sorts of running issues. The issues were resolved when I replaced the hose with an OEM hose.

It's a good idea to use fuel stabilizer regularly and dump the gas from your outboard tank into your road vehicle if you don't plan on using your outboard for a month or more.

I regularly drain my fuel tanks and even my fuel lines. You can put a couple of small Phillips head screwdrivers in the ends of the hose and easily drain the hose for the off-season. No sense letting the fuel in the hose go bad.

 

[Jake Windemere]

Re: 10 HP Honda Questions / Green Light/Weep Hole

My 2 hp Honda would not run unless the choke was pulled out. I took the carb off and did a minor disassembly. The jet holes were clogged with crud. I used the can of starter fluid to dislodge the junk.

I put the carb back together and it works like a charm.

At the time I did not have a repair manual nor did I have a schematic nor did I have any replacement gaskets. I got lucky that no parts flew across my front yard and that the gaskets stayed intact.

I figured that in the worst case scenario I might need to buy a new carb.

I am not a mechanic, but I paid attention to what I was doing and it was not as difficult as I envisioned.

 

[Mas]

Re: 10 HP Honda Questions / Green Light/Weep Hole

I saw an OEM manual on eBay for cheap...check it out:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=280307547122

MAS

 

[Tacklewasher]

Re: 10 HP Honda Questions / Green Light/Weep Hole

I've got about the same motor. I think mine's an 84.

I love this thing. Only time I've had any issue with it I traced it to the aftermarket in line fuel filter coming loose. Other than that, it runs like a charm.

As far as using it on a 14' boat, I guess it depends on what you are doing. If I use mine on my 12', put the fuel tank up front and move my (fat) @$$ a bit forward, it will plane the boat and get 27kmh. If I lost about 50 lbs in the back end of the boat, it would work just fine.

It might be a stretch to plane a 14', depending on your boat. But if you use the motor to troll, I'd take the 10hp 4 stroke any day. Quieter and smells less. Plus I find these older Honda's are not as heavy as the newer 4 strokes (Dad has a 9.9 Merc that is fricken heavy). These days I mostly use it on my 18' as a trolling motor and just use the electric on my smaller boats (even quieter and less smelly) but if I hit a bigger lake I can use the Honda.

The green light is the oil pressure.

Good catch on the water stream. I have learned that mud wasps love the little hoses and now know to check for them before I fuss about the pee stream.

I'd kinda wait until the weather gets above freezing to figure out the fuel issue. Unless you are taking it out to fish (as I plan to do tomorrow).

 

[purdygirl]

Re: 10 HP Honda Questions / Green Light/Weep Hole

Hi, Don't be afraid to remove the carb and clean it . These carbs are very straight foreward. Dissasemble the entire carb and clean everything witha can of carb cleaner with the little red spray tube nozzle. remove the float bowl then remove the jet. up under the jet there is a brass emulsion tube with a lot of little holes in the sides, find a piece of tag wire and stick the wire through all of the holes and spray it clean with the cleaner.
Remove the air mixture screw from the carb body and don't drop the spring on it. remove the little chrome pin that the float moves on and carefully lift up the float and the needle will come with it. Note how the needle attaches to the float (just slips into the groove)
Now hold the throttle plate in the open position and you will see some small holes in the bore just below where the throttle rests at idol. Take the tag wire and poke these holes and then spray the heck out of them first through the bore and then through where you removed the air screw.
Now spray every where there is a hole in the carb body and spray all the parts clean and re assembe the carb.
Sound like a lot but it is pretty straight foreward and I bet it idols better.
To set the air screw turn it in carefully untill it hits bottom (do not jam it, just untill it touches bottom) now back it out 1 and 1/2 turns and adjust it with the engine warm .
Regards and Good luck

 

[Nick on the Bad Habit]

Re: 10 HP Honda Questions / Green Light/Weep Hole

You might want use a borrowed portable fuel tank just to make sure that you have a good fuel system to work with. Even a small gas can with a hose for testing purposes. (No Smoking!!!!!!)
Nick