9.9 Johnson Replace head gasket or....

[Bullie]

I have a barrel to run my motors. The water usually is most of the way up the shaft.

I ordered one of the seal removal tools that was recommended.

Like is usual, I feel I have gotten good advice and the grommet is the culprit. I assume that means removing the power head? I have never attempted that before. Any advice?

 

[OptsyEagle]

Yes. The powerhead needs to be removed to look/replace the upper water tube grommet. You also need to remove the lower unit so you can put it all back together again. So, when you remove the lower unit, look at the lower water tube grommet as well. Sometimes when pushing those lower units back up the alignment of the grommet to the water tube is not perfect and if you didn't grease up the tube and grommet well, the tube can fold over the lower water grommet as well.

 

[Bullie]

Like you guys said, the upper water tube grommet had extruded somewhat and was blocking, what I assume to be, a good deal of the water that should have been circulating through the power head. I have the grommet and gaskets ordered and will be reassembling soon. I will follow up again with results. Thanks guys.

 

[Bullie]

Thanks again for the guidance guys.

Got everything back together and it runs almost as good as when I originally sold it. Good experience for me but some folks are just hard to work for, even cheaply, if you know what I mean.

Just curious, if someone had a to pay a real shop for what I did (head gasket, upper water grommet, replacing all gaskets removed, thermostat, water pump) how many hours would likely be charged?

 

[oldboat1]

probably some screed here (apologies):

IMO, an honest shop would charge only for replacing the head gasket. The rest is a result of incorrect assembly/reassembly (the grommet), or misdirected troubleshooting, however well-intentioned. I'm into misdirected troubleshooting all the time, but I'm not a pro. When I have a new mechanic work on one of my cars, I'm always alert to "geez, I put over 30 hours into it, trying to find out what was wrong....". That's pretty much on him -- not all of it, but probably most of it, and depends on what he should reasonably have figured out at the beginning, as a pro.

Last time I paid for a water pump, it was about $350. As I recall a carb rebuild was about the same. Not sure what the current hourly rate is -- $80 to $100? Lots of pros out here who can tell you the book rates. (Question in my view would be, what hours can reasonably be billed?)

 

[OptsyEagle]

I don't know the answer but I suspect it would cost a lot more then it would be worth for a 1974 9.9Hp motor. That motor and these forums go together like pie and ice cream. Unless you are an outboard expert, you really can't have one without the other.

 

[Bullie]

I appreciate the input guys, though I really didn't follow the logic on oldboat1's grommet comments.

Considering the circumstances, I feel like I have been way more than nice to this guy. I guess some people just naturally stroke your fur backwards. Oh well, I learned a lot in the process and had the satisfaction of getting it going again. My wife says I cannot work on this guy's motor ever again. Ha!

 

[oldboat1]

It's why I don't work on other people's motors.