Honda 130 block & cylinder cracking

[divepalau]

We're a dive shop running 10 boats each equipped with twin outboards of 115HP 2-stroke & 4-stroke on up, including Yamaha, Johnson and Honda. Saltwater environment<br />Our 4 newest engines, about 9 months / 800 hours on each, are Honda 130HP 4 strokes.<br />All 4 engines failed in the last few weeks:<br />All 4 with cracked cylinder heads<br />2 with cracked blocks.<br />2 blocks not cracked are a revised block model.<br />Honda issued a bulletin about the problem in Sept. 2001. We were just notified.<br />ANYONE ELSE HEARD OF PROBLEMS LIKE THIS?<br />No over-temp. alarms went off.<br />Impellers are all good.<br />Water flow appears good from pee-tube.<br />One common item to all 4 engines is they all appear to have considerable mineral scaling in the water jacket / galleries.<br />Appreciate any tips / suggestions regarding the problem but most importantly I'm looking for others who may have had similar problems, any information about this being a known problem, any Honda provided information on the subject.<br />Thanks.

 

[DJ]

Re: Honda 130 block & cylinder cracking

divepalau,<br /><br />I think you are SOL. Their OUT is: "scale".<br /><br />I'm being a real naysayer tonight. According to this board, "the sun never sets on Honda". I know why-they come from "the land of the rising sun". <br /><br />Haven't heard of it. Doesn't surprise me. Putting automotive components into the marine (SALT) environment is asking for trouble. Honda is VERY particualer about maintenance on the automotive side-particularly-cooling systems.<br /><br />I think they forgot about this on the marine side.

 

[hondon]

Re: Honda 130 block & cylinder cracking

Honda has indeed had some block crackage incidents with this engine. Enough to warrant the S. B . that you have already read .The good news is that Honda stands very whole heartedly behind their product and would be very likely to work with you as to the cause of failure.That's where your selling dealer comes in .That dealer should be on the phone to his local D.S.M. AND MAKING WAVES FOR YOU!The scaleing that you describe is likely from the internal anodes in the intake manifold.I question these anodes usefulness as in warm water conditions they can flake off and cause a temporary water flow obstuctions that may have caused your problem.I represent a local oyster grower that uses Honda in the same extreme that you do ,though I hope you don't beat the crap outta you stuff like they do, and Honda has always steped up to the plate.

 

[divepalau]

Re: Honda 130 block & cylinder cracking

Thanks djohns19 & hondon. The dealer has been pretty helpful to date. I'm now pressing Honda DSM for support and resolution. They've agreed to replace powerheads on the 2 units within the "problem" range and replace cylinder heads on on the 2 units that fall outside of "problem" range. I'm just not convinced that the problem has / is being identified to me as 2 of the units with cracked heads are the modified powerhead already. Dealer did acknowledge the issue of scaling and recommended a product called Marsolve to flush the engines. FYI average water temperature here in Palau is 82F. Another FYI, we have a set of Yamaha 100HP 4-strokes less than a year old. Both engines blew the head gasket in the last month. Scaling is a problem on these engines too. Yamaha is all over it. Any ideas as to the cause of this scaling. We ran 4 Honda 90 4 strokes for 5 years without this problem. Also have been using lots of 2 stroke Yamahas for last 10 years and never seen this problem. Appreciate your time. Thanks

 

[Bob Fleming]

Re: Honda 130 block & cylinder cracking

Hello:<br /> I have twin 130's which have both failed after 350 hours. Apparently the engines were over propped, one person's opinion. The upsetting thing is that either the people I have talked to at my yard and Honda are ignorant of 130 problems or they are not telling me the truth.<br /> Could you please e-mail me at bob@byrumfleming.com so I can contact you directly. If anyone else has had problems, I would appreaciate hearing from you. Thank you. Bob