18hp tohatsu questions

[dhawk]

Motor I.D. tag reads: M18D, serial # 85791.

1. Does anyone know the motor's year of mfg.

2. How do I grease the tilt tube? There are no fittings. Do I have to disassemble the bracket? Right now the mechanism is so tight I have to push hard to get the motor to drop down.

3. Also, there is a screw marked "wash" next to the oil level screw. It's frozen. Before I break something trying to loosen it, what is it for? Do you need some king of special hose adaptor if it's a motor washout?

4. Finally, this is an opinion question. I ran the motor, clearing out the winter fogging fluid. After which I hooked up a tank of gas with decarbonizer and forgot to add oil. I ran the motor for a couple of minutes like this, cleaner and no oil. When I realized my mistake, I switched over to the correct mixture. The motor seems to run ok. I don't see any difference. Tomorrow I'll do a compresion check. But I'm wondering, do you think I did any damage? I really love that Tohatsu. One of the best motors I've ever owned.

Thanks in advance

 

[John_S]

Re: 18hp tohatsu questions

I have an 18E which is similiar.

#4: You were probably protected by the residual fogging oil and prior oil film. I assume you only ran upto mid rpms and no load.

#3: Yea, I think there is, but I've never used it. I just used muffs. Hopefully you oil level and fill screws are not frozen.

#2: It doesn't have grease fittings as far as I know. Sounds like yours has seen salt water use.

#1: Alvin knows, but the good news is, Nissan/Tohatsus changed very little over the years

 

[dhawk]

Re: 18hp tohatsu questions

Thanks for the reply, John S

Your assumption is correct. I ran it at idle and low rpm on the gas/oil mixture and then switched to the gas/cleaner mixture which I ran with no load - ildle to low rpms. I just checked compression. Both cylinders: 140psi. Crankshaft seems tight. No play in connecting rods. May have dodged the bullet on this!

Right again. Salt water use exclusively. Would like to remove the bracket, but the bolt is rusted and looks like it will be a real bear to remove. How difficult is it to find replacement parts for this motor? There are a couple of brackets, bolts, and a throttle handle I'd like to replace.

 

[John_S]

Re: 18hp tohatsu questions

I have only had to replace the water pump and sparkplugs. Elvin will probably chip in and say "Any Nissan/Tohatsu Dealer".

 

[TOHATSU GURU]

Re: 18hp tohatsu questions

Any Nissan/Tohatsu Dealer.........I have become so predictable

 

[dhawk]

Re: 18hp tohatsu questions

Thanks fellas. Loosened the bracket with liberal amounts of WD-40. This will do for now. Replacement parts will be a winter project. (If it can't be fixed with WD-40 and duct tape it's probably unfixable)