Questions on '76 Chrysler 105 first start after sitting for years.

[SlowSL]

I recently acquired a 76 105 to be used on my sailboat. I was told the motor had been sitting for about 20 years. I have it up on a stand now. I took the cowling off and it looks to be really clean for its age. There are no signs that it's been worked on in the past (bolt/screw heads look brand new, no signs that tools had been used on them). Before I try to start the motor, I plan to pop out the plugs and spray a small amount of fogging oil into the cylinders, then turn the motor by hand a few times. Remove the carbs and make sure all passages are clear and everything is clean. I will drain the lower unit fluid and replace. The control cables are not hooked up at the moment, so I manually moved the forward/reverse bracket to make sure they were working. I noticed that trying to move forward/reverse had a lot of resistance, and spring back, like it was gummed up. Is this normal when the motor is not running? I looked down above the lower unit, where the end of the bracket attaches to the shaft going into the lower unit. I was able to get a pry bar in there and very gently move it up/down. After a few tries it freed up quite a bit, and now feels like it is positively locking into gear. I tried turning the prop by hand and it has about 1/16" of play in rotation, and is very much locked into gear, I can't seem to be able to get it into neutral where the prop is able to turn. Any suggestions on what else I should do? Do I need to pull the lower unit off and inspect anything, or just fill it with fresh gear oil and call it good for now? Anything else that needs checked before first startup? I'm new to boat motors aside from basic maintenance.

 

[alldodge]

Need to drop the lower anyway to replace the water pump impeller. With it off you can change the lube and work the shift to see if things free up. If any water comes out then it should come apart

With the lower off, connect a hose to the water tube going to the motor and start it this way without the lower

 

[racerone]

Propeller shaft must be turning when you shift by hand.

 

[SlowSL]

Thank you, is there a particular place that everyone likes to order from, or just wherever? Also, I don't have the control box & cables. I do know which ones were OEM, and there are some out there for sale, but was wondering if there are any others that would fit, in order to expand my options when I go to purchase them.

 

[SlowSL]

Propeller shaft must be turning when you shift by hand.

Thanks. I did try to turn by hand as I tried shifting, but nothing. I didn't try to force it,. I'll see what I find when I take the unit off.

 

[jerryjerry05]

No fogging oil, use WD-40 or a similar spray.
The fogging oil will make it harder to start.
There's a slotted screw on the side of the lower unit,
it's NEVER to be touched!!! The drain plug is on the
bottom, might be an allen headed set screw?
The only shifter that will work right is the Chrysler or
early model Force shifters.
When you change the impeller, lube the shift shaft
and the seal it goes through, manually operate the
shift as you turn the drive shaft or the prop.
You do a compression test?

 

[SlowSL]

No fogging oil, use WD-40 or a similar spray.
The fogging oil will make it harder to start.
There's a slotted screw on the side of the lower unit,
it's NEVER to be touched!!! The drain plug is on the
bottom, might be an allen headed set screw?
The only shifter that will work right is the Chrysler or
early model Force shifters.
When you change the impeller, lube the shift shaft
and the seal it goes through, manually operate the
shift as you turn the drive shaft or the prop.
You do a compression test?

Thanks for all the info, this helps a lot. No, I didn't do a compression test yet, because I didn't want to turn the motor over until I had some kind of lube in there since it's been sitting so long. I've read that it will give a false compression reading since the lube helps to seal any air escaping. I was going to wait until I sprayed something (wd-40 now) and rotated by hand, and pulled the lower unit and made sure it was clean working smoothly.

 

[racerone]

Your location ?

 

[Redbarron%%]

Go ahead and spray some lube in the cylinders as it really won't make that much difference. Perhaps a little WD-40 or some 2 stroke oil.
After all the fuel will be carrying oil with it all the time and the bottom end as well lubricating the bottom of the cylinder etc.
If you have a serious problem oil will not change anything anyway.

 

[SlowSL]

Your location ?

Northern Indiana

 

[jerryjerry05]

As your doing the comp test, check the spark.
If you do a spark test use a spark tester or you
can blow the power pack. $440

 

[SlowSL]

As your doing the comp test, check the spark.
If you do a spark test use a spark tester or you
can blow the power pack. $440

Just an in-line light bulb style tester I can get from the auto parts store?

 

[jerryjerry05]

Yes most will work, just as long as it completes a circuit
and doesn't leave a plug wire hanging loose.