1983 evinrude 60 hp cylinder damage and repair options

[sfmeyer]

I'll start by thanking anyone willing to give me honest advice in my outboard dilemma. This site has helped me several times and I do appreciate it.

I have a 1983 Evinrude 60 hp that quit running after the water pump unknowingly went out at WOT. It definitely overheated as the buzzer wasn't in working order and provided no warning. Attached is a photo of the damage after pulling the head. Prior to pulling the head, I had low compression @ 30 lbs on both of the 2 cylinders.

The head gasket is "blown" but the cylinder wall damage is obviously the catastrophe. Is it repairable at a price better than trying to find a compatible powerhead? I have a locally available 1977 55 hp Johnson I could get for around $425 and just swap powerheads if they're compatible? Seems from crankcase diagrams that there's only minor difference at most. Reason I would swap powerheads and not just entire engine is that my power trim is still in good condition on my boat along with good lower unit, brand new prop, great carbs, etc. Appreciate any thoughts, opinions, or advice.

 

[bonz_d]

Re: 1983 evinrude 60 hp cylinder damage and repair options

1st of all is that 55hp engine in servicable condition? Does it run well and does the lower unit perforn like it should? If so it may be cheaper and easier to swap engines and then add your power tilt to the 55hp. Also the lower unit from the 60hp will bolt right on to the 55hp. Much easier than swapping powerheads.

 

[racerone]

Re: 1983 evinrude 60 hp cylinder damage and repair options

I do not see any damage inside the cylinder bores.-Just some aluminum eroded away by hot gasses escaping via the blown head gasket.-----I would say this condition existed for some tiime.----------Your cylinder head is warped / damaged and it must be corrected.----They are all warped on motors that are 10 years old anyway.--------Make sure cylinder head is flat and install with a new gasket.---Do compression test .------Possibly go boating again.

 

[bonz_d]

Re: 1983 evinrude 60 hp cylinder damage and repair options

Yeah I'd seen that erosion too. There was a member here a few years ago that had that sane thing and they built it up with JB Weld and stated he had good results with that repair, myself I wouldn't be as confident.

The 1977 55hp and the 1983 60hp use the same gearcase. As I recall the carbs and cylinder head are different between the two engines.

 

[sfmeyer]

After a year of trying to find a replacement powerhead and coming up empty, I built up the missing aluminum chunk last week, swapped the original 60 HP powerhead back on, and I'm boating again.

The engine was purring better than ever, then after running it for a day the idle started to cut out, requiring a little throttle or it would stall. I'm hoping it's just a little gunk in a carb and a rebuild will take care of it.

Thank you guys above for your original advice and replies.

 

[Bosunsmate]

Id do a compression test as well just in case but congrats on the fix it job, interested to see what can be done to it.
Was that jb weld or aluminium you built it up with?
I have the exact same motor and it always overheated, even with a new water pump and thermostat. I ended up coming across a service bulletin for the motor. That tell tale outlet on the bottom of the exhaust jacket must be moved.
The outlet needs to be moved to the top of the motor so that any air bubbles can be evacuated. If you dont airbubbles will sit at the top of the crankcase and head and she will overheat.
After $300 spent on parts i finally did that and it solved all the issues. Cost me $10.
http://forums.iboats.com/forum/engin...ng-a-tell-tale

 

[Bosunsmate]

No Title

The whit stuff at the back is just thermal grease from a temp sender i installed, i ve removed that now as its cooling so well so i just dont need it as ive the horn for back up

 

[Bosunsmate]

You can see the tell tale now comes straight off the top of the crankcase, I didnt have a tapping thread so i used a bolt to hold it in there with high temp putty, a tap and some thread sealant would make for a very tidy job. I did it when i had the head off but there is heaps of room above the top cylinder, so so long as you keep blowing out the aluminium as you drill down so that only a little touch falls into the water jacket (you can also grease the drill bit near the end) then it can easily be done id say with the head still on.

 

[dazk14]

It is VERY important to re-torque the cylinder head. You may need to break the "stick-tion" by slightly loosening each bolt and then tightening to final torque.

Do not 1st loosen all of them, just the individual bolt you are working on , 1 at a time in the proper torque sequence.

Racerone is correct. Many of these motors can run and seal with the missing "meat" from the block. Too frequent in the salt water environment. Gasket sealer helps, but only applied to the metal ring.

 

[Bosunsmate]

yep thats very true about the retorque, I had to do mine three times

 

[sfmeyer]

Thank you for sharing that tell tale information with me! That sounds like something I'll be getting to sooner than later.

For the repair, I used Marine-Tex.

I didn't even tested the compression once I heard how nice she started purring. I wasn't expecting her to start right away after sitting for a year. After pumping the bulb and half a turn on the key she just fired, idled smooth, and I looked straight past a compression test.

I'll keep this thread posted after I test compression and rebuild carbs.

 

[dazk14]

If going the epoxy route, "Grey" Marine-Tex in the glass jars is the best epoxy for the job. The parent material MUST be perfectly clean and since it's impossible to mix the correct percentages of Marine-Tex, mix the entire contents ($12) to get the best result.

This is NOT the place to use the cheaper 50-50 epoxies of any brand.

 

[sfmeyer]

If going the epoxy route, "Grey" Marine-Tex in the glass jars is the best epoxy for the job. The parent material MUST be perfectly clean and since it's impossible to mix the correct percentages of Marine-Tex, mix the entire contents ($12) to get the best result.

This is NOT the place to use the cheaper 50-50 epoxies of any brand.

I used the Marine Tex Gray.

 

[Faztbullet]

The best epoxy on the market is Devcon!!!!

 

[sfmeyer]

I won't be able to get the compression checked for another day or two, but I do have a question if anyone is willing to jump in and answer it.

When I was running the boat around the lake last Saturday, I felt the power at WOT reduce significantly. I slowed and shut it down after 20 seconds. I immediately thought I lost a cylinder so I checked everything out and sure enough, the linkage between my 2 carburetors popped out of the plastic retainer. I reinserted the linkage into the broken retainer to get back to the boat ramp and unfortunately it popped out a couple more times before I could put wire around them and lock them in.

Question: I never ran the outboard for any extended period of time while trying to get back to the boat ramp, but, could I have done any serious damage after having the it run on one cylinder a couple different times?

I lost my perfect idle sometime after this happened.

Thank you very much.

 

[Bosunsmate]

Question: I never ran the outboard for any extended period of time while trying to get back to the boat ramp, but, could I have done any serious damage after having the it run on one cylinder a couple different times?
Thank you very much.

Nah not at all, With the flap closed it would of being sucking more lubricating fuel than air
Ive had trouble with those linkages on mine, especially the one that is a ball and hole that sits just under the flywheel to move the timing base

 

[sfmeyer]

Nah not at all, With the flap closed it would of being sucking more lubricating fuel than air
Ive had trouble with those linkages on mine, especially the one that is a ball and hole that sits just under the flywheel to move the timing base

YES! [huge sigh of relief]
That would have been hard to live with after everything I went through to get back on the water.

I'm going to get new link retainer clips, carb kits, rebuild and link them back together nicely, compression test and get back to boating. I'm hoping that me messing with the link and clips on the water threw off the sync a bit on the carbs and that's why I lost a good idle.

I will still keep this thread updated when I'm "home free" for the sake of letting others know about the aluminum repair.

Thanks again for your reply, Bosunsmate.

 

[sfmeyer]

Not very good news on the compression test, looks like I'm running 125 on the top and 95 on the bottom cold and 120/90 warm. I re-tightened all the head bolts although none of them needed it. It will start and run with a little throttle but it has a very rough idle, if any.

Definitely not home free. Any thoughts or recommendations to my next step? Powerhead toast?

Thank you.

 

[bonz_d]

May have blown that head gasket again.

 

[sfmeyer]

Side note: It looked like the bottom cylinder's plug was wet, even just in minutes between testing.

Sounds like I need to pull the head and inspect the gasket and cylinders.