1968 Evinrude 18 hp hard to pull start

[R.Johnson]

Re: 1968 Evinrude 18 hp hard to pull start

I think we have lost sight of the problem here. That engine should'nt crank that hard. I would still take a look at that cylinder head.If need be try the 25 head.

 

[Joe Reeves]

Re: 1968 Evinrude 18 hp hard to pull start

For what it's worth, my method of installing a new cord on the over the flywheel type manual starters is as follows.

Arms outstreched (approx 6'), I cut a proper size nylon cord that length, tie a figure 8 knot in one end, then melt the ends with a flame to prevent unravelling, using a rag to form a somewhat point on one end. No cord in manual atrter pulley.... wind pulley to its fullest point. Keeping a good grip on the pulley, let it slide back to where the cord hole in the pulley aligns with the manual starter housing cord hole, then install the cord.

Now, keeping a good grip on the cord, slowly let the manual starter rewind pulling the cord in. In most cases, the cord will be too long so install the pull handle accordingly so that the handle retracts completely.

This is the way I've performed this procedure for quite a number of years and regardless of the design of the pulley, I encountered no problerms.

I'm going to stick my two cents worth in here. 140 psi on a 1968 18hp Evinrude? That sounds like a shaved head and/or block to me. I've worked on those engines when they were brand new..... and that compression just doesn't compute to me.

Remove the spark plugs. Does the engine pull through via the manual starter and crank over normally with the s/plugs removed? And if so, if it were me, I'd be removing that cylinder head, inspecting for traces of machine work (shaving).

 

[reelfishin]

Re: 1968 Evinrude 18 hp hard to pull start

I tried starting it with the recoil off today, it's hard to pull with only the knotted rope, but nowheres near as hard as it is with the recoil. If I use the recoil with the plugs out it free spins just fine, so the motor or recoil is not the problem. I took the recoil apart and cleaned and relubed all parts with no real change. The compression doen't feel any higher than does that of my 25 HP which pulls fairly easily. I think the problem is a lack of mechanical advantage? This is the only motor I have with the top mounted recoil, all others use the side mount style.
If I take the recoil off and rotate the motor by hand, it feels the same as my 25 HP does. The compression is only about 5 PSI higher on the 18 than it is on the 25 HP but the 25 has seen more use over the years. The 18 doesn't look like it's ever been apart, it came from an older gentleman who could no longer pullstart it.
The rope engages nearly instantly, it only moves enough to grab hold of the handle before it catches and starts to turn the motor.
To better give an idea of how much force it takes to pull, it's mounted on a 15' aluminum row boat and unless I am sitting in the boat with a firmn grip on the rope and a foot against the splashwell or transom, it's nearly impossible to get a grip on it to start. With the motor on the boat and the motor in a barrel of water, I cannot get a decent pull on it to start it from behind the boat. I have started my 175 V6 on the water with a rope when the starter failed with no problems, and used it like that for two days of fishing with no real problem, so when I say it's hard to pull, I mean it's hard to pull. It feels as if this motor has too much compression or that the starter has no mechanical advantage.
Also, it does crank and start in any gear, there is no lockout on this motor.
What I have been doing is planting one foot in the splashwell, and the other on the rear seat and using a two hand pull to start it. It starts and runs nearly the instant you pass the second compression stroke and runs great. It moves along great and all works fine once it's started. It cranks the same hot or cold and starts fine either way.
I don't think too much compression is the problem, 145 isn't all that high and most all of my motors all fall between 125 and 165 on the same gauge. (Brand new Snap-On Tools gauge set).
The rope on the starter looks new, it's blue hash marked rope most likely from a local mower shop. Are there different pulleys or recoil parts that may have been swapped? The power head and the rest of the motor look like new with what appears to be all original blue paint. The starter looks like it may have been off or replaced since there's a couple of generic bolts holding it on.
Of course, if it's pulled this hard all of it's life, chances are it's gone through quite a few ropes and handles.

I tried to take the top mount recoil set up and mount it onto my 25 but it would take too much swapping and I don't care to mess with a motor that works perfect the way it is.

What parts would I need to add a starter to this? If the starter and bracket are all I need to solve this, I'd gladly order one right away. I don't care about charging or factory wiring, I would add my own switch and soleniod if needed. My concern is that there's no open bolt holes to mount a starter too? Does the recoil mounting have to change or does the starrter replace the one corner bracket?

 

[Big Keepers]

Re: 1968 Evinrude 18 hp hard to pull start

Go to the gym and lift some weights.

 

[R.Johnson]

Re: 1968 Evinrude 18 hp hard to pull start

I'm at a loss here! Engine spin's over normally with the plug's out, it's within 5# of the 25, can pull over the 25 easially. I'm grasping at straw's here, as you say the engine run's just fine once started. Try grasping the flywheel, and see if there is any motion from side to side. What I'm thinking, is that flywheel draging on the coil's, because of a bad upper bearing. I just can't seem to picture what is going on here. Could you post a picture of the starter, and flywheel?

 

[F_R]

Re: 1968 Evinrude 18 hp hard to pull start

Hold on here. You mentioned swapping recoils with your 25 would take too much work. The 18 and 25 should have the same recoil, shouldn't they? What are we missing here? Somebody manage to install a recoil from a smaller motor or something???

12 year old kids start 18s all the time. Something is definatly wrong that we aren't hearing about.

 

[R.Johnson]

Re: 1968 Evinrude 18 hp hard to pull start

I looked at both the 1968 OMC part's, and service manual. I just can't see what is going on here if your engine truly has the correct part's. I would like to see a photo of that rewind, and flywheel. As pointed out, those rewind's from a 25, or 18 should bolt right on. I just took a 1975, 25 rewind, and stuck it on a 1957, 18 with no problems

 

[hammerhandle]

Re: 1968 Evinrude 18 hp hard to pull start

Just looking at my 63' 18 hp with electric start and have the same type of problem you have, it does seem to be on the hard side to pull.Did you look at the timing marks on the underside of the pulley???? , mine are off. about 1/8 turn from being within the correct timing area, i pulled the rope out and it looks to be about 6 inches short of being the 72 1/4 inches required in 3 different manuals i have on replacing the rope.Also i looked at my rope diameter i measured .200 on my calipers at the newer part of the rope when pulled all the way out, is this suppose to be a 3/16 "(.187) or 1/4 " (.250) or something special from OMC. ? I never thought rope length would be an issue but it might be.

 

[crb478]

Re: 1968 Evinrude 18 hp hard to pull start

I have a 1960 18 hp evinrude that has also not seen much use. It is also hard to pull over,but starts when it hits the compression stroke. Mine is not as hard as you are describing though. It is hard to get the motor up to any speed with the recoil rope or the rope on the flywheel. Thankfully it starts. I just thought it was how the motor was designed. I also have considered the electric starter route. The starters are easy to find, but you may have to fabricate the bracket.

 

[samo_ott]

Re: 1968 Evinrude 18 hp hard to pull start

You will not see any mounting holes for the electric start as it replaces an existing mount. And you can keep the recoil start also. They both mount on at the same time. If you have the toothed flywheel you will only need the starter motor and mount. It would help to get the electric choke solenoid also but if you are right at the engine then it is not a big issue to use it manually.

There is no charging kit for this engine that I know of. Thus your only option is the electric start. Check ebay, ask around, see what you can find. www.aomci.org has a good classified section also, although that engine might be too new for them Steve

 

[R.Johnson]

Re: 1968 Evinrude 18 hp hard to pull start

There are two engagement point's on the flywheel, 180 deg. apart. The rewind has a single pawl that will engage one of these points'. Once this engagement at either point is made, the rewind puley is in time with the flywheel. These point's are fixed, you can't change that with rope length, or diameter. If that engine is that hard to pull over, it would be interesting to see how an electric starter would turn it over. There is a problem here we just are not seeing. I'm beginning to wonder if we are all singing from the same page.

 

[R.Johnson]

Re: 1968 Evinrude 18 hp hard to pull start

Here's another thought, check the lube in the gearcase.

 

[samo_ott]

Re: 1968 Evinrude 18 hp hard to pull start

ok, today I asked my wife to try pull starting my 1960 18hp Evinrude and she got is going on the first pull from dead cold. She's 5"5" maybe 120 lbs... Something is definitely wrong...

 

[reelfishin]

Re: 1968 Evinrude 18 hp hard to pull start

I checked the side to side clearance, all looks good, it runs to well to have that kind of wear or anything interfering.
I did a few simple tests, the best way to describe the way it feels when pulling the rope handle it to wrap the rope directly around the crank with no pulley or leverage. What I did was to wrap a rope around a socket on the crank with the recoil off, it pulls about the same as with the recoil. If I wrap a rope around the flywheel it pulls a lot easier. Even then though with the rope on the flywheel, it still pulls harder than the 25HP. I think that there is either a problem with the recoil or some wrong parts here somewhere. One thing that I notice on the 18 HP vs the 25 HP is that on the 18HP I don't get as many revolutions of the motor per pull, and not because the rope is shorter or longer, it just dont have the same ratio or something, The 25 spins over 5 or 6 compression strokes per pull, while the 18 only spins 2 or 3. Both ropes are about the same, with the 18 maybe being a bit shorter, but it's still within an arms reach. Any longer wouldn't make much difference unless I jumped back while pulling the cord.
Once it spins over it starts and runs. I am almost positive that if I were to swap over the 25hp's recoil set up it would solve my problem but I am not sure it would work on the early motor.
I'd like to see another motor with the same style recoil to compare to, maybe all the older motors are like this? I do have a 9.5Hp that pulls and starts easy though, but that's a lot smaller motor.

 

[reelfishin]

Re: 1968 Evinrude 18 hp hard to pull start

The 25 HP has a totally different rope starter, the 18 has the recoil starter on top and the 25 has the side mount pull starter.
The lower gear case is fine, (it spins free with the plugs out).
I still think that someone either changed something in the recoil or there's something wrong with it. The motor don't look to have had a lot of use over the years, it was in storage for a long time too.
It does have a bit more compression that most but I haven't ever had another one like this to compare to, all my other motors are newer.

As far as being able to pull it, I can pull start it, it's just a real bear to pull. Like I said, my V6 rope starts easier. This motor fires almost instantly, but it really takes a good grip to hold onto the rope handle. If it wouldn't hinder removing the cover, I'd have simply tied on a larger handle.
I measured the rope length, if it matters and it's only 41" long off the recoil. It looks new and is white with blue hash marks on it, it's most likely recoil rope from the hardware store.
I can't see how the length of rope can cause the engine to pull hard? The rope is longer than an arms reach, so it can't get overextended, and it grabs nearly instantly when pulled. It does on ocassion jerk back and snap the rope out of your hand, it smashed my knuckles today trying to hold onto the handle. It caught and fired near the end of the pull and kicked back as the rope returned. It started nearly instantly on the second pull and ran fine.
Like I said, I think it's a leverage thing, the timing of the rope start sort of makes sense, but it can only grab in two positions and that can vary by which position the motor happened to stop in the last time.

I think an electric starter and maybe another recoil assembly, if I come across one, is the answer.

I just noticed something else, I was looking at and comparing parts at BRP.com and they list a top mount recoil for the 25HP? my 1973 Johnson 25HP, (25R73), uses a low mount rewind starter like the one on my 9.5HP Evinrude? I wonder now what has been changed on that motor? I have little to no history on that motor other than the fact that it runs like new.

 

[F_R]

Re: 1968 Evinrude 18 hp hard to pull start

A 1973 25hp model 25R73 has a top mount recoil starter just like all 18, 20, and 25hp motors have had since the late 1950's clear up into the 1990's.

Where in blazes did you find one with a side mount recoil?? You have something there that nobody else has ever had. I sure would like to see a picture of it. I'm starting to doubt whether it is even a Johnson powerhead in there. Somebody has been dinking around with something!!! Would that same somebody have been dinking around with your hard to crank 18?

 

[reelfishin]

Re: 1968 Evinrude 18 hp hard to pull start

The 68 18 HP came from another source than did the 25HP, I was assuming that the 25 was all original until I compared parts lists. Was there another motor family that someone could have swapped power heads or starters? The starter on the 25 looks like the one on my 9.5HP, but the power head is different. The 25 closely resembles the 30Hp on my other boat, but the 30HP is electric start only, no recoil at all. I don't have any other smaller OMC motors to compare to.
(the list of motors goes as follows: 1970? 6HP Johnson, 1969 Evinrude 9.5, 1973 Johnson 25HP, 1985 Evinrude 30HP, 1986 Evinrude 35HP, 1985, Johnson 70HP, 1976 135 Evinrude, and several various other brand motors). All are for boats the I have or are building. I have no history on the 25 HP it came to me via a yard sale. The 18 HP came on a boat that a buddy of mine bought and repowered with an electric start 15HP after he deemed the 18 too hard to pul start. I use the 18 as it is, I just don't like how hard it is to pull start. It will eventually break the rope or my hand.

After comparing parts lists, the 25 is somewhat of a mystery now too, that too is a great running motor which I have never really done anything too other than replace the impeller. I've only had the 18 HP for a month or so now. The 18 and the 25 are pretty close in power and performance, only the 25 is a long shaft. The 25 is one of the easiest to pull start motors I have had, it's on par with my 9.5 and several other smaller motors I have. The 18 has either had the compression increased just enough to make it hard to pull or there's a parts problem with the recoil.

The rewind unit on the 25 looks like it bolts in place of an electric starter? I was actually looking at the starter from a 30 HP as a possible swap? The side mount recoil set up on the 25 looks brand new, like it was just put on. I bought that motor about two months ago at a yard sale with some other motors. It's along shaft with the conversion type of mid section or and extension housing in the middle.
The tag reads 25R73, but very little on that motor is the same as on the earlier 18hp, I don't have the tag number handy for the 18hp here.
What other motors could have donated a side mount pull starter for the 25Hp? Everything looks bolt on and unmodified, nothing looks rigged or forced.
The place where I got the 25HP had 50 or so motors in all, I bought a dozen or more older motors, all were in good running condition. It was a deal where the price was too right to walk away. I had homes for most of them and have since traded away most of the real old ones for parts and stuff I needed.
The earliest was a 1956 8HP? and the latest was a 1973 50HP which was missing parts. There was also several huge boxes of misc older parts and controllers, and three complete boats in the deal. I kept two of the boats.

I am fairly new to the OMC motors, most of my boats in the past were inboard. I've worked on a few here and there but never did much with outboards till lately. I am getting a crash course here in OMC brands and parts lately with these little motors. This all started out with my simply trying to put together a smaller boat for inshore and back bay fishing, it's turned into a half dozen projects and a garage full of parts and motors and several parts boats out back. The neighbors must think I started a boat repair shop. If fuel hadn't skyrocketed, I wouldn't have ever bothered with these little boats and kept my 34' with twin inboards, but the $800 fill ups for a day out fishing just didn't cut it anymore, and besides, the smaller boats can get in tighter places inshore.

 

[F_R]

Re: 1968 Evinrude 18 hp hard to pull start

Some Chryslers/Force motors had the type of recoil that you are describing.

 

[hammerhandle]

Re: 1968 Evinrude 18 hp hard to pull start

Im hoping your problem lies within the rope length, 41 " is too short, the 72 and 1/4" are necessary for leverage around the oblong pulley in the recoil.The leverage would be comparible to a long breaker bar used for a large or rusted bolt that you cant bust loose.(some call it a cheater bar). The longer the handle the more torque you can apply, i believe its the same with the rope length, it has more rope revolutions on the pulley so you have more leverage. I would try this first, a cheap fix if its the problem which i think it is.I read my manual on this rope change and it looks fairly easy with the rope pulled out you can insert a small metal pin or drill bit into the little hole in the pulley and the outer cover housing to lock in place so you can change the rope.If you dont have a manual go to the library they can get you one.In my earlier post i mentioned the timing marks on the underside of the pulley, the little arrow on the pulley housing should be within the box area when retracted, this is so it engages quickly when you first start pulling on the rope, this is important also as to use the leverage at the right time.P.S. the 72 and 1/4 " is the total rope length , so im gathering your total rope legnth would be 6" more but it would be way to short regardless.If you get post a pictures it might help further.

 

[hammerhandle]

Re: 1968 Evinrude 18 hp hard to pull start

The rope diameter may also be an issue if it was replaced, I would go to your local marina or omc dealer and get the correct rope, it shouldnt cost much more than hardware store rope, plus you know you have the right rope. my original rope on my 18 has a green tint to it, so im sure the person who relaced yours probably used whatever they could find.Converting to electric may prove somewhat exspensive , parts are getting scarce so the price goes up, you would need the starter,key or starter switch, solenoid,wiring and battery. not difficult to hook up just getting the parts. the starter itself has the bracket on it that the pulley attaches to.